In what’s been a season full of unorthodox decisions by NBC, the Peacock Network’s latest maverick move is canceling one of its new comedies before it even airs. In May, NBC ordered six episodes of a Dane Cook sitcom called Next Caller, in which the polarizing standup played a brash, misogynist radio DJ forced to co-host his show with, get this: a female feminist. Now, Deadline reports the network is canceling the show after only four episodes have been filmed (none of which will air), due to being unhappy with the series’ creative direction. Yes, NBC expected a Dane Cook sitcom to have a “creative direction.” The best part of this news is that Jeffrey Tambor played a supporting character on Next Caller and is now free to devote more time to Arrested Development’s new season. It’s highly unusual for a network to cancel a show before airing it (nets often burn off shows they don’t like in the summertime), but maybe NBC is developing a new prank show as a companion to Betty White’s Off Their Rockers, in which the network mistreats its various shows for laughs. NBC still has two midseason sitcoms, 1600 Penn and Save Me, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Peacock execs opted to make a last-minute decision to force the shows to swap titles or to air in black-and-white.
Below, find Dane Cook takin’ his frustration to Twitter with a couple of Classic Cook Quips™, and all the promos NBC released from Next Caller Please, offering our only glimpse at what the show would have been. Somebody get on it with that Facebook petition already!
[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/DaneCook/status/256926453910892545”]
[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/DaneCook/status/256927255111012352”]
