USA spurns frosh 'Lover'
Syndie show first to be nixed from new season
Move makes "Lover" the first syndie show to be nixed from the new season.
The Monday-Friday dating show will continue to be distributed in syndication through the November ratings sweeps period, and possibly slightly beyond.
"We are disappointed because we believed the show had potential and was growing in popularity, with a number of new stations signing on for it since its August debut," a spokesman for the show's syndie distribber Studios USA Domestic TV said. "From the beginning, the driver on this project had been USA Network. If it was not going to continue with it, then neither could we."
"Lover or Loser" is currently cleared on 101 stations covering 71% of the United States. It earned a 0.7 national household rating for the week ending Oct. 29.
The other show affected in USA's relationship block is "Friends or Lovers." The block, which had aired from 5-6 p.m., was canceled due to low ratings.
Meanwhile, "Strip Poker" on USA has been shifted to midnight from 11 p.m.
In place of both the relationship block and "Strip Poker's" previous time slot are repeats of "Martin."
"In addition to poor ratings, the de-cision to cancel the block is also based on the fact that we are shifting our programming priorities to primetime in the near term. But look for original programming in that 5-6 p.m. block possibly by fourth quarter next year," a spokesman for USA Network said.
