Actor Fred Willard, left, joins host Jimmy Fallon.
(Lloyd Bishop - AP)
Four days after Jimmy Fallon pretended guest Fred Willard had come to talk about his “new” ABC sketch comedy series, which Fallon promised was “going to be a great” — and before that show aired again — ABC pulled it.
The network decided it would rather air “Wipeout” reruns this Tuesday night and next Tuesday, than the last original episodes of the sketch comedy series hosted by Willard, who, on July 18 visited a porn theater in Hollywood where he was arrested on suspicion of driving with one hand.
The 72-year-old Willard, who already had lost his gig as narrator of PBS’s “Antiques Road Show” companion competition series “Market Warriors” after his arrest, has maintained it was all a misunderstanding.
In ABC’s defense, the “Trust Us” ratings were slipping. It opened on July 10 with 3.3 million watching; last week’s second episode — ABC has been airing two episodes each Tuesday, back to back — clocked just 1.8 million.
When Willard visited Jimmy Fallon’s NBC late night show Thursday, Fallon had apparently agreed to pretend Willard was there to plug his “new” ABC sketch comedy show. Willard is the host.
“I want to talk about your new show,” Fallon said. “This sounds like something that’s right up your alley. You’re going to kill it.”
Willard described the show. They showed a clip. The clip was funny. Willard was not in the clip.
“That is genius!” Fallon gushed. “That is going to be a great show!”
But, alas, it was instead canceled.
Loading...
Comments