When will Katherine Heigl catch a break?
Apparently not on television in 2017.
While CBS isn't officially calling it a cancelation, Doubt has been pulled from the schedule after just two airings. It will be replaced first by a repeat of Bull and then by the (also not a hit) Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders.
CBS will likely be open to burning off the series during the summer, and that's probably the reason it's not being called a cancelation.
There were more than two episodes available for screening before the series debuted, and I can attest that Doubt Season 1 Episode 2 was the worst of the bunch.
If you read my initial Doubt Review, I said as much. At that point, and if you watched, you no doubt (ugh) saw it, too, the show was having an early identity crisis.
Was it a legal drama to be taken seriously or one in the vein of Ally McBeal? It was difficult to tell.
But what else went wrong with Doubt?
In my opinion, quite a few things. If you weren't paying attention to your local scheduling or you weren't an avid fan of one of the actors involved in the series, you didn't know it was coming to air.
The promotion for Doubt was almost nonexistent.
It's possible CBS lost faith in the production before it ever made it to air and chose not to spend money backing a losing property.
Then again, the series took a long road to the screen, first cast with a different lead during a different pilot cycle and recast and reshot for a new season.
It also broke ground by casting the first transgender regular in a series with the addition of Laverne Cox as Cameron.
Additionally, the rest of the cast was top notch. Elliott Gould, Dule Hill, Judith Light and Steven Pasquale are all seasoned performers and were set to take their storylines to the next level.
Instead of letting it ride, as every other series this broadcast season chose to do, it became the first to be pulled off air after a couple episodes.
They could move the series to CBS All Access, because it's most likely filmed quite a way in advance and wouldn't cost anything to do so.
Moving it online with commercials would also be an option, as would selling the remainder of the episodes to a third-party streaming service.
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All of those options would only work if there were no plans to air it in the summer.
But all of CBS' sister networks paved the way for viewers to get closure on series whether the series deserve it or not.
And I'm not sure Doubt got a fair shake up front to prove it didn't deserve better treatment overall.
What do you think? What are your expectations of shows that air partially and are yanked off the air these days?
Should it go online to air out the rest of the season?
Is there a good solution?
Was Doubt given a fair shake?
Share your thoughts about the cancelation and all the presented options in the comments below.
You know we want to hear from you!