Cannes: Competition Movies Divide Critics; How Much Do The … 
Record-Breaking Memorial Weekend 2013! ‘Fast & … 
SAG-AFTRA Sued For Witholding Foreign Residuals And … 
Zach Braff Ends $3+M Kickstarter Campaign 
Fox Unscripted TV Czar Mike Darnell To Exit 
NBC Sets Oklahoma Tornado Benefit Concert For May 29 
Cannes: Directors’ Fortnight Honors ‘Les … 
SHOCKER: Tom Cruise Exits ‘Man From … 
A+E Rebuild: BBC’s Jana Bennett To Run Bio And LMN … 
RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘Hannibal’ Hits Low, … 
‘Katie’ Shakeup: Rachel Miskowiec Replaces … 
Hammond On Cannes: French Hero Jerry Lewis On His Return To … 
Cannes: Another Jewelry Heist? $2.6M Necklace Missing After … 
Hammond On Cannes: Leo DiCaprio’s Moon Trip Tops … 
Specialty B.O. Preview: ‘Before Midnight’, … 
2012-2013 Season Network Rankings: CBS Sweeps In Final … 
Full 2012-2013 TV Season Series Rankings 
TOLDJA! Paramount Pocketing $190M From Disney For Marvel … 
‘Good Morning America’ Hits 19-Year Viewership … 
MGM Buys ‘Modern Family’ Producer Ben … 
‘Fashion Police’ Writers Chant On Picket Lines: … 
Maria Bello is hanging up her hats. NBC’s low-rated new cop drama Prime Suspect, which was left off the network’s midseason schedule, will wrap production this month. I hear that the show’s cast and crew were notified of the shutdown just as NBC was making its midseason schedule announcement yesterday afternoon. Prime Suspect, a remake of the popular British series with Bello in the role originated by Helen Mirren, will complete Episode 12, which is now wrapping filming, and Episode 13, which starts shooting this week, before shutting down for the holiday and for the season. That fulfills the series’ original 13-episode order. I hear people on the show were told that Prime Suspect has been canceled. There will be no more episodes produced this season (and likely ever), but technically, according to a rep for the network, NBC brass are still “considering their options” for the show, which hypothetically could be picked up for next season. Emphasis on hypothetically.
TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.
Loading ...
And to think that everyone involved with this project was a genius, too. Oops.
This is one of the few, best shows on t.v. Why get rid of all the good shows and leave us with shows for kids.
Why don’t they cancel two & a half men and two broke girls? Both of them are terrible! If a show has to be lacking in talent and class in order to succeed anymore what does that say for the intelligence of the average TV viewer?
Please consider putting Prime Suspect on at a different time, night or channel!
AMEN! Prime Suspect has been one of the very few network shows that brought me back from AMC, TNT and the like. Will intelligent shows ever last on networks ? or will they all devolve into mindless, juvenile crap such as 2 Broke…, etc… very sad. Wrote a note to NBC, but sadly it will go unread and unheard – same thing they did with Friday Night Lights.
I agree and really disappointed in ever who is in charge of programming for NBC. The network finally comes up with a good show and they cancel it and leave the other unwatchable shows on the air. It is easy to understand why CBS blows NBC out of the water in the ratings because of poor choices like this. NBC please save the best show you have put on the air in awhile.
Please, please do not shut down this wonderful show. I am an avid Movie goer, TV watcher…this new show is one of the best I have ever seen on TV. Love Maria Bello and the entire cast, all top of the line professionals. The story line is wonderful to say the least. It is an awful thought that all that TV land is showing may be the usual dribble, old shows with the same old people…here is a show that is fresh, thought provoking and exciting to watch.
If anything I believe it is over money, the sets have to be expensive for they are like none other…the actors have to be expensive for they are the best!
Wow, i am sitting here in February and just found out Prime Suspect was cancelled….no wonder i havent been able to find it for weeks! I agree with the general consensus that is was an intelligent show that was in the same vein of Hill Street Blues and the original Law and Order Series…and what NBC used to be known for..quality.
Prime Suspect was that little gem of talent and entertainment that actually made a long day’s work okay when I knew I would get the chance to watch it….I then rewatched it on GCI “On Demand”…I wish I could be surprised something of quality is being cancelled but then I have been watching American’s choices in other matters so what else would be expected!!!
