On the other hand I'm very proud of the show and sad we won't continue. In a bid to make peace with gay advocacy groups, Schlessinger twice apologized for her comments, first in March 2000 and again in October in a full-page ad on the back cover of a Variety issue about gay Hollywood. But gay activists did not relent, ratings continued to sag and stations in key markets started bumping her show to the overnight shift. When it finally did so in January, the show's demise was assured. Yesterday, Schlessinger made it official.
Broadcast networks continue to stick it to charities.
Kutcher was all set to tape his appearance on the show this weekend, along with Jason Alexander, Chevy Chase, Dennis Franz, John Leguizamo, Kelly Ripa, Martin Short, Ben Stiller and Alfre Woodard. Their appearances would be seen during the May sweeps ratings race. Kutcher's charity was the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics Transplant Patient Support Fund, which is part of the University of Iowa Foundation. Kutcher, who's from Homestead, Iowa, picked that charity because his twin brother, Michael, had a heart transplant at the hospital years earlier. All of which is by way of saying that Fox is getting off way too cheap here.