It's over..... USA announced a couple of days ago they are canceling "The Starter Wife"...... ratings of 2.4 million were just too low. Entertainment Weekly magazine got the exclusive which went as follows:

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USA Network has filed for divorce from The Starter Wife, citing irreconcilable ratings. When the Debra Messing-fronted Wife debuted in 2007 as a six-hour miniseries, it attracted more than 5 million viewers and went on to earn 10 Emmy nominations. However, ratings for its 10-episode first season averaged just 2.4 million viewers -- a decent number by most cable standards, but not for USA, where its top shows (Burn Notice, Monk) regularly pull in around 6 million.

In an exclusive statement, USA called Starter Wife a "critical and creative success," and added that the Dec. 12 season finale served as a "satisfying conclusion" to the franchise.

Do you agree? Did Wife's climax satisfy you? Are you grateful you got those 10 bonus episodes, or should it have just remained a miniseries? And, putting your agent cap on for a moment, what do you think Messing should do next? Sound off in the comments section!

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That is referring to the comments section on the Entertainment Weekly website at http://ausiellofiles.ew.com/2009/02/exclusive-usa-c.html ------- There are fans there telling people to go to the website for the Lifetime cable channel and tell them to pick up "The Starter Wife" for Lifetime. So if you love the show and want it to reappear on another network, read the comments at the link (http://ausiellofiles.ew.com/2009/02/exclusive-usa-c.html) for Entertainment Weekly for guidance.

Oh no, it's so sad

I am so disappointed The Starter Wife was cancelled. It was one of my favorite shows.

I'm disappointed too. I loved this show! I thought it was funny and there were a lot of plot twists and turns that made it so interesting! I will post to lifetime, I hope they can bring it back!!!

how sad! this was the only show i watch, no wonder i couldnt find it on USA anymore..
I loved this show and Messing was just great!!!

I loved that show too! I have been waiting ever since the season finale for it to come back on again! I'm so disappointed that USA canceled it. Who likes Monk anyways...! I think everyone should ask Lifetime to show it! I hope it can come back on somewhere! It would be a shame to see such an excellent show canceled like that!

totally bummed out!!! to be honest i didnt start out a fan but it sucked me in!!!!! all usa shows usually do, i'm addicted to the network completely and i will miss the show, i don't think the ending of last season answered anything!!!!! if lifetime picks it up i will definitely resume watching.... i also agree with other posts as far as negativity goes... i realize i have too much free time to comment on TSW, lol but you really need a hobby if you're only here to bash the show.....to you i say . . .isn't there a comic convention you should be at?

I LOVE this show! I am so disappointed. I couldn't wait for it to come on every week. I will go to Lifetime next to tell them to pick it up!!

Thank you so much, USA, for canceling the worst TV show of the 21st Century. No more have to watch those really bad commercials.

It would be fun if USA had left it as a mini-series that came back every summer. Just six episodes every summer that would keep us up to date on Molly's world. Most of the other shows are reruns in the summer. That might have kept it fresh enough to have retained it's original numbers of viewers.

Why are they taking off a successful show?!?!? Everyone I know watched it!! They need to reconsider, they have brought life back to many shows that didn't need it they should do that for this show. Who do we need to write to listen? There is nothing on in the summer and I was really looking forward to the Starter Wife. Sorry Debra Messing, LOVE YOU!!

This is an incredible show and my favorite! I will definitely follow it on any nettwork that will pick it up. I love it!.

I absolutely love "The Starter Wife"! I have followed the entire show, before USA, and will follow it wherever it goes! It's smart, funny, and has a fantastic cast. I wish the original Kenny was still on, because the new Kenny is too good looking! Anyway, as a 38 year old wife and mother of two, I found the time to watch this show religiously. I don't believe the ratings systems are as accurate as people would like to believe. For instance, when my family was contacted about being a Nielsen family, it was just too much work to fill out all that crap, we'd rather just watch TV! So there's an example of a TV junkie family whose habits were NEVER recorded! Please don't kill "The Starter Wife". I am such a fussy TV watcher, and there are very few shows that really interest me like this one does. I don't think that the season finale was a "satisfying conclusion". Who the heck are the people who decide this?! Do they have a high IQ, a Master's Degree??? Well, I do, and I don't agree!

