Spun Out broadcast plans “indefinitely suspended”

In the wake of voyeurism charges against Spun Out actor J.P. Manoux, CTV has announced that Masterchef Canada will replace the sitcom in the post-Superbowl slot, and future broadcast plans have been “indefinitely suspended.” Season two was scheduled to premiere on March 5 after Sunday’s sneak peek.

CTV’s statement:

CTV was shocked to learn tonight of the arrest of Spun Out actor J.P. Manoux. The charges against him are serious allegations. CTV will work with Spun Out producers Project 10 Productions to assist the Toronto Police Service in any way possible in their investigation. We can confirm that all future broadcast plans for Spun Out, including this Sunday’s post Super Bowl sneak peek, have been indefinitely suspended.

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11 thoughts on “Spun Out broadcast plans “indefinitely suspended””

  1. This is the same show where someone made some off color jokes, apologized, and members of the offended community said that wasn’t enough and that CTV needed to apologize and meet with them and do all sorts of stuff.

    So which is it?

    Act proactively or not? I’m sure if it turns out he’s found “not guilty” CTV will schedule the show and run it and everything will be fine.

    But til then, it’s problematic since you can’t write the actor out or take the focus off them — they’re in most of the scenes in what’s supposed to be a zany comedy and nobody’s going to think ‘zany’ in light of the news here.

    I’m curious what the poster would do if it was their decision, and how they would justify the backlash? Honest question.

    1. I’d need more information before I can say what I would do – I have no doubt that there are factors I know nothing about. On it’s face you are having many people pay many different prices for “alleged” criminal activity of one person.

      “I’m sure if it turns out he’s found “not guilty” CTV will schedule the show and run it and everything will be fine.”

      You realize of course Denis…
      That if he turns out to be “not guilty” – everything is already not fine for J.P. It’s a sad and interesting dilemma.

      1. Unfortunately he’s been charged with a crime and there’s an ongoing investigation – if CTV did nothing it would turn many against the show and the network. I think they did what they had to do, and hopefully they will be able to reevaluate when circumstances change.

  2. Yeah, Diane’ s put it much better. There were no good options here. They did the least no-good, terrible option. And it’s awful that it burns the hard work of so many. But..it is what it is. I’m sure those involved with the show are shocked, surprised, embarrassed, angry and appalled. I’d be too. It’s a lot to absorb.

    Entertainment as a product begins as ephemera — it only attains a longer life if it’s embraced and loved, and remembered. Sadly in this case whatever the ephemeral charms of the show, the 1000 lb weight on it would make the consideration of its merits by an audience not only difficult, but probably irrelevant.

  3. I think you are all giving the viewing public too much credit. Most people would have no idea about who J.P. Manoux is and of his impending charges–he’s not really a big name actor. I really think people would be clueless about all this when watching the show. I think CTV regretted their decision to put Spun Out in the post-Superbowl slot and jumped at the chance to replace it. It’s a shame because a lot of people put hard work into the show .

  4. Ally, that’s a supposition based on your gut instinct, not backed by evidence.

    The evidence says that for a previous, much, much, much less serious offence involving some ill-advised tweets by one of the people behind the show, there were days and days of bad stories in the press. And that was for an incident where there was an action, instant regret, and an immediate apology. It didn’t matter. CTV had weeks — months now — of the occasional story popping up of a “community activist” who insisted the personal apology was not enough and CTV needed to “own it” and “do more.”

    I happen to think that’s hogwash, but then again, I wasn’t trying to get headlines from it.

    That was over a one-time case of bad judgement. This is going to be a case, like all cases involving court time, where there’s a new story with every court appearance, every day of trial, testimony, leading up to the verdict and aftermath. And in every one of those stories, if the network didn’t act, they would be accused of tacitly saying the alleged transgression wasn’t as important as their investment, or whatever.

    By not being proactive, they would be a much bigger part of the story as long as the story was a story.

    It doesn’t matter if nobody had heard of the show. Some people would have heard of it, and many, many more would hear of it as it was mentioned in every article, and at least some of those people would say, “why is the Network not pulling the show?”

    That’s how these things work. Your hunch is belied by previous example and experience on this matter.

    Cheers.

  5. Sorry. I didn’t mean to spout accusations–I was just stating opinion not fact. I guess I don’t read the right papers or look at the right news sites because until someone here mentioned it the other day, I hadn’t even heard of the previous controversy. I, admittedly, have never watched the show, nor would I have (it didn’t seem my cup of tea) but I just think most viewers wouldn’t have been aware of the controversies while watching it because they didn’t exactly make national news or anything or if they did, I must have been at work while Peter Mansbridge mentioned it. Spun Out was a very under-the-radar, typical underpublicized Canadian show and other than Dave Foley, had no well-known actors, including J.P. Manoux, who I had never heard of until his voyeurism charges came to light here. I just feel bad for the people who put time and effort into the show and were excited for the post-Superbowl slot then had the rug pulled out from under them. I guess that’s the television business though; It won’t be the first show to make episodes that never air. There are thousands of unaired episodes of various shows floating around the atmosphere.

    1. In cases like this it’s less about whether all or even most viewers know of the controversy versus whether it’s public enough to cause grief for the network and its advertisers. The charges have made headlines, and they can’t know what the investigation and possible trial might stir up. It’s a terrible story all around, and I don’t envy the network that decision, but I can’t fault them for it either.

  6. Seems like an odd decision to me. The story wasn’t very big when it first broke and the role and the actor certainly aren’t the face of the series. It would be like taking Parks & Rec off the air because of something the dude who plays Jerry did.

    When I read the headline, I assumed CTV was shelving it because the show is kind of terrible.

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