‘Rising Star’ premiere ratings weak; could Kehsa – Brad Paisley show be canceled quick?

We are starting to think more than ever that ABC made a mistake by getting rid of “Whodunnit?” (at least for now, given that it was never formally canceled) and putting “Rising Star” in its place. This was a show that they put a ton of money into, hyped extensively, and even hired big names for like Kesha and Brad Paisley.

Still, none of this works to change the fact that the critics and viewers mostly hated the show, the talent was subpar, and the ratings that have just come in have been more than a little spotty. The premiere only scored a 1.5 rating in the 18-49 demographic, which is pretty bad given that the number is going to fall significantly next week now that America has made their opinion clear. Also, it had fewer total viewers than the premiere of “The Last Ship” over on TNT.

So what is the worst-case scenario for this show? If it loses a huge chunk of its audience next week, we wonder whether or not ABC could lower the wall on the show early and put it out of its misery. This failure, though, is a major hit to new reality chief Lisa Berger, who came over from E! hoping to save a network that has not had a significant reality hit since “Dancing with the Stars” at this point. It and “The Bachelor” are both still on the air, but are extremely dated and they can only last so long.

We may check out part of the show next week to see if there is any improvement, but we’re not that optimistic.

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Photo: ABC