I have been waiting and waiting for the Starter Wife series to begin, and to my shock, I found out it was cancelled. How stupid of USA. Bring it back immediately. There's very little clean cut tv to watch these days, and the Starter Wife was a show the whole family could watch. Not only that, it was a delight. BRING IT BACK!! PLEASE!!!!!!!!

I only saw one episode of this show, but it showed potential. I think it should be moved to lifetime or the O Channel.

I am so disappointed....Is there any chance another network would pick it up? I just love the cast in this show! I would love to see it return.... Please...??

Are you freakin kidding me!!!! I have been waiting to see what happens next I looked forward to starter wife. I absolutely love Debra Messing and I would love to see Lifetime pick up the show.

I'm so upset that USA canceled The Starter Wife. Debra Messing is awesome and so was this show. I watched this show religiously and if I couldn't watch it at the time that it was on I recorded it. I never missed an episode. I think it's bull that they would take this show away just because it "ONLY" got 2.4 MILLION viewers. Did I mention million????? I think USA just didn't advertise it well enough to inform all of the miniseries viewers of the 10 episodes. USA network you messed up and that's putting it lightly. The starter wife is the only reason that I watched your station. Good luck getting this viewer back without Debra.


Oh and P.S. I'm with srtrwyffan....I would love to see Lifetime pick up this show as well! USA you don't deserve to have Debra Messing on your network.

The show might have been good if Debra Messing hadn't stared in it. She's a really really bad actress.

Its really unfortunate they cancelled the show. It had became my new Sex & the City I would watch with friends, even my mom. The fun & witty storyline made the series stick out from the rest...& also made me look at USA & Debra Messing in a new light. I think it may be cool for even Bravo to pick it up because of the liberal nature of the program. PLEASE USA bring back the starter wife!!! It was a breath of fresh air in the oh so predictable tv series world about cops & medical mysteries....There are loyal fans out there who respect & appreciate the creative vision the producers have. Either way, the entire cast & production team did an excellent job!!

Well, this is typical. If I love a show, it is guaranteed to be taken off the air and generally after a cliffhanger, which will unlikely ever be resolved. USA didn't give the series a chance. There was almost no hype (I didn't even realize the series was on until it was almost over). Now, they yank it off without giving it a full year. Typical, typical. Darn it! It would be nice if they would at least offer a "movie" or miniseries to resolve the issues that were left hanging after the last episode. And bring back Cricket and some of the other characters we miss from the miniseries. (Cameos are better than nothing!)

OK, HERE'S HOW IT HAPPENED, I WAS ON A TREADMILL AT LA COSTA WATCHING THIS SHOW, AND I HAD NO IDEA WHAT IT WAS, BUT I WAS SO ENGROSSED THAT I STAYED ON THE DARN TREADMILL FOR THE FIRST 2 EPISODES, WHICH WERE SHOWED BACK TO BACK. THEN I THOUGHT I'D LOOK FORWARD TO WATCHING THAT SHOW AGAIN AT HOME! I HAD NO IDEA WHAT IT WAS UNTIL A YEAR LATER, WHEN I FOUND IT ON HULU.COM! I'VE SPENT A FEW DAYS CATCHING UP ON ALL THE EPISODES I MISSED JUST TO FIND OUT NOW THAT IT'S CANCELLED??! ARE YOU KIDDING ME? IT'S GREAT AND IF USA HAD BOTHERED TO PUT IT IN A DECENT TIME SLOT I'M SURE THEY'D HAVE HAD MORE VIEWERS. IN THE MEANTIME WE'RE ALL LEFT HANGING, WONDERING WHAT HAPPENED. THIS IS AN EMMY AWARD RECEIVING SHOW THAT DESERVES BETTER, AND IT'S WELL WRITTEN, INTERESTING, AND I WANT IT TO CONTINUE! WAY BETTER THAN DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES, AND I REALLY LIKED THAT SHOW UNTIL NOW!

