Emmy award winner Martha Stewart just got sacked by the Hallmark channel. Her arts and crafts theme daytime television show might be great to watch, but it has lost too many viewers in the recession economy of 2011 to make the project viable for the network to product in 2012. Now, the pet friendly American treasure is taking flack from critics claiming her career as a brand name celebrity products endorsement professional has gone to the dogs.
Cancelled!?! Say what? Martha Stewart, the iconic homemaker and television star celeb known for her arts and crafts projects and fine foodie sense, will not be appearing on the Hallmark channel as the anchor for her own daytime television show any longer. Entertainment Weekly spoke to the network and confirmed that the show starring the pet friendly celebrity herself is just one of a number of lifestyle theme TV shows belonging to the Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia brand, will cease production in April. Now she’s taking flack from critics who claim her brand name and star power has essentially gone to the dogs.
“MSLO [Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia] and Hallmark Channel are in discussions about potential new show formats and concepts for daytime,” the network said in a statement to EW.
The source of the cancellation is its production cost since it moved to the Hallmark channel back in 2010. Although the show earned two Emmys in its first season on Hallmark, costs to produce the program are more than the network is willing to pay. With so many Americans not having enough time or money in the recession economy to do arts and crafts projects or spend time cooking gourmet meals to serve while entertaining, ratings have been dropping.
Rather than have Martha Stewart fake a low budget message to viewers in her program and cut down the cost of production so the shocould be produced more cost-effectively, the network opted to stop production in April of this year.
But don’t go into a Martha Stewart jones twitch quite yet, ladies and gents. Her show will continue to be broadcast until the end of summer (sometime in September 2012). Although most of those episodes are likely to be repeats, you will still be able to TiVo or set your DVD players to record so you can watch and get new ideas for family projects.
E! Online reported the sad news about the Martha Stewart show, saying:
“The daytime block on Hallmark Channel demonstrated year over year ratings growth and earned The Martha Stewart Show two Daytime Emmy Awards in its first season on Hallmark Channel,” the network said in a joint statement with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.
“That show will continue to air through the end of summer 2012. MSLO and Hallmark Channel are in discussions about potential new programming and concepts for daytime.”
Many fans of her programs will miss seeing the green celebrity mom. During her time off, she is a huge supporter of pet friendly charities like the ASPCA and Dogs Deserve Better.
But in spite of rumors to the contrary the Martha Stewart brand itself is still strong enough to market, some network insiders are gossip that her career has gone to the dogs. The network and the star celeb’s company are in talks about what other Martha Stewart branded shows will replace the daytime television star’s time on air, according to the Hollywood Reporter, but they indicate no one seems to be asking the lovely Miss Martha to come back on.
The New York Post also got a bit catty when they reported that the Martha Stewart brand was suffering on all fronts. In their claims against the star, they pointed out Home Depot had dropped her line of paints in addition to Hallmark canceling the television show. But according to another source, FishbowlNY, which claims to have obtained a copy of an internally leaked memo written by the COO of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Lisa Gersh, saying the New York paper failed to get all their facts about the celeb straight before they went to print — which really was unfortunate.
The pet friendly star has a line of dog and cat toys out that are on shelves at pet stores now. She’s also very involved with Macy’s as a star celebrity hocking housewares products. She also still makes fat cash from all the books she has put out. If she finally got smart and simply did podcasts and put YouTube videos out about how to cook, decorate the house, train your dog, or simply interviewing star celebs who like to do arts and crafts type stuff, the ad money she could make would not have to be shared with a network and she would be eligible for perpetual residuals.
Will you miss seeing the famous celebrity mom on daytime television? Do you think she might move to another network with her brand? What advice would you give to her if you were able to reach out as a friend to her? Let Martha Stewart know your thoughts in the comments section below!