The drama series which made headlines about its transition from internet to TV, “Quarterlife,” succeeded in being a flop in its NBC debut Tuesday night, having the worst ratings in at least 20 years, according to Nielsen Media Research.
The show designed to address audience between 18 and 49 didn’t succeed to rise to the expectations of NBC.
According to a source at NBC, the series might be canceled before the next episode.
An NBC spokeswoman said that the series will remain in the schedule and that it was moved to Sundays.
“Quarterlife” was created for the
internet by producers of “My So-Called
Life” and “thirtysomething,” Marshall Herskovitz and
Edward Zwick. It’s been around for three months with episodes of seven
to nine minutes being transmitted on its own website and My-Space TV.
The broadcast from Tuesday only draw an average of 3.1 million viewers and a rate of 1.3 among the audience from 18-49, being the lowest in NBC history since 1987 when Nielsen began measuring TV viewing by age.
To see the difference take for example the usual Tuesday 10 p.m. show "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," which led with over 12 million viewers and a 4.5 rating.
The show is about six friends in their 20s who are struggling with their lives having at its center Dylan (Bitsie Tulloch), a character who has a video blog and messes everyone’s lives with her “need” of being honest.
Other characters are Danny (David
Walton) and Jed (Scott Michael Foster) who are aspiring filmmakers and best
friends. Their love interst will be Debra (Michelle Lombardo). The group is
completed by Lisa (Maite Schwartz), a bartender and an insecure actress and
Andy (Kevin Christy), a computer wizard.
NBC made a fuss about the show which was announced during the writers’ strike and promoted it.
NBC Entertainment co-chairman Ben Silverman said on Wednesday that the series didn’t live up to expectations, but was "so worth the try."
He said: "The Web site traffic went up a huge amount,
and we continue to try new things and new models. It's very inexpensive but we
hoped for higher ratings," Reuters reports.