On the whole, the first two episodes were not bad. I found it somewhat unusual to see a cartoon which does not constantly resort to vulgarity to make its point, and succeeds in making its point most of the time. The first major cartoon series of the 1990's, of course, was The Simpsons, at the time noteworthy for its vulgarity, but since then there has been a trend towards cartoons which push the envelope to an even greater extent, culminating with South Park, in which one of the central characters dies (almost) every week. This new cartoon does not follow this trend (actually, it was conceived in 1995, before the trend had become as pronounced as it is now), but this is not to say that it is behind the times - when Carey wraps up the episode with a pithy, epigrammatic statement represented as tonight's "lesson," he does it not because there is a lesson to be learned from this show, but because that's what you're supposed to do at the end of a half-hour show. [In this sense, the show is as jaded as South Park.] The show is a worthwhile effort and seems to be a fairly accurate portrayal of the challenges involved in raising children in modern times. [At least this is the sense that I get from screening the first two episodes.] Of course Nicole Sullivan turns in a stellar performance as the voice of Bizzy; also featured is fellow Mad cast member Phil LaMarr, and Dietrich Bader (The Drew Carey Show) as Kenny, a laid-back guy who is Darryl's best friend at work and looks sort of like Kevin McDonald.

Nicole Sullivan with the cast and crew of Baby Blues (she's the blonde woman in front, standing in front of Drew Carey).

On the other hand, the WB, by burying this show at the end of the summer (and by showing back to back episodes every week, as if they want to get this show out of the way before the fall season starts), hasn't exactly demonstrated a high level of confidence in the series, calling into question their commitment to the show once the initial eight episodes air. [Another indication of their lack of commitment to the show is the fact that the airdate has been consistently postponed for almost two years - the show was originally to air in December 1998, then the show was postponed to Fall 1999; later the show was announced as a midseason replacement for the 1999-2000 season, and finally July 28th was announced as the premiere date - practically the last possible date to air the show before the commencement of the 2000-2001 season.] Still, if the show's ratings are good by WB standards (which doesn't take much), the show be around for awhile. [In fact, apparently the WB has already ordered another eight episodes in addition to the eight which are to air this summer.] So all Nicole Sullivan fans - or at least those with Nielson boxes atop their TV sets - should watch Baby Blues on the WB Network.

Ratings For Baby Blues

After September 1, the WB altered its schedule, airing only a single episode of Baby Blues in the 8:00 PM time slot.

The networks altered their lineups as the 2000 Summer Olympics got underway:

* NBC aired The Tenth Kingdom in this time slot on August 4, pre-empting Providence. 

** CBS aired pre-season NFL football in this time slot, pre-empting Big Brother and Candid Camera.

*** ABC aired Boy Meets World in this time slot, pre-empting Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Fox aired Seven in this time slot, pre-empting Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction. 

Ratings Update (July 30, 2000): Baby Blues finished 5th overall, scoring a 2.9 rating with a 6 share for both the 8:00 and 8:30 episodes. While this might not seem that impressive, it represents a significant improvement over the reruns that aired in the time slots the previous week [Jamie Foxx at 8:00 (1.6/3) and For Your Love at 8:30 (1.6/3)]. It's easy to see why the WB has ordered another eight episodes of this show [and why it was so eager to add Sabrina the Teenage Witch to its lineup].

Ratings Update (August 5, 2000): Another strong performance this week, and this time Baby Blues even tied NBC in the 8:00-8:30 time slot. Clearly the show is now the stronger half of the WB's Friday night lineup (Young Americans only got a 2.2 with a 4 share in the 9:00-10:00 time slot). The WB's calculated risk to push animated shows may pay off yet. If ratings remain strong, this show should be around for awhile. 

The shows themselves were rather interesting. This week, Baby Blues established itself as  somewhat unique in the annals of network television in its rather sympathetic portrayal of a right-wing character (I am talking of course about the gun-toting, militia-loving survivalist and neighbor Carl Bitterman). [For a less sympathetic portrayal of a similar character, see the paranoid ignorance and racism of Red Crocker, Eric Duckman's estranged father in the animated series Duckman, now in reruns on Comedy Central - or for that matter, Darlene McBride!] The second episode, "Hurting Inside," focused on Bizzy's relationship with her bad boy boyfriend, and probably represented a more authentic portrayal of teen boy-girl relationships than many of the whiny teen dramas a la Dawson's Creek which seem to dominate the WB, UPN and Fox.  