This is soooo upsetting!!! My best friend and I enjoyed TSW alot. We would talk about it, and anticipate its next episode. I would love to see Lifetime pick up The Starter Wife. Lifetime already has a great selection of shows. I suggest The Starter Wife be added, on Sundays @ 9p, right before Army Wives!

This is so sad. I just heard the news. I am deeply saddened by this cancelation but can understand why. When I went to open an account to post this, I noticed that is said I already had a myNBC account. There it is, there is the answer. First Lipsick Jungle, now The Starter Wife. Anything good that NBC has a hand in gets canceled.

I admit, I was a late-comer to this show. It is only because USA IS A BAD ADVERTISER! I never knew about the show until I passed by USA Network one day and they were doing an all day thing of this show. I caught it in the 4th episode, watched that, set my DVR to record the rest of the shows and them immdiately got on the internet and watched the miniseries and all the episodes I had missed and then after that, watched what my DVR had recorded.

I would like to ask this: USA, DID YOU INCLUDE THE PEOPLE WHO RECORD IT ON THEIR DVR EACH WEEK IN YOUR RATINGS? I bet not.

WHAT DO WE HAVE TO DO TO HAVE A SECOND SEASON? GIVE US OUR SHOW BACK USA!

USA Network, this cancellation made me very upset. Do all of your shows have to be police investigations? Just because you add humor to that formula (Monk, Psych) doesn't mean it's really a different show. The Starter Wife was something different and imbued with a lot of quality in its acting, writing, and visual talents. The weekly movie/TV parodies were excellent, nobody else did those consistently and with such high quality in their shows.

I keep using the term quality because that's what's missing from most television shows. And yet, you've decided that's not what you want to give us; you just want to keep churning out lowest common denominator formulas. It's no wonder television audiences are dwindling in number. Practically everything interesting, different, and intelligent is being taken off the air, aside from the two dramas on AMC. How sad for everyone. How about making it up to us by at least giving us a 2-hour movie special to bring closure to our characters?

I too first watched Starter Wife when they were having a marathon. After five minutes I was hooked! I caught up on all the episodes I missed and faithfully watched everyone thereafter. I'm in shock! I got on TSW website to see when the new season was going to start. My husband said maybe it's cancelled just to tease me. We never thought in a million years they would be cancelling this show anytime soon. It was freakin great! It was funny and dramatic with that stylish flare and Debra Messing played Molly perfectly. I always thought Grace when I saw in her something until TWS now it's like that's Molly. I love USA it's on my tv all day when I'm at home but this is heartbreaking and I'm so disapointed. Shouldn't the people that watch these shows have a say so? I hope USA will bring back the miniseries (clearly consumers are demanding it) but if they don't then hopefully another channel like Lifetime or whatever will. Where ever it's airing I'll be there.

I'm ticked!!! I cannot believe they keep cancelling my favorite shows!!! First, it's The Dead Zone and now The Starter Wife! What the heck? All 2 Million of the ticked off viewers should write these dummies and maybe, just maybe they will give us an ending worth watching. I'm scared to get hooked on any other shows because we will never know the ending to any of them! I have so many questions and now what do I have to look forward to?? At least Burn Notice, Monk (not for much longer), and Psyche are still around, but for how long will they stay?? Dare I watch and get even more addicted????

I'm ticked!!! I cannot believe they keep cancelling my favorite shows!!! First, it's The Dead Zone, The 4400, and now The Starter Wife! What the heck? All 2 Million of the ticked off viewers should write these dummies and maybe, just maybe they will give us an ending worth watching. I'm scared to get hooked on any other shows because we will never know the ending to any of them! I have so many questions and now what do I have to look forward to?? At least Burn Notice, Monk (not for much longer), and Psyche are still around, but for how long will they stay?? Dare I watch and get even more addicted????