This is a great show. Hope they do reconsider and bring it back. Don’t cancel something that has great writing and acting.
Makes me sick. I was just getting into this show. Please reconsider.
I really looked forward to watching Prime Suspect. It was different from other cop tv shows because of Maria Bello’s character. The stories were interesting and characters were funny and real. I REALLY MISS THE SHOW. TOO BAD IT GOT CANCELLED. IF IT WERE ON CBS I THINK IT WOULD STILL BE ON!!!
ARE THESE PEOPLE STUPID AND CRAZY?????? I WATCH THIS SHOW FAITHFULLY. IT IS BY FAR ONE OF THE BEST ON TV. I AM NOT ONE TO WATCH MUCH OF ANYTHING ON TV THESE DAYS, AS THERE IS NOT MUCH TO CHOOSE FROM, BUT!! THIS SHOW ROCKS.
I agree. The first episode I thought at last something great has hit TV that I can look forward to seeing every week. A quality cable show on regular TV. Whoever voted to have it canceled should be sent back to the mailroom.
Why am I not be surprised …. one of the best shows on and you decide you’re done. There is so much trash TV … take some of that stuff off. I love this show. Please reconsider….
One of the best shows on tv….to ca el will be a huge loss to prime time tv.
The Networks find a good show, then cancel it. Go figure. I guess its back to TNT and AMC.This is typical major network stuff-they don’t know a good show when they see one
Please keeeeeeeppppp this on the are,please keeeppp on the air.
Give it one more season. Promo department should be fired on this job.
This was one of the better shows on TV, we’ve been waiting for it to come back and so I searched it…am very disappointed.
I loved this show, really NBC finally u had a great show and u cancell it.
Watching the ads for the new show this fall made me miss this show more. Maybe shows with redheaded female leads, with special mental powers, sexy clothes, a weak punch, bad acting, and perfect makeup works better for ratings. I give up!
Put the show back on….how can we get the show back on?what do or who do we have to talk to…that was the best show in years everyone I talked to loved the show so I don’t understand y it’s off!
Gutted this has been cancelled, easily the best cop shop seen in years. Proper gritty with great depth of characters and proper storylines underlying. Superb acting and chemistry between the cast. Like Southland.
It was that damn hat. Bello is one of the sexiest actresses around. But at times they left that attribute on the curb. Made her out to be part woman part Mickey Rourke. Stories were good great group of actors but back to that hat-doomed.
Hope they can see to it give it another reboot. And for Christ Sake hold the camera still for a little while during the 52 minutes. BETTHEDUCK
I actually thought Bello was great, especially with a hat.
I’m guessing Maria Bello’s wearing that hat because Maria Bello WANTS to wear that hat.
You’re right about her wanting to wear the hat — she pushed for her character to have “a thing,” like Kojak with the lollypops or Colombo with the trench.
That being said, that fekking hat ruined it; every promo had that stupid chapeau.
That stinking hat made her into a joke. So UGLY.
This is an excellent show. The acting is suberb across the board. It mixes levity with serious subject matter (do you think surgeons and OR staff don’t crack jokes while someone is laying on the table, with life in medical hands?). For her part, Maria Bello weaves strength, confidence, vulnerability, passion, compassion, sexy, sassy etc. into one compelling character. The hat (which I note was absent in tonight’s episode)even if it turns you off, ought not cause cancellation of this show. If the ratings are low, the producers should find a better time slot and promote it better. Don’t let this one fall through the cracks.
Finally when a new great crime-adult TV show comes on at 9:00 p.m. with a sassy woman character…who can definitely hold her own with “da guys”, weaves suspense, holds your attention and you walk away feeling entertained (last’s evening’s episode–I am still in awe of)…… Then I read today that NBC is pulling the plug on the show after 13 episodes. Does anyone think getting a petition to reconsider would work?
I actually liked her having a hat – put me in mind of Columbo and his mac! LOL!
I’m glad, this was a flop from the jump! DOA! This show was bad in my opinion! It didn’t have a hook to it (except to hang hats).
This show was a subtle character study in a crime procedural. Basically catching up where broadcast crime dramas like NYPD Blue and Homicide left off. Broadcast just can’t sustain quality and complex crime drama.
