Say Goodbye To "Viva Laughlin"

CBS canceled the Hugh Jackman series after two dismal showings -- a special premiere on Thursday and a time slot premiere Sunday.
Sunday night, the series based on the BBC format managed a sorry 6.8 million viewers during the 8 p.m. hour. It shed almost a third of its audience between the first and the second half-hour.
CBS will air a rerun of "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" in the time period this week before bringing back the slot's last year occupant "The Amazing Race." The reality veteran will return for a 12th cycle November 4.

Was "VIVA LAUGHLIN" a FLOP?

The Hugh Jackman-Lloyd Owen musical drama, which follows a fictional Nevada casino, had the best lead-in on television in "CSI." But "Viva Laughlin" (8.8 million) came in third place at 10 p.m. against a veteran "ER" (10 million) as well as ABC's freshman "Big Shots" (8.3 million), neither heavy hitters by any measure."Grey's Anatomy" (17.7 million) won in adults 18-49 against "CSI" (20.8 million) at 9 p.m. "Grey's" was down 10% week-to-week while "CSI" rose 5%. "The Office" (8.5 million) dropped 6% from last week. The 8 p.m. hour was won by "Survivor: China" (13.4 million), which was down 6%, while "Ugly Betty" (9.7 million) declining fell 11% and both "My Name Is Earl" (7.2 million) and "30 Rock" (6.3 million) were down.