 |
|
|
The wife and business partner of Australian actor Hugh Jackman, whose new musical drama "Viva Laughlin" was axed after just two episodes due to unexpectedly low ratings, admitted she and her husband were very disappointed their show was dropped.
After taking the stage yesterday as a presenter at the 2007 Australian Film Institute Award nominations announcements, Deborra-Lee Furness said this recent failure won’t stop her husband and her to continue developing similar projects together.
"I can't explain how disappointed we are and obviously upset," Furness said after the ceremony.
"This is showbiz, if you don't take any risks . . . the fact we got cancelled after two shows - it happens fast, you have to just move on to the next one.
"We are looking at scripts and still developing and just keep going."
Based on the successful British series "Viva Blackpool," "Viva Laughlin," the couple’s first joint project through their production company Seed, was dumped by the Nine Network after just one episode that attracted 833,000 viewers, while in the United States, the drama aired two episodes on CBS.
"Doing a drama that is a musical is going to be a huge risk... but if you don't take any risks, you know...," Furness said.
The show drew a lot negative criticism with one reviewer even calling it possibly the worst television show ever made.
"If I'm going to fail, I want to fail spectacularly, and it seems like we did," she added saying that none of the shows produced by Seed were successful among viewers or critics.
As far as her husband’s performance is concerned, Furness said Jackman, who played a small role in the series, did it "for fun."
"It's our first TV series and he jumped in. Have you seen him? He was fabulous," she said.
"Viva Laughlin" will be replaced next Sunday by a "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" rerun, with reality series "The Amazing Race" then taking over the time period, CBS said Monday.
"If there ever was a season (of 'Race') that I consider one of the best, it's this one," co-creator/exec producer Bertram van Munster said, according to the Hollywood Reporter. "It's insanely funny, fast-paced and dramatic all at once."
Later this year, Jackman, famous for playing Wolverine in the X-Men trilogy is scheduled to start filming for the much talked about "X-Men" spin-off "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," scheduled by Twentieth Century Fox for a May 1, 2009 release as announced last week.
© 2007 - 2008 - eFluxMedia