Ratings Update (August 12, 2000): Baby Blues suffered a slight ratings drop, earning a 2.4 rating with a 5 share in the 8:00 PM time slot and again in the 8:30 time slot. If it fared not quite as well relative to the "big three" competition (CBS/ABC/NBC) and Fox, it nonetheless finished well ahead of The Strip on UPN, which only scored a 1.8/6. It also finished well ahead of Young Americans, the WB's 9:00 PM show, which only scored 1.8/3. I haven't screened the first episode yet; I did see the second one, which was pretty good.

Ratings Update (August 19, 2000): Another slight drop in the ratings this week. Baby Blues finished ahead of UPN's The Strip but by a slim margin, and was a distant fifth, finishing well behind the "big three" competitors and Fox (which won the ratings battle for the night). Nevertheless, the show did substantially better than the WB's 9:00 PM show, Young Americans (1.3/2).

Ratings Update (August 25, 2000): Again one first-run episode and a rerun. Ratings stayed about even this time. More notable this week was the fact that the rerun of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit in which Nicole Sullivan guest starred snagged a 6.8 with a 12 share, making it the highest-rated show for the night.

Ratings Update (September 2, 2000): A slight ratings improvement this week, which isn't bad considering the two episodes aired were reruns. It should be noted, however, that the New York WB affiliate aired a baseball game in this time slot on Friday (the Baby Blues episodes were aired Saturday afternoon). Other affiliates may have also pre-empted network programming on this night, calling into question the meaningfulness of ratings comparisons. [Last week's show was also pre-empted by a baseball game.]

Ratings Update (September 10, 2000): The WB altered is schedule slightly, airing only a single episode of Baby Blues (at 8:00 PM), followed by the claymation series The P.J.s at 8:30 PM. And ratings stayed about even this week, even though Baby Blues is showing only reruns. Baby Blues was also the WB's highest-rated show for Friday.

Ratings Update (September 16, 2000): This week's repeat of Baby Blues pulled in a 2.0 rating with a 4 share. Once again, Baby Blues was the WB's highest-rated show of the night. The big ratings winner this week was NBC's coverage of the 2000 Summer Olympics, which was seen by virtually everyone but me (I opted for Kids in the Hall reruns and Wall Street Week). The biggest surprise of the night, in my opinion, was Whose Line Is It Anyway?, which scored respectable ratings against formidable opposition (just as it has done surprisingly well against NBC's Thursday night lineup).  

Cancellation Update (June 26, 2001): The WB has recently announced that it is dropping all of its animated fare, (presumably) including Baby Blues. While this move may seem to many pundits to be an imprudent one, given the relative success of Baby Blues last summer and the fact that the cancellation means that several episodes will go unaired, this is nonetheless the decision the WB has made. Undoubtedly the move made sense with respect to some of the network's animated shows - The PJs, for example, was unprofitable, so cancellation was only a matter of stopping the hemorrhaging - yet whether or not eliminating all the animated shows is a good idea remains to be seen.

Cancellation Update (September 1, 2001): On Tuesday, August 28, 2001, the WB formally announced the cancellation of Baby Blues. Last fall, after the show posted fairly impressive ratings during its late-summer run (see above), and with the threat of a writers' strike looming, the WB ordered thirteen additional episodes of Baby Blues. Now that the networks have reached a settlement with the writers, and with other WB animated fare proving to be ratings failures, Baby Blues became an orphan that did not fit into the network's long-term strategic plans. Thus came the decision to shelf the series, in spite of the fact that in addition to thirteen episodes for season two, six additional episodes from season one went unaired. The nineteen episodes, none of which will likely see the light of day, were completed at a cost of $15 million. Thus ends Baby Blues, a project conceived in the earliest days of the WB (1995) and which until recently, a project to which the WB seemed committed.

Appendix A - History of This Page

July 30, 2000 - First posting.

August 5, 2000 - Second posting. Ratings update for second week and comments on the shows.

August 12, 2000 - Third posting. Ratings update for third week; list of links added.

August 19, 2000 - Fourth posting. Ratings update for fourth week.

August 26, 2000 - Fifth posting. Ratings update for fifth week.

September 2, 2000 - Sixth posting. Ratings update for sixth week.

September 10, 2000 - Seventh posting. Ratings update for seventh week.

September 16, 2000 - Eighth posting. Ratings update for eighth (and final?) week.

June 26, 2001 - Ninth posting. Cancellation update.

September 1, 2001 - Tenth posting. Cancellation update.