NBC Cancels Dane Cook Comedy Before It Even Airs

NBC has canceled Dane Cook’s new comedyNext Caller before it even had a chance to air. In a Deadline exclusive, the network originally ordered six episodes as a mid-season replacement but after only four out of the six were recorded they yanked the show, with NBC execs reportedly deciding “creatively the series was not going in the direction they had hoped for.”

The Stephen Falk run comedy (Falk’s most notable project is serving as an off and on producer and writer for Weeds) starred Cook as a sexist satellite radio DJ who hosted a show with a peppy NPR feminist played by Collette Wolfe (Young Adult, Hot Tub Time Machine, Cougar Town).

You’ll get zero sympathy from me for Cook now that NBC’s decided to pull the plug on Next Caller. I’ve met Dane Cook. The experience wasn’t pleasant. He was rude to the staff of the club he was performing at and rude to the audience. He actually stopped mid- set and threw a woman out for being too tipsy and saying a little too loudly “You’re not funny!” – trust me, he did her a favor.

And I’m really not all that surprised that NBC chose to cancel Cook’s Next Caller before it aired, or that they’re not even going to show the four episodes that were completed. It was deemed “unwatchable” by the Huffington Post; west coast editor Maggie Furlong hilariously surmised: “I groaned when I heard Dane Cook was getting a sitcom; I almost cried when I realized he’s nowhere near the worst part of this show.”