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Exclusive: "Beautiful Life" Star Sara Paxton Blasts CW Over Show's Cancellation

Mexican actress Sara Paxton called me up today to respond to the CW’s abrupt decision Friday to cancel her series The Beautiful Life after airing just two episodes.
You were effervescent and marvelous as the star of TBL. How do you feel about the CW’s decision to cancel your show so quickly?
We’re so shocked! I definitely think it’s unfair. The CW didn’t give our show a chance to succeed or fail. We had some amazing episodes coming up that we were all proud of, and the story lines were about to get really interesting, so we’re sad that no one will ever even see those! It’s unbelievable the way that they told us—we were all in the middle of work. I was sitting in the hair and makeup chair, and I’m getting my hair done just like a normal Friday—we were all excited for Friday. And all of a sudden, they got the call, and the producers had to make an announcement on set that we were done—that we were over! And I was sitting there in shock. I couldn’t believe that in the middle of work, the rug was pulled out beneath our feet. Immediately, I run over to Corbin's [Bleu] room, and I’m like, 'oh my God, oh my God!' I was freaking out! And Corbin was shocked. Everyone was just devastated. It was horrible. Terrible.
You didn't see this coming at all?
We were worried because our show didn’t get as much marketing as other shows. Everywhere you go in New York City, you see Melrose Place posters everywhere—I see Vampire Diaries everywhere. And CW, they just didn’t put any money into advertising for our show whatsoever. It was up to the cast to keep the show going, so we went to every red carpet, we talked about the show, we publicized, we did twitter, we did everything we could possibly do to get the word out about the show. We thought it was really worth it because we care about the show—we care about each other and we wanted to make it work. But if people don’t know that the show even exists, they’re not going to watch it.
Why do you feel they weren’t behind the show?
I have no idea. We wanted the same thing. We did the pilot, and when we saw the pilot, we were all so proud of it, and we really thought we had made something special. We’re a really talented group, and most of us have been working for a long time and have really good projects under our belts, and I just don’t understand why they would do this.
How do you feel about the CW’s decision not to air the five other episodes you’ve already filmed?
It’s a slap in the face! It’s almost like we were part of this family and now suddenly we’re dropped. I couldn’t even call the CW because they probably have my number on their caller ID and they’re like, 'no don’t pick up, don’t pick up.' It’s crazy. And oh my God, episodes three, four and five were going to be amazing. That’s what really sucks. You’ve got to have time to let a show get its legs and find an audience, especially when they’re putting zero dollars into advertising. And we were slowly going in that direction. Everyday I was getting emails from Japan and Brazil and the U.K from people who were buying the show on iTunes and were going nuts over it. And if they had just given it more time to really catch a fan base I think it could’ve been huge for the CW. I really think they missed out, and I really think they’re missing out on a huge opportunity for themselves.
And now they’re going to be airing Melrose Place in your place…
It’s hard because I don’t want to sound ungrateful for everything they have done for us, but I think especially since this happened Friday—it’s really hard for me not to be angry. I really don’t want to upset [CW President] Dawn Ostroff, because she is a really cool lady. I just don’t understand how they could do this.
Do you know how Executive Producer Ashton Kutcher feels about it?
I think he’s just as disappointed as all of us. This had his name on it, and it was his first scripted series. I don’t understand how they’ve given so many shows in the past a chance, and not ours. I mean why ours? Why us? It blows my mind. The saddest part for all of us is that we became friends beyond the show, and so we are sad that we don’t get to go into work everyday and have fun together. And honestly, we wanted people to just love the show. Everyday we came into work with a mission to do the best possible work we could do, and we did our jobs. It sucks that nobody can even see that. No one will even see the really cool things we did.
Do you have a message for the fans of the show that are devastated by this news?
Everyone that supported us—I know there’s a lot of people on Twitter who are really serious, and there’s a petition that has 8,000 signatures now—thank you so much for watching the show and for caring and believing in us. We really appreciate the fans and we are really thankful.
Do you know what your next project will be?
Are you kidding me? [Laughs]. We thought we were going to be here until December. Literally we packed up our lives from Los Angeles to New York. I spent two months and thousands of dollars without a paycheck moving to NY. And now they just say, 'oh, peace, you’re done?' We all signed 6 month leases, and now we all have to figure out how to get out of our leases, and I have to figure out how to get all my furniture back. I don’t know what to do with this NY furniture. We’re kind of stranded.
How do you feel about the CW’s decision to cancel TBL so soon? Are you sad about it like I am? Or maybe you couldn’t care less? Speak your mind in the comments.
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design citation
10.03.2009 11:07am |
It was simply, one of the worst shows I have ever seen. EVER.
I've worked in the fashion industry for many years, and have cast
thousands of models and actors - and let me tell you - this show was
nothing like the real life of anyone in the industry. In addition, the actors
chosen did not look like models, nor would they ever be cast in anything if they
went for a modeling job, especially the men.
However, the show might have stood a chance had Mischa Barton not been
cast as the lead. I don't know what happened to that girl ( we've all heard rumors, but
its not my place to judge ), and I did love The OC, but she was dead wood on TBL.
I watched both shows - which is a lot more then most of the people in this country.
I'm sure the actors ( except for Mischa ) will be fine - I'm sure it was a shock, and good
for Latina to get an actor hot off the experience to interview - that's their job.
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rubirf
09.29.2009 8:23am |
Big deal that your show got canceled and are stranded in NY. There are thousands of other people that are getting laid off, some are being kicked out of their homes. Tons of people are being stranded, and tons of people are showing up for work everyday only to be sent back home without a job. And worse of all, these people have kids or have a disease that needs expensive daily treatment. In other words Sara, you've got it good, and your story is no different than the ones you hear in the world today. Read a newspaper.
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stephaniehaydee
10.02.2009 6:18pm |
wow.... you have extreme hostility. You need to find someone to talk to and not take out on an actress WHO WAS ASKED to share her story. I totally understand how bad this economy is, I have been out of work for months and have medical issues that I can't have handled because I lost my insurance but dang! It doesn't mean you need to take it out on someone else who AGAIN, was asked to share what happened. She wasn't throwing a pity party, she was asked about the shock of the situation overall and she responded. Plain and simple.
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Gerry
09.28.2009 11:18pm |
The Beautiful Life TBL was one of the best new series of all the new
fall shows on any network. Sadly I missed the second episode but thankfully taped the pilot.
I wish there was a way to do a direct to video movie.
The cast was really sparkling and the writing was excellent,
TBL deserved a better fate than the one it was handed!
I'll click the petition link, but have little hope anything will come of it
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mexicancutie12
09.28.2009 6:31pm |
I am a 25 year old woman and I normally don't watch teen shows nowadays (the new 90210 sucks big time and I didn't even give Melrose Place a chance because of the treatment 90210 got) but I did catch the pilot episode of TBL and it was actually very good. It reminded me of the Fox show "Models Inc." in the 90's (which got the axe a little too soon itself). I can't believe this happened to this show so soon, it can't have been worse than MP or 90210.
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