Sadly we just lost The Chicago Code last spring on fox. Good thing that the three best crime dramas on all of tv are on basic cable.
1.Justified
2.South Land
3.The Closer
LOVED this show. Too smart for NBC. Are there any talented execs left or all they all idiots now? They should have just left this show alone. So many great shows were not hits in the first 13. NBC is over the top canceling this. I think they’re all running too scared.
My husband and I also love this show. It is smart and topical, and it highlights the difficulty and resentment some women face in a male dominated profession. I consider it to be one of the better written shows on TV, therefore, it doesn’t surprise me that it will be cancelled. It’s far better for a network to contribute to the dumbing down of America with another mind-numbing reality show highlighting surperficial values and trashy behavior.
PS: I believe the idea behing the ugly hat is the character’s attempt to de-feminize herself while in her working environment.
Agree. I was looking forward to see the developing relationship between Jane and her sister.
I agree with the comments about the high quality of the show. good writing and good acting too, not just Bello but the others. and it is true. We have to go to basic cable for quality cop shows. I disagree that Bello needed a horrible vice. she had enough with the sexism and racism in the department.
I didn’t watch the show in its time slot, but I have watched every episode on nbc.com
I munch to that. Absolutely, positively agree.
If NBC has a tenth of brain matter, it will reinstate Prime Suspect, one of the best detective/cop shows since NYPD Blue and Homicide.
Quite enjoyed this program but disappointed when I saw the first episode; in no way did it resemble Helen Mirren’s Prime Suspect!
Old Biddy.
No surprise. The show was slow, and felt too familiar to the Law & Orders that are on every station at all hours of the day. Plus, NBC greatly overestimated America’s interest in Maria Bello.
That’s a shame because it was a very good show and Maria Bello was an excellent lead. The hat’s were a bad idea, also the camera style/shots favoring MB in every scene and low lighting didn’t help.
Maria Bello is a star and Prime Suspect is a tremendous show. NBC is a bunch of pussies. They don’t know how to launch, promote and support a show. All you talent with NBC pilots I’d be worried because these numb nuts don’t know what they’re doing.
I agree. Too bad a basic cable network couldn’t pick this show up. I’m so tired of investing my time into a quality T.V. show like this one, only to have it get canned.
“considering their options”, oh pleeeeeease! “Prime Suspect” has as much of a chance of returning as nbc has of being the number one network again!
Exactly. There is only one options when the ratings are that low.
“There is only one options when the ratings are that low.”
At NBC, you never know. Below-sea-level ratings sometime get rewarded with a pick-up (i.e.Harry’s Law).
And The Forgotten gets picked up… Remarkable. Just further evidence it’s viewers, not Holkywood, that’s stupid.
The major flaw was no Helen Mirren. Bello wasn’t good at all. I gave it a try , but it was really boring and uninteresting.
Agree 100%, Joe. No one can compete with Helen.
Helen is a classic and so is Bello. No reason for her to have to try on Helen’s very formidable shoes.
Maria deserves her own classic. Not any of the derivative remake crap.
What planet are you on? Bello was brilliant and I’d have picked Bello over Mirren any day for the USA version – Mirren was good in the British version, although I still prefer the USA series and that’s saying something as I’m British!! BRING PRIME SUSPECT US BACK!!!!
The problem with the show was that Jane had no real flaws. Sure she smoked and had a scotch or two, but that is nothing. She was a good daughter and a good cop. She lacked the balls that L. Plante gave her UK counterpart. It was too nice. They should have given her some really scary shit to deal with on the personal side, so that being a cop and good cop was her redemption. my two cents.
I agree Yen.I watched 3 or 4 episodes and thought the same thing. They should’ve had her secretly addicted to pain meds or alcohol or something. Much more interesting than having quit smoking.
That is a good observation. The original Prime Suspect was not really a cop show. It was a character study. Character is key.
At the beginning of the second season of the original series, I believe it was, the Jane Tennyson character had an abortion. An abortion! Can you imagine trying to write that into an American network TV series?
The UK Jane was also a white-knuckle drunk. The gender bias she encountered in her early days as a DI was toxic and real, not limited to jokes about the “beef squad,” or whatever they called it in that one episode of the US version.
The real problem with the show, then, was that it couldn’t decide what it really wanted to be. It was a police procedural pretending to be a character study. It should have been a character study dressed up as a cop show.
