Turns out Steve Carell‘s Midas touch has its limits. Not even he could help Rove McManus‘ new show on US TV, Riot, which bombed in spectacular fashion on its debut showing.
The comedy-improv series, which is based on Australian series SlideShow (itself based on a French show named “Vendredi tout est permis avec Arthur”, or “On Fridays, Anything Goes with Arthur” (haha, what)) scraped in with a dismal 1.3 million viewers – one of the weakest debuts ever for a show on a major US network. Like SlideShow, Riot features a stage set on a 22.5 degree angle and requires contestants to sing, dance and perform comedy sketches while navigating mental and physical challenges, which sounds entertaining. So what went wrong?
The first episode featured guests Cheryl Hines (Curb Your Enthusiasm), Andy Buckley (The Office) and Carell himself, so it probably wasn’t a lack of guest stars. The LA Times blames the low-rating series finale of Glee, which led into Riot. Our take? It’s a fucking weird idea for a TV show.
Image via Caroline McCredie for Getty Images Entertainment
