The website for Latina Magazine has a new interview with actress Sara Paxton of now-cancelled CW show “The Beautiful Life,” also starring Mischa Barton. We heard on Friday that the show would be canned after a mere two low-rated episodes. Paxton told Latina.com that the cast and crew was abruptly informed of the decision on Friday morning while they were getting ready for a day’s work. She described how shocked everyone was and blamed the decision on underpromotion by network CW, which has been hyping their other two new shows, the “Melrose Place” redux and “Vampire Diaries.” There are five more episodes of the show in the can, and the fact that the CW has chosen to air a repeat of Melrose Place instead of airing the show is a “slap in the face” according to Paxton.
You were effervescent and marvelous as the star of TBL. How do you feel about the CW’s decision to cancel your show so quickly?
We’re so shocked! I definitely think it’s unfair. The CW didn’t give our show a chance to succeed or fail. We had some amazing episodes coming up that we were all proud of, and the story lines were about to get really interesting, so we’re sad that no one will ever even see those! It’s unbelievable the way that they told us—we were all in the middle of work. I was sitting in the hair and makeup chair, and I’m getting my hair done just like a normal Friday—we were all excited for Friday. And all of a sudden, they got the call, and the producers had to make an announcement on set that we were done—that we were over! And I was sitting there in shock. I couldn’t believe that in the middle of work, the rug was pulled out beneath our feet. Immediately, I run over to Corbin’s [Bleu] room, and I’m like, ‘oh my God, oh my God!’ I was freaking out! And Corbin was shocked. Everyone was just devastated. It was horrible. Terrible.You didn’t see this coming at all?
We were worried because our show didn’t get as much marketing as other shows. Everywhere you go in New York City, you see Melrose Place posters everywhere—I see Vampire Diaries everywhere. And CW, they just didn’t put any money into advertising for our show whatsoever. It was up to the cast to keep the show going, so we went to every red carpet, we talked about the show, we publicized, we did twitter, we did everything we could possibly do to get the word out about the show. We thought it was really worth it because we care about the show—we care about each other and we wanted to make it work. But if people don’t know that the show even exists, they’re not going to watch it.Why do you feel they weren’t behind the show?
I have no idea. We wanted the same thing. We did the pilot, and when we saw the pilot, we were all so proud of it, and we really thought we had made something special. We’re a really talented group, and most of us have been working for a long time and have really good projects under our belts, and I just don’t understand why they would do this.How do you feel about the CW’s decision not to air the five other episodes you’ve already filmed?
It’s a slap in the face! It’s almost like we were part of this family and now suddenly we’re dropped. I couldn’t even call the CW because they probably have my number on their caller ID and they’re like, ‘no don’t pick up, don’t pick up.’ It’s crazy. And oh my God, episodes three, four and five were going to be amazing. That’s what really sucks. You’ve got to have time to let a show get its legs and find an audience, especially when they’re putting zero dollars into advertising. And we were slowly going in that direction. Everyday I was getting emails from Japan and Brazil and the U.K from people who were buying the show on iTunes and were going nuts over it. And if they had just given it more time to really catch a fan base I think it could’ve been huge for the CW. I really think they missed out, and I really think they’re missing out on a huge opportunity for themselves.And now they’re going to be airing Melrose Place in your place…
It’s hard because I don’t want to sound ungrateful for everything they have done for us, but I think especially since this happened Friday—it’s really hard for me not to be angry. I really don’t want to upset [CW President] Dawn Ostroff, because she is a really cool lady. I just don’t understand how they could do this.
[From Latina.com via WeSmirch]
I thought you were never supposed to fire someone on a Friday or before a holiday. It’s said to give people too much time to worry about their situation without being able to do much about it. The CW probably made the announcement on a Friday so that they would receive the least amount of publicity, though. On a Monday the news would have been widely reported and covered but on a Friday afternoon we all just want to go home.
I watched the first episode of “The Beautiful Life” and it didn’t really pull me in like the dangerous “Vampire Diaries” or the new super-trashy Melrose. Parts of it were fun and I liked it toward the end, but it took at least a half hour to get interesting and I wanted to turn it off a few times. It was hard to tell where the story was going and the plot seemed disjointed and random. The dialog was bad and I had a hard time keeping track of the characters or caring about them. (Plus that chick Dexter killed on the second season was in it, and I can’t stand that actress.)
