NBC Cancels ‘Best Time Ever with Neil Patrick Harris’

It was a bold attempt to revive the live variety format.  But NBC has opted against a second season of “Best Time Ever with Neil Patrick Harris,” which now officially concluded on Nov. 3 after eight episodes.  The original series order was for 10 installments, but NBC trimmed the order by two.

While not a bust, so to speak, in the traditional Nielsen ratings, moving into the Tuesday 8 p.m. hour on Oct. 13 (after four airings out of “The Voice” at 10 p.m.) resulted in considerable erosion for “Best Time Ever.”  Only 5.06 million viewers tuned in for the finale on Nov. 3, according to the Live + Same Day data from Nielsen.  And that translated into a 1.4 rating/4 share in adults 18-49.  NBC, of course, was considerable more successful with its three recent one-time-only airings of “The Wiz Live!,” Dolly Parton’s “Coat of Many Colors” and “Adele Live From New York.”