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Diane Ruggiero has quit her role on The Ex List | Pajiba - Scathing Reviews for Bitchy People

The Creator of a Show Quitting Before the Premiere Has Aired Is a Good Thing, Right?
The Ex List’s Ex / Seth Freilich

Trade News | September 15, 2008 | Comments (6)

the-ex-list.jpgWell, that about settles that. Strike one for CBS’ “The Ex List” is that it’s buried in the Friday night graveyard. Strike two, for me at least, is that’s it’s primarily a chick show, focusing on Bella Bloom (whataname!) tracking down her old ex-boyfriends, since a psychic says one of them is her true love. But despite these two strikes, I was still just intrigued enough by the show because Bella is played by Elizabeth Reaser, who’s a TV crush of mine, and, more importantly, because it was created by Diane Ruggiero, a writer and producer of “Veronica Mars” and “Dirty Sexy Money.”

But last Friday, Ruggiero up and quit, which qualifies as strike three for me. You gotta figure the show isn’t likely to be long for this world now, now that it’s creator has bailed on it (sure, showrunners have quit new shows before and the shows have survived, but the odds are against it, especially when the show is taking over the shiny timeslot owned by “Moonlight” last year).

Anyway, Alan Sepinwall has the full spin on what went down, but it basically boils down to CBS getting all in her business, trying to get her to more closely mirror the Israeli show “The Ex List” is based on. And these two quotes from Ruggiero pretty much sum up her take on it all:

It’s like someone comes to you with a little black dress and says, ‘You can do anything you want with it, anything at all,’ and you go, ‘Oh, great,’ and then they come back and say, ‘But you need to wear this belt, and these shoes, and…’
…
I’ll never work at CBS again.

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Comments

"..'You can do anything you want with it, anything at all,' and you go, 'Oh, great,' and then they come back and say, 'But you need to wear this belt, and these shoes, and...'.."

-------------------------------------------------
Mmmmm...depends on the shoes and the belt...


Get me Nina Garcia on the horn STAT!!

Posted by: BarbadoSlim at September 15, 2008 11:58 AM

I have nothing interesting or humorous to add, per usual.

I'll be back at this soon, I hope. I miss you debaucherous devicts. Meanwhile, I'm taking care of my mom as she's had some ball-bruising health issues of late. So while I can't really participate, I can pop in now and then and watch.

It's okay, I like to watch...

Mmmm, yeah.

Posted by: Mella at September 15, 2008 12:11 PM


Mella

Hope that your mom is back to healthy soon, and
stop by as much as you can.

Posted by: Drake at September 15, 2008 12:31 PM

But But But... how will Sofia react? You need to be here to criticize all my shortcomings and to tell me that I'll never be good enough for your just-adopted daughter.

Posted by: Optimus Rhyme at September 15, 2008 1:41 PM

"Bella Bloom (whataname!)"

I miss names like Krystal Carrington and Constance Carlyle, alliterative with the hard C sound, pretty clearly meant to evoke in the minds of viewers a part of the female anatomy that also starts with the hard C sound and is not a polite term for "woman."

Bella Bloom ... what's THAT supposed to convey? I guess, "Idiot who believes what a psychic says"?

Blech.

Hey ...

Posted by: bucdaddy at September 15, 2008 3:15 PM

I don't get the premise for this show. If the main character's future is to re-encounter a previous love/one night stand/fuck buddy who turns out to be The One, why can't she just wait for her destiny to be fulfilled by having said ex reappear in her life naturally. Forcing this issue can't be a good thing...Ohhh, I get it now. That's the whole reason for the show. Lame.

Posted by: rlr260 at September 15, 2008 4:34 PM





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