CBS axes crime dramas

CBS has cancelled a string of shows including Jennifer Love-Hewitt's Ghost Whisperer and the crime shows Cold Case and Numb3rs, while rival US network ABC has picked up former Friends star Matthew Perry's show Mr Sunshine. CBS, announcing its midseason and autumn schedule, was only expected to cancel a couple of shows but shocked observers by cancelling four dramas and three comedies at its "upfront" presentation in the US. The biggest shock was the cancellation of Ghost Whisperer, which airs as part of a paranormal schedule on Living TV in the UK. The show consistently won its Friday-night slot and had been expected to return, according to the Hollywood Reporter . CBS also cancelled Numb3rs, which airs on Channel Five in the UK, and Cold Case, which is shown on Sky. According to reports, Ghost Whisperer could be picked up by rival broadcaster ABC as a good fit for its Friday-night schedule. ABC announced that it has picked up Perry's Mr Sunshine, a sitcom about the manager of a seedy sports arena who suffers from a mid-life crisis, which also stars the former West Wing actress Allison Janney. Apparently ABC almost planned a "sort of Friends reunion" by considering to schedule Mr Sunshine immediately after Cougar Town, which features the ex-Friends star Courteney Cox, according to the Miami Herald . ABC also said that Michael Chiklis, who played the renegade detective Vic Mackey in The Shield, will star in the superhero action drama No Ordinary Family. In the show Chiklis, who has played superhero The Thing in two Fantastic Four films, is part of a family whose plane crashes into the Amazon river and who emerge with superpowers. Michael Imperioli, who played Christopher Moltisanti in the Sopranos , will play a "damaged but driven" detective in a homicide unit in Detroit 1-8-7. Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, which has found it tougher going in the US than the UK equivalent , has been left off the schedule. However ABC said that the show could still be picked up. ABC has also reportedly cancelled Eastwick , a take on the 1987 film that starred Jack Nicholson, Susan Sarandon, Cher and Michelle Pfeiffer, which was based on the John Updike novel. • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email [email protected] or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. • If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".