CW Network cancels Ashton Kutcher’s well promoted model drama, puts already under worked actors out of work

-S.Hines The fall season has already claimed it's first victim. The well publicized Ashton Kutcher produced "The Beautiful Life" a drama about young models trying to make it in concrete jungle also known as New York City has been canned and will be replaced with reruns of "Melrose Place" Ouch!!.  Not even the half naked shots of the stars on the promotion posters that plastered New York City attracted viewers. According to Media Decoder, the series premier only had 1.5 million eyeballs on it followed by a second showing which dipped 500k to just 1 million eyeballs.  What about the show that didn't grab the attention the CW was hoping for? Hmmm? Oh yeah, it's about young models who don't look like models trying to make it in New York City.  Also, everyone in New York City knows someone trying to make as something in the city. NEXT...

Morning Wire: And now a few of this morning's worthy media business news items

New York Times Co. says its not in a hurry to sell the Boston Globe. Could that be because no one is in a hurry to buy it from them? more... Will you pay $2 a week to read the Wall Street Journal on your Blackberry during your commute to the office? News Corp Chairman Rupert Murdoch did say he plans to charge a fee for all News Corp's online content. This is the roll out of those plans apparently. more...  Liberty Media is interested in AOL's dial up business. Ok seriously, we're still shocked that this business is even around at all. more...  Jay Leno's show pulled down 18.4 million viewers. too bad this wont last. Critics bashed it but, at the end of the day, its the Tonight Show at 10pm so what exactly don't they like about it? more... Facebook is rolling in users and cash. The Palo Alto, Calif., start-up added a whopping 50 million users since July, when it announced it crossed the 250-million-user mark and is expected to generate more than $500 million in revenue in 2009. more... Blockbuster is closing 960 locations after what seems to be a failed internet business that was set up to compete with the mighty Netflix.com. There are 4,356 Blockbuster locations throughout the country, meaning 24% to 29% could be closed or altered within 16 months. more...

Is CBS CEO Les Moonves unable to admit that he may have made a mistake?

By SDH CBS Corporation CEO Les Moonves has been in the broadcasting business for decades and we’re sure along the way, he has made some mistakes. But has he ever admitted to them? When it was announced that then “Today” co- anchor Katie Couric was joining CBS as the new face of the CBS Evening News program, many inside and outside the industry had their doubts that Couric could pull off the gig and so far those doubters have been right. Sure when she debuted, the show’s ratings were up there, but this is the case when something is marketed to the masses. They all will tune in to see what all the fuss is about. But soon after the Couric’s debut, the ratings started to slide slowly bit surely to levels that were probably un-heard of when Dan Rather was helming the program. Couric’s ratings have been stunted with no real sign of a jolt. But through all this, CBS CEO Les Moonves has been standing behind Couric even after admitting he is not happy with the ratings, but he is happy with the product. But at the end of the day, isn’t it the ratings that count, especially when it comes to advertisers? Clearly Moonves is in denial and is stuck in a rut after ponying up $15 million a year for Couric. Les Moonves doesn’t want to admit that he may have been a bit overzealous when he hired Couric and the deal has basically failed and has brought CBS nothing but scrutiny. Moonves is probably praying that Couric quits under pressure from ratings and reviews so he can slip out with minor scrapes and scratches. We hope Sumner Redstone is watching this, because this may be grounds to do to Les what he did to Tom Freston for not grabbing Myspace.