Even then, I’m not sure it would have found a wider audience on network TV. I think it would have had a better shot at success with a harder edge, airing on basic cable. Think about Breaking Bad. That show could never air on NBC. The story is just too harsh for a major network. But on a smaller scale, such as AMC, it works.
I loved this show. Every episode kept getting better. It’s a shame more people didn’t watch.
I watched and I am so, so disappointed in the people at NBC who made the decision to cancel this show. It will never cease to amaze me the trash that comes back year after year and the quality shows that disappear. They used to give new shows a couple of seasons to get their footing……..well, another good show bites the dust.
So disappointing.
Maybe the first series killed off by BAD wardrobe.
America does not like a middle-aged woman in a hipster hat.
I loved this show, I thought Maria Bello was great. Bummed to see it go so soon…
The problem with “Prime Suspect” was the title. If you were a fan of the BBC version, which most die-hard cop fans were, you were immediately turned off by the show’s disservice to it and felt betrayed. In order for cop shows to work, the fans of cop shows have to get on board. This made everyone LOL. Had they just named it something else, maybe they would have had a chance. Don’t turn the most iconic female cop into a joke. You will get no support.
how do you screw up a show with Maria bello? You put it on NBC. They should be embarassed and she needs a new agent.Who talked her into this piece of crap to start with? terrible show.
Maria looked like Curious George in those hats. The show was slow and her act got old in a hurry. Bye bye, Maria.
No surprise. This had too much going against it and only one thing – Maria Bello – going for it. It was based on a book that took advantage of the feminism in the themes and the themes were played out well in the Helen Mirren series. But in 2011 it looked out of date like they didnt get the memo that there are women in authority in real life and on their own network – the women in the L&O series. So her ‘issues’ never rang true. And it was just too grim. Compare with another darkish NYC drama – Person of Interest – that knows you have to inject some humor in once in a while.
Look to the book that works – Bones for example – and find some smart & sassy sleuth or pair of sleuths – thats where NBC needs to invest. They are not TNT, FX or even CBS.
Are you serious with insinuating women aren’t faced with sexism? You really think female cops, just by holding jobs as cops, don’t experience exactly what Jane does on this show? Answer: They do. Still. Yes, in 2011. The biggest problem with sexism now is that is blase and covered by excuses like, “Well, at least you can work”. That’s exactly what this show was about and probably why it didn’t have a shot in hell.
So glad the hat’s been singled out, but don’t forget this scarves, as a prime suspect here. I can imagine the discussions about these character ‘choices’ (see today’s Daily Variety for and interesting article on the intersection of character and wardrobe) which ultimately, I think at least were prime contributors to the lack of interest in what was, otherwise, a very well put together show.
In the old days (maybe 5 years ago?) the entire crew would most likely have been left in the dark while the producers kept them in denial to finish the show. Now thanks to the internet and articles like this, crew can look for alternate employment while still employed.
As far as cop shows go I thought this was a very good one. The writing was subtle and smart and Bello is a great actress. I’m sorry to see it go while Hawaii 5-0 thrives.
What a shame. The show was great and Maria was simply fantastic, hat and all.
NBC- Never. Be. Cool.
Amen. I’ve come to really appreciate this character driven show. I hate NBC.
I’d like to hope one of the basic cable stations will pick it up… seems more suited to them anyway.
The problem with this show was it was slow and overwritten. Too much character and not enough action. No one can say NBC didn’t give it a chance.
Not enough Character…. it was underwritten
Oh, please, it’s not the hat. How shallow are you people?
1. It was an unnecessary remake. No one was going to outdo Helen freaking Mirren!
2. Sexism (although still an issue) is not the hot-button issue it was in the 80s. The whole concept felt tired, like a fly caught in amber.
Too bad. I was one of the few watching the show. They should maybe consider sister station USA to air it.
USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!
Please, cable networks should save our Bello unlike they did to save our Bluths!
I liked the show, cast, look with the overhead NYC shots, but after watching a recent show, I thought to myself that these “prime suspects” are sure doing a lot of talking in the interrogation room without asking for an attorney or whether they were officially charged with a crime. A lot of the time you just go with the story being told, but if it stops being totally realistic, there is a disconnect on the part of the viewer. Thanks you very much Law & Order.