PARK CITY, UTAH – October 25, 2015 (Gephardt Daily) — The well might have run dry for ABC TV’s nighttime drama “Blood & Oil.”
A few days ago ABC cut back on the number of episodes it ordered for its Sunday night show “Blood & Oil.” The series stars Don Johnson (who is also an executive producer) and Chace Crawford.
The storyline focuses on a young couple (Crawford, Rebecca Rittenhouse) who move to North Dakota where a seasoned local oil baron (Johnson) takes the them under his wing.
The show will now air just 10 episodes instead of the original 13-episode run originally ordered. If things don’t change drastically for the show, “Blood & Oil” will likely end its run in December after episode 10 is completed.
Since it premiered in late September, “Blood & Oil” premiered to less-than-expected ratings while the show was trying to find an audience. Traditionally Sunday night is a hard nut to crack for a new show. Especially when bumping heads with established ratings kings like AMC’s “Walking Dead” and Sunday Night Football.
Added to the problems inherent on Sunday night, “Blood & Oil’s” reviews have been less than glowing.
Keith Uhlich of ‘The Hollywood Reporter’ wrote; “ABC’s Blood & Oil, which plays like the illegitimate offspring of Dallas and Deadwood (is) a modern Wild West story melded inelegantly with a trashy nighttime soap.”
‘Los Angeles Times’ critic, Robert Lloyd said, “It has the aggressively prettified look, rather, of an ad for beer or a new Ford truck, and you sense that you are being sold something, rather than told a story, let alone the truth.”
The series had problems from its first offering in 2011, the show project was shopped between the ABC Network and USA Network. Once it was finally picked up at ABC, it battled changes in its production infrastructure replacing some of the executive staff as well as recasting characters after the pilot was shot.
The downsizing to 10 episodes is an indication ABC has not got its faith in the series, and although the network hasn’t officially said the show is cancelled, I’m suspecting ABC will cap this well when contracts are up in December.
Of course a solution might be as simple as switching the night on which the show is aired may just save it. Or having the patience to allow the show to find its audience as proven by shows like “Seinfeld,” “Friends,” “ER” and “Beverly Hills 90210,” all of whom were canceled but saved by moving to a new time slot.
