NBC Cancels Jessica Simpson’s Reality Show Fashion Star

July 29, 2013 by Hollywoodite

NBC has cancelled Fashion Star. As such, the show will not return for a third season.

The show was criticised from its first episode because of its move away from entertainment and towards product placement. It’s less of a reality show than it is an hour long advert for the brands doing the meaningless “bidding”.

On the surface, it’s a reductive version of Project Runway, but it’s basically a well thought out exercise in distribution and product placement. It’s pretty impressive they got people to watch at all considering how little content there actually is for what’s supposed to be a television show.

It isn’t without its problems. In its short life, the show had several “revamps” and changes in format to stop it from hemorrhaging viewers. But it still lost its foothold and eventually got cancelled altogether.

NBC has canceled the reality competition, in which a group of fashion designers competed to have their garments sold in Macy’s, Saks and Express stores, NBC Entertainment president Bob Greenblatt confirmed Saturday at the Television Critics Association’s summer press tour.

Speaking to reporters following his morning session, Greenblatt confirmed the fate of the series with a swift and firm “no” when asked by The Hollywood Reporter if the show would return.

The network moved the show from Tuesday to Friday nights for its second season. It also was given a revamp, with Louise Roe brought in as host (replacing executive producer Elle Macpherson), Express taking over for H&M on the buyers’ panel and the designers getting grouped into teams under one of the mentors — Jessica Simpson, Nicole Richie or John Varvatos — who also took on more of a hands-on role in helping the competitors.

The May 10 finale of the reality show drew 2.5 million viewers and a 0.5 rating in the coveted adults 18-49 demo, a significant drop from the season-one finale’s 1.6 rating (on a Tuesday night). – via The Hollywood Reporter.