Paradise lost: the “Paradise Hotel” reboot has been canceled after one season at Fox, the network’s Alternative chief Rob Wade told TheWrap exclusively during the Television Critics Association press tour Wednesday.
“I think that ‘Paradise,’ obviously, we had a good run at that,” Wade told us. “I think when we launched it it was just before the summer. It didn’t perform as well as we wanted, but we were really proud of the show. But I think realistically, for ‘Paradise,’ we won’t be bringing it back. And I think, you know, you have to choose your shots. There’s only a certain amount of real estate you have on the network and I think it just felt like, while we loved the show, the point of that show was it was many, many hours.
He continued: “And if you’re gonna do a show that’s many hours either you gotta go — I think it was like 18 hours this time — in success you want to be able to say, ‘Let’s do 30.’ Now if you do 30 hours of something, you have to not do 30 hours of something else. And it just feels like it’s not one of those shows. Like, if it was a 10-hour show or something like that, then I think there would be more consideration. But yeah, it feels like we need to free the schedule and do something a bit different.”
“But again, we love the space and thought it was a really fun show,” he added.
The reboot of the reality series debuted in May and wrapped up in June. Kristin Cavallari hosted this comeback attempt.
Here’s the logline for Fox’s latest iteration of the show:
With a fresh cast of eleven sexy guys and girls, “Paradise Hotel 2” offers more drama, passion, and manipulation than its predecessor. Sex and seduction emerge as primary tools of manipulation as players stop at nothing to escape eviction. Within the cast, you’ll find a macho loose canon, an all-American cheerleader virgin, and a smooth-talking Italian stud. These guests aren’t afraid to throw caution to the wind, and they’ll steam up each episode with a tasty combination of lust and betrayal!
“Paradise Hotel” first aired in 2003; it was brought back for a season in 2008. This latest one-season run makes it 0-for-3. Might be time to let it go.
The Cavallari-hosted season premiered on May 9 and managed just a 0.5 rating among adults 18-49 and 1.4 million total viewers, according to Nielsen’s Live + Same Day ratings. The June 6 season finale did even worse, with 0.4 rating and 1.3 million viewers.
Even the addition of delayed viewing barely brightens the un-sunny “Paradise” picture. The spring/summer run, which was abbreviated due to poor performance, averaged a 0.6 rating and 1.7 million viewers overall per episode.