I'm with that person above!!!! USA GIVE US SOME STARTER WIFE CLOSURE BY GIVING US A 2 HOUR MOVIE SPECIAL!!!!! HOW ABOUT THROWING IN ONE FOR THE DEAD ZONE AND THE 4400 TOO!!!

that sucks.... the show was incredible, and i loved messing's role.

I am beyond shocked! And now I'm too!

I found this out only because of a question in Sunday's newspaper insert, USA Weekend.

OH, NO NO NO!

I've been waiting and watching for commercials promoting its return, hoping it would be May or June, but NOT NEVER!


Hey, let Law & Order and Criminal Intent reruns drop off the face of the earth. Jeff Goldblum? Are you kidding? How many people watch Jeff Goldblum? YUK and DOUBLE YUK.

C'mon, people, let's see what we can do to get hold of the minds at Lifetime or Oxygen or ANYWHERE.

CP

GO HERE to vote that Lifetime produce the show.
http://community.mylifetime.com/community/...ck-starter-wife

I created the pickup The Starter Wife poll in hopes it would create a buzz and get the producer's attention. Although this may still happen, here is info on about the only way to contact Lifetime directly. This could be necessary if more people don't vote on the poll or start talking about it or something.

You may write to Lifetime by sending a postcard. All communications not sent via postcard will not be read. Send your postcard to:

Lifetime Television

309 W. 49th street

New York, NY 10019

We should have a say about what shows we're watching, but we have to speak up. Thanks guys!

i am SOOOOOOOOO mad that they canceled this show! I so looked forward to watching TSW every week. It was one of my fave shows and had top priority on my DVR list! LOL. I really do hope another station picks it up.

Hey USA! Think about this for a minute! How many reruns do you REALLY need to show!? 2.4 MILLION viewers wasn't enough?! Do your 8,000 reruns of L&O really get that many viewings?? DUH!

It was such a good show. I definately voted YES for Lifetime to pick it up in that poll. I'll follow it to whatever channel it goes to! I wonder why USA still lists it on their page as a series when they cancelled it. It was the only show i watched on USA, now I don't watch the channel at all!

I'm sad and disapointed this show is being cancelled. I loved the show and the characters in the show. it will be missed!

How does a tragedy like this happen? The damage control department at USA must not have realized how much Starter Wife will be missed and how P.O'd its viewers have become. Maybe USA will realize what they've missed when Lifetime gets her! Pray for Starter Wife PEOPLE!

[color="#FF00FF"][/color][size="4"][/size] I LOVE THIS SHOW AND THINK THAT USA IS MAKING A HUGE MISTAKE BY CANCELING THIS SHOW!!!! I FEEL THAT WHEN THIS SHOW MOVES TO ANOTHER NETWORK, USA IS GOING TO REGRET THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS AND SONS OF ANARCHY ARE THE BEST SHOWS THAT I HAVE SEEN COME OUT IN ATLEAST 10 YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was not a good ending on the last season! It left you hanging. I think this is not a smart idea for USA. They did not like that they only had 2.4 million but The Starter Wife has been the only reason why I have ever tuned in on USA! BOO USA!

Exactly!! Why even bother watching USA? The only thing I have gotten is interested in the 4400, The Dead Zone and The Starter Wife to have them rip the carpet out and cancel the shows with no finales! The audience obviously means nothing to them and none of the other networks pull this BS. There are plenty of channels that do not repeatedly let their viewers down that I think I am done watching shows by USA. What would be the point anyways? The network will only let us down again.

[font="Arial Black"][/font]

g

http://community.mylifetime.com/community/...ck-starter-wife


PLEASE HELP ME by voting on LIFETIME for them to pick up this show!

I was very sorry when I heard that Starter Wife was cancelled! I couldn't believe that there was some idiot in USA's head office dumb enough to do that!

Didn't have enough viewers?? Well, how many do you have watching CONSTANT reruns of Law & Order:CI?? That program absolutely
sickens me! The only time it was half decent was when Chris Noth was on. The other slob is sickening!

Now USA us showing CONSTANT re-euns of Law & Order:SVU! I used to like this show, but I hate getting it crammed down my throat!
The same with House, NCIS, In Plain Sight, Burn Notice & now Royal Pains. Good God, the only original shows that had any story lines,
they cancel! Go Figure!

