CANCELLATION ALERT: The Millers

In a mildly surprising, but not undeserved move, CBS has cancelled The Millers only four episodes into its sophomore season. The show was a timeslot hit last season airing after The Big Bang Theory on Thursdays, but it was regularly getting only about 50% retention. Its renewal was in question and then everyone was surprised when it got that same timeslot on the fall schedule. But CBS reversed course a few weeks before the premiere, shifting The Millers to Mondays and giving Mom the coveted post-Big Bang slot. The Millers has floundered on Mondays and CBS has to be worried about the ever diminishing lead-in its giving to new success story Scorpion.

The Millers is the first veteran series to get yanked this year. I think we'll see a few things happen now. CBS originally planned to move The Millers back to Thursdays in January but obviously that won't happen. I think Mom will stay right where it is and Mike & Molly will come back to Monday, either at 8pm (shifting 2 Broke Girls back a half hour) or the 8:30pm slot. Another option is the new version of The Odd Couple, but I think CBS will save that for later in the season (it seems very unlikely The McCarthys will stay all year). The Millers is scheduled to air on Monday still and has some episodes in the can, but CBS might burn them off on Saturdays. Finally, Sean Hayes is becoming quite the show killer. He had a recurring role on Smash's ill-fated sophomore season. Then he bombed in his own NBC show, Sean Saves the World last year. Then he joined The Millers for season two and this happens.