"Apple" Rots, "Camp" May Re-Up

(E! Online by Mark Armstrong)

Maybe CBS should take a cue from Fox's drill sergeants: "Save the drama for your Mama!"

But it seems not even America's mother demographic seemed interested in Big Apple. After failing to pick up more viewers (even in a plum, post-Survivor timeslot), CBS has yanked the critically lauded cops-and-feds drama from its schedule after five airings.

CBS originally committed to 13 episodes of the series, from NYPD Blue co-creator David Milch and starring erstwhile Married...With Children patriarch Ed O'Neill. But producer Paramount Network Television has not yet halted production on the series. There's no word on whether all 13 episodes will be shot, or if the series will return to CBS' schedule. (Don't hold your breath.)

CBS had hoped Big Apple would be the final piece in its bloody Thursday night coup against NBC's "Must-See TV" lineup, joining Survivor: The Australian Outback and the surprise hit C.S.I. But the series just couldn't compete with ER at 10 p.m., and with an average of 9.7 million viewers, the series fared only slightly better than its news mag predecessor, 48 Hours.

The network also tried to jumpstart Big Apple by temporarily moving it to Wednesdays immediately following Survivor (both shows moved to make room for NCAA basketball coverage). It didn't help: Big Apple could only muster a 6.6 rating and 11 share in its first outing, a 60 percent drop from Survivor's lead-in.

It returned to Thursdays last week with record lows, pulling in just 7.5 million viewers and holding onto one-third of C.S.I.'s audience.

The American public seems more smitten with screaming drill sergeants than New York cops these days. While Big Apple took a dive, Fox appears to have scored another unscripted hit with Boot Camp, which debuted last Wednesday in front of more than 15 million viewers, and will likely help the network place first for the week among young-adult viewers.

The series, in which regular folks (like a balloon sculptor) compete in Marine basic training for a shot at $500,000, has been embraced by the network and--unlike its equally popular predecessor, Temptation Island--by advertisers. The New York Times reports that the network is now considering ordering another episode of the series, so it will creep into its May sweeps programming.

Fox originally ordered just eight episodes of the series. There's no official word on whether Boot Camp will be extended, but Joanna Lowry, spokeswoman for the show's producer, LMNO Productions, said "We've got plenty of tape. All they have to do is call."