Nellie Andreeva

It is two weeks and out for new comedy series How To Be A Gentleman in its prime 8:30 PM Thursday time slot. The network has pulled the sitcom effective immediately: Beginning October 20, it will air veteran Rules Of Engagement in that spot, following The Big Bang Theory, and move Gentleman to Saturdays. (CBS will air a Big Bang repeat in the time period next week.) There is chatter that production on Gentleman is being shut down, which would mean a certain cancellation, but I have not been able to confirm that just yet. UPDATE: I have now confirmed that production on Gentleman will indeed shut down after 9 produced episodes. The final episode will be filmed tonight. That is effectively  a cancellation for the sitcom with the Saturday run qualifying as a burn-off, though CBS never officially cancels a series before the upfronts. After a lackluster debut last week with a 2.7 rating among adults 18-49 — which was down 33% from the premiere of $#*! My Dad Says in the time period last season — Gentleman dropped another 7% last night, squandering almost half of its Big Bang lead-in. Conveniently, the network has Rules Of Engagement ready to go, and for a second consecutive year, the veteran is being summoned to replace a faltering rookie in the Thursday 8:30 PM slot. (Last season, it stepped in for $#*! My Dad Says.) While Rules looked pretty weird on the CBS schedule revealed in May when the comedy was slated for Saturday nights, the 22-episode order helped producer Sony Pictures TV get to a syndicatable number of episodes and provided the network with a back-up plan, which is now being put in motion.

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