Yes, I will start writing to Lifetime----I would very much like to see new episodes of the Starter Wife, at least it was something new and original!

USA, you think you're great---well, I think you stink!

Debra Messing didn't "stare" at anything. She starred in the show. Learn English before you start criticizing smart guy.

I'm sure it won't make any difference, but I went through all the trouble of creating an account to add my two coppers anyway.

USA.... stupid move.

Starter Wife was the only show on your network that I ever really took interest in. Both my boyfriend and I loved the show and were so looking forward to watching it again. I had been searching to find the new premiere only to find this sad news. I had even been trying to help my Mom catch up on the show, sure that it was going to begin again soon. What a huge disappointment.

Debra Messing and the rest of the cast were phenomenal! The story was quirky and suspenseful. What exactly was the problem here?

And to top it off, it's been replaced by ANOTHER doctor show. Original USA, really. There are already about 9 or so other doctor shows. You don't need to jump on the bandwagon. How about you give it a chance to gain viewership and give it a decent time slot? Ever think of that?

I fear this will be the fate of all good and original shows on networks nowadays. Just because a show doesn't get HUGE ratings in the first season, they axe it. So many good shows have died that way. That's why the big shows survive, not because they are that good, but because anything that is more of a niche storyline gets killed because it caters to a smaller audience. When the good shows get cancelled we're all forced to watch the same old bullcrap. I find it really hard to invest myself in TV anymore. I'd rather watch my Friends DvD's over and over. At least I know the rug won't get pulled out from under me as soon as I get invested in a show or it's characters.

Goodbye USA, I won't be back.

Come on, USA!!! I loved that show - its not too late to make it up to us. Bring it back!!!!!!!!!!

Personally, I love the show and if another network picks it up, I am there. Of course this means we won't be watching USA when its on...

USA,

Please bring back The Starter Wife. It was funny, witty, entertaining, mysterious, and engrossing, all at the same time. All networks do this to great shows because of ratings. Do NOT count the ratings because now a lot of people have DVRs so those who can't see it record it. Friday at 9 was a great timeslot, but I think that it would have done better on Monday at 9. (You fail to see that Friday is typically date night, or that Friday is the end of the work week. A lot of people I know who love this show record it because they are so tired from working all week that they want to go to bed early.) On Monday's people are typically not as tired as they would be on Friday.

I personally love Monk, Psych, Burn Notice, NCIS, and SVU, but Monk is predictable and obvious to me, whereas Psych is quite the opposite. Burn Notice is the bomb (made with Fiona's C4 :lol: ). NCIS is perfect, but, after seeing every episode about twenty times, it makes me go to sleep. SVU always has a special place in my heart, and even after seeing every episode about a million times I will still watch it.

On to CI. the old episodes (before season 5) were great, and I could personally watch every episode with Nicole Wallace (Olivia d'Abo) all day every day, but after season 5 it got boring. Season 7 was my last season, season 8 was too confusing and slow. (And to tell you the truth killing off Nicole Wallace was a HUGE mistake.)

Now, Royal Pains is a great show, but it is soooo slow. The only reason I watch it is because I want to see what happens to the characters. (Which incidentally is pretty much what The Starter Wife was about.)

House. It is an interesting show, but like Royal Pains it is really, really slow. Unlike RP, the characters are merely a side plot. I personally couldn't care less what happens to the characters. It makes me feel like God (which is kind of off-putting) kind of, looking at House and the other characters sort out their problems. I still love the show, but it bores me. It makes me want to play a game or read a book with it on as background noise.

Now for the final show: In Plain Sight. Do NOT change anything with IPS. It is perfect just the way it is. I understand that you got (a) new writer(s), but, please, do not change the general flow of In Plain Sight.

USA Network is my favorite network to watch, but it would be great to have one of my favorite shows back on air. Please, USA Network, I beg of you to bring back The Starter Wife. It was one of the best shows there is on tv. Please.