Atlanta-based TNT has whacked "Mob City" after a six-episode limited run in December.
Ratings opened poorly at 2.3 million and dropped from there.
"Although the ratings of the limited series haven't warranted more hours we are eager to work with Frank Darabont again and were delighted to bring the vibrant world of Mob City to life," the network said in a statement.
This is TNT's third drama in a row that was cancelled by the network after "Monday Mornings" and "King and Maxwell" failed to take off.
Period dramas tend to do better on certain networks such as HBO and AMC and even then, they pull in smaller numbers than the more popular TNT shows. This was TNT's first stab at it and the film noir series set in 1940s Los Angeles failed to stick despite decent reviews from critics and the imprint of "Walking Dead"/"Shawshank Redemption" creator Frank Darabont.
Michael Wright, head of programming for TNT, last year acknowledged in an interview with me that this series was a risk, given the track record of these types of dramas."I hope that people sample the show and love it the way we do," he said. "Frank is so into this. He puts a lot of passion on that screen from the cast to the designers."
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Speaking of "The Walking Dead," the metro Atlanta-based show continues to pull in big numbers: 15.8 million this past Sunday with an 8.2 18-49 rating. Among younger viewers, that's more than the Winter Olympics. That's also just shy of the record season 4 debut in October of 16.1 million viewers.
Variety has an interesting inside business take on how unusual "The Walking Dead" is as a massive hit show, given its bleak plotlines and the fact it doesn't have any breakout stars or major Emmy nominations.
There's a fascinating question critics should be answering: What is it about a show that is so relentlessly bleak that allows it to still resonate at such unexpected scale? What does it say about America? Of all the shows that manage to aggregate a mass audience at a time when a rapidly fragmenting audience is making it increasingly difficult to bring a sizable chunk of people together to share anything, "Walking Dead" is the show that threads that needle. And it's the polar opposite of the escapist fare that typically serves as popular entertainment, a dystopian nightmare if there ever was one.
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Marietta's Alton Brown is getting a third season of "Cutthroat Kitchen," a solid performer on the Food Network. See his live show Feb. 28 at the Fox Theatre.
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Aware that WeatherNation is a poor substitute for the Weather Channel, DirecTV is working with the network to bulk up its local forecast offerings and planning a special severe weather channel when warranted. Read the story here. DirecTV dropped the Atlanta-based Weather Channel a month ago in a retransmission dispute.
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Former Channel 2 Action News reporter Alina Machado, who joined CNN last year as an Atlanta-based correspondent, is moving to Miami.
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Atlanta's Southern Culture Artisan Foods, a breakfast lifestyle brand, will be pitching to ABC's "Shark Tank" Feb. 21.
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Rick Springfield is in Peachtree City today to film a guest role on Lifetime's "Drop Dead Diva." I don't think the rain is so bad right now and was thinking of going, but my wife vetoed it given the weather conditions. The show will return for its sixth season later in the spring.
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