Entertainment

ABC Says No To John Stamos' New Show

by Loretta Donelan

It turns out that even if you are the age defying John Stamos, Hollywood can deal you a bad hand. The straight to series dramedy Members Only was set to star Stamos, Justified's Natalie Zea, and Breaking Bad's Betsy Brandt, but on Saturday, ABC told the cast they were no longer interested in the show.

Though this must have been sad news for those working on the show, it also looks unfortunate for the rest of us. Members Only, originally titled The Club, was described as a soap set at a country club, but rather than pulpy, it looked pretty high quality. For one thing, Stamos was set to play a rich villain, which I'm sure would have been great. The show was created by the talented Susannah Grant, who wrote Erin Brockovich and adapted In Her Shoes. Perhaps most interestingly, this was supposed to be acclaimed Silver Lining's Playbook director David O. Russell's first television show. He and Grant were supposed to co-write and executive produce the series, but Russell left the project early on. This probably has something to do with why the show was cancelled before it was aired.

It's potentially a wise choice, since the show sounds like it could easily blend in with the rest of what's on TV (Bustle's Mallory Schlossberg pointed out that it had some unfortunate similarities to Two And A Half Men). But with an interesting cast and writers, I would have liked to see whether this show could follow in How To Get Away With Murder's footsteps to become the next big ABC female-helmed drama. Maybe they decided there's only room for one.