All the Last Minute Celebrity Twitter-Plugging in the World Couldn’t Save NBC’s ‘Free Agents’

I liked NBC's reboot of the Britcom "Free Agents." The writing was solid, and Hank Azaria and Katherine Hahn are so good at their acting jobs that they made the show work even with a premise (damaged co-workers doing it) that would be a three-episode arc on any other show. But it was pretty clear that "Agents" wasn't long for NBC's Wednesday night line-up: this is a particularly gimmicky Fall TV season, and "Free Agents," with its low-concept, "Let's just let these pros do their thing" style wasn't going to stand out enough. (Luckily, the most gimmicky shows seem to be getting canceled too: see NBC's other early loser, "The Playboy Club.") Things looked grim even before last night's airing, when every conceivable comedy celebrity with a large Twitter following tried to save the show by urging their followers to watch.

And now, reports Deadline, the show is dead due to low ratings. It will be replaced by re-runs of "Whitney," and there's a silver lining to this dark cloud: Deadline's Nellie Andreeva thinks this means "Whitney" will move to Wednesdays, giving "30 Rock" back its rightful spot on Thursday nights. So that's something! The incredibly talented Hahn will surely find somewhere good to land, and the equally great Azaria still has his "Simpsons" gig. Uh, for now.