Maybe “The Beautiful Life” got cancelled because it wasn’t a great show, and no one was watching it. As Paxton points out in her interview, “Beautiful Life” was co-created by Ashton Kutcher and was his first scripted series. It’s not like the guy has any kind of track record at creating compelling dramas. He’s known for reality shows like “Punk’d” and “Beauty and The Geek.”
The second show was watched by only 1 million viewers as compared to a still-low 1.8 million who watched the second Melrose. “Vampire Diaries” is doing incredibly well in the ratings with around 3.8 million watching the second and third episodes. It’s expected to be picked up for another season.
This actress Sara Paxton is just 21. She just seems like she’s being honest about what happened and that she’s not considering the impact talking smack could have on her career. She is getting a lot of press and if you think about it Katherine Heigl is still employed so it could work out well for her.
Header is of Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore, and Beautiful Life cast members Ashley Madekwe, Sara Paxton, Mischa Barton, and Corbin Bleu at the Launch of ‘The Beautiful Life’ at the Simyone Lounge in NY on 9/12/09. She is also shown on 9/16 and 9/17. Credit: WENN.com
Awwww, poor girls. They starved themselves thin for nothing!
ah to be fair, she has always been that thin. She’s a good girl, I think she’s adorable.
I liked the show, it wasn’t anything mind blowing, but it was fun to watch. That really sucks.
I must be getting old-I have no idea what this show is and who half the girls are you guys post on here. I’d better start watching more shows before my daughter hits her tweens so I know what the hell she’s watching!!
“Green Is Good” maybe you aren’t considering all the crew and talent that just lost their jobs and now have to find other means of providing for their families. Karma will haunt you.
I like Sara. She’s cute and I’ve seen her actually act-Misha just pulls a pouty face. I never even knew when it was on so I never got a chance to like it or hate it.
EWW… Little Miss ‘Pardon my tits’ from Dexter was in it? Good thing I didn’t watch. I also dislike that actress CB. Wanted Dexter to kill her way before he actually did.
I never watched the show, but two episodes seems awfully quick to pull it.
I seem to remember reading somewhere that the ratings for Seinfeld sucked in its first season, so ratings on two eps isn’t really a fair estimate of what the later ratings might be.
CW wasn’t invested in it at all. She’s right about the advertising, I didn’t see any at all prior to airtime. You can’t walk two feet without running into a Melrose Place ad in NYC. It was also a bad show. Enjoyably so, but still bad.
I am sick of all of these vampire shows and movies. I’m sick of vampires period. I guess like certain fashions they come back into vogue every 20 years. Can’t wait until the sunlight turns them all to dust.
Frank: “Karma will haunt you” ?? For making a joke about these little girls wasting away for a show? Lighten up…maybe you need to worry more about the other millions of people around the world who are without jobs and homes rather than people who most likely showed up to another new show production the next morning.
I actually really liked the show. It was fun and a lot better than the new 90210 and others. I really like Paxton too. They did nothing to promote this show and they never gave it a chance.
Glad to see I’m not the only one who despised Lila with a passion. HATED her.
I hope this interview doesn’t earn her any enemies. It’s refreshing to hear an actor be honest. And she wasn’t really $h!t-talking. She was talking about how it made her feel.
I actually liked this show. Im not a fan of Melrose Place or 90210 but this one was cute and refreshing.
I don’t think many people are a fan of Mischa Barton though. That may have done it.
Well Celebitchy, She is right about 2 things. One, the CW never really promotes the show that they need to. One Tree Hill, which is on it’s seventh season, I think, hardly ever gets promoted. I think I saw ONE commercial about it, and that was on YouTube.
Yet, they spend all this money on promoting Gossip Girl with the “sex, sex, OMFG, sex, Blake Lively in a tight dress!!!, sex, sex, sex!!” And guess what? It STILL gets lower ratings than One Tree Hill, consistently! And it has since GG started. You would think by that equation, they would give OTR an ad space here or there, but no, it’s still pushed to the side.
And before the CW was made, the show Girlfriends was on WB and the creator of the show consistently complained about the lack of promotion for a show that consistently had millions of people watching it and reached a key demographic, yet, they spent money on other shows.
And then there’s Melrose Place. I it got 1.8 million viewers its second week, then dropped down to 1.5 million the third. As far as I’m concerned, it’s dead but they may just continue to plug along with it like they do GG.
