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| It’s not like they spent a lot of money on a custom-designed set |
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford’s new series Ford Nation has been canceled after just one episode on Sun News Network.
Odd, since Rob and Doug Ford’s debut Monday night on Sun News drew 155,000 overnight, estimated viewers, a record for the struggling news channel. The Fords’ easily topped the 92,000 estimated to have seen the Trudeau/Brazeau Parliament Hill boxing match in March of 2012, covered live in a three hour Sun News special.
Sun News vice president Kory Teneycke claims Ford Nation was canceled due to high production costs; that the deal was always for one show and then we’ll see after that; that it took five hours of tape and eight hours of editing to pull together the one hour show.
The reasons for the instant cancellation, however, just do not pass the sniff test. It’s a once a week show–who cares how long it takes to edit? The cost of a couple of Ryerson students cutting this hot mess together could be more than made up by the fact you finally get to sell ads based on a viewing level ten times your station average.
If you’ve got a hit, change the format, don’t pull the plug. The Fords could have simply shot a TV version of their former radio show–the way Sportsnet gives Bob McCown’s sports talk show a second window on TV.
The suspicion is that the decision to can the Fords comes further up the Quebecor food chain. The Fords may have finally become too much of a political liability to Teneycke’s former boss–the Prime Minister. Federal cabinet minister Jason Kenney called for mayor Ford to quit today, suggesting he disgraced the office of mayor. Huh.
News of the cancellation has already reached Jimmy Kimmel in Hollywood. “Apparently it took five hours of shooting and eight hours of editing to make one hour-long episode,” the late night host says on tonight’s Jimmy Kimmel Live (which actually tapes earlier). “So his network pulled the plug. Luckily, Rob Ford has lots of other ways to get on television.”
Jimmy knows of what he speaks.