Sara Paxton has a point. I feel like 2 episodes really was not enough to see whether or not it could make it. Especially with all the failing shows on the network
Well the cast learned a valuable lesson that everyone in the world learns at some point. Hollywood and corporate America does not care about your feelings or hurting them. They care about ratings and money. Period. The End.
I kinda liked the show…except for Mischa Barton. She ruined it, IMO. I’m still trying to figure out what would compel them to cast her.
one more thing…regarding the pr for this show, I gotta agree with Ms. Paxton.
The ONLY thing I ever heard about this show was when there was a story about Mischa Barton having her breakdown and they mentioned her role. but never saw even one ad for it, anywhere.
Can Melrose Place be canceled now too? Please.
Also, Supernatural, until this season and the end of the last season, wasn’t heavily promoted either (And it’s still not promoted as much as 91210 or others). They are now in season five and pull a good amount of people. So this girl can sit down and stop talking. If a show sucks and doesn’t look interesting then that’s it. Oh well.
@Eileen Yover: Exactly! Green is Good is right, I’m tired of looking at their protruding bones, ugh it is sooo gross! It needs to be said that this scary skinny appearance that Hollywood is promoting is not the way real women should look and it’s not healthy image to support. I don’t think karma has anything to do with it.
How disappointing. There were no ads for it – unlike melrose place which had an ad in almost every commercial break on tv…I thought the pilot was great, interesting, unique. Melrose place is so similar to other shows already on – I don’t get it. I was really looking forward to watching more episodes…:(
@ Laura – I can explain. One Tree Hill doesn’t need to be heavily promoted if it is getting as many viewers as you say. That’s the point of promotion… you don’t spend a gazillion dollars on convincing people they like something everybody wants already, you spend it on the crap you need to MAKE them want. So CW did let the show down, because I don’t think anyone was interested in the first place.
Here’s the smallest violin and it’s playing just for her. Get a real acting job Sara.
@princess pea
Yeah, you’re right in that sense. It gets viewers without them doing anything. But what about shows like Desperate Housewives or Dancing With the Stars or House or any other show that gets lots of viewers and still have a lot of promotion. It’s a two-way street, you know?
You can’t cancel something when you didn’t even put the work in to make sure people knew about it and it’s not fair to the shows who do well on their own to just forget about them, either. But the CW probably doesn’t have as big of a budget at the bigger networks like ABC and CBS.
This happens in Hollywood all the time. When I first got here, I got my first big gig, I went in for multiple fittings, signed off on everything, quit my job and then was told 5 days before I was to start shooting for three months, that I was no longer needed. Thanks for that. I quit my job! The lessons here are hard that way. There is absolutely NO job security in Hollywood. The only good thing to come out of that experience was I got my SAG card. But man was I broke! I understand exactly where she is coming from.
One other thing, when you are an actor, you are THRILLED to get a series gig. It takes months and numerous auditions and approvals. And to discount it as a crap job, it may not be Meryl Streep, but it’s paying your bills and you aren’t waiting tables. I always find all of the venom about actors interesting, because they have to put up with the most degrading situations to get ahead. When you go into audition you are told things, TO YOUR FACE, that would make most “regular” job holders cry. I have been personally told to my face, I am to fat, too skinny, too short, too tall, too big, not attractive enough, too attractive, we need a blond instead, etc etc etc. Being a working actor is harder than you can imagine. And so much of it is not based on your talents. You have to have it to back it up, but alot of it is look and luck. And those two things don’t meet often. It’s not like being qualified to be an accountant. Nepotism is the only thing that can make things alot easier, but look at Rumer Willis and all the lovely things said about her. I wish Sarah luck in finding her next gig!
(weeps copiously for Ron)
I love when people threaten other people with karma, as if THEY’RE responsible for doling it out, like some sort of karma gatekeeper or something. Get over yourself Frank XD
On topic: 2 episodes DOES seem a little fast, but it’s Mischa Barton, what do I care (oh crap, I bet karma’s coming for ME now…)
I think this girl is cute. But man, has anyone seen The Last House On The Left? She has a horrible rape scene in it.
Interesting Rob, thanks for sharing .
Perhaps if all actors actually talked more about what they go through, (the trials and turbulations) of what it takes to be an actor. What you’re describing, then there would be more understanding and less, “venom” towards them.
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If Ashton K or David Arquette have a hand in anything- it immediately turns to junk. Not bad Karma but bad chi, I think.
this is absolutelty reddiculous.
i loved the showww . its so good .
i think they should have the show .