Channel 10 axes new 90210 after just four episodes

The much-hyped teen drama series, which was considered a television phenomenon in the '90s and catapulted Hollywood stars Shannen Doherty, Luke Perry and Jennie Garth to fame, has been dumped due to poor ratings by Channel 10.

"90210 is an excellent show that clearly resonated with a younger audience, but it didn't have the kind of numbers needed to stay in this intensely competitive environment," a Ten spokesperson said.

While the program, which features Shenae Grimes, Australia's Chantelle Barry and Garth, has achieved moderate success in its native US, the glossy remake has taken a major nose dive locally, recording a national audience of just 616,000 during its final outing in the primetime slot of 8.30pm on Monday.

Following Ten's decision to move the program to Friday evenings last week, the network announced yesterday the series would not return to the small screen and would instead by replaced by a Friday night movie, beginning this week with The Bourne Supremacy.

The axing is a blow to Ten, which considered the series one of their most highly-anticipated programs of the year and took a risk by purchasing the program before viewing the pilot.

Just weeks prior to the program's debut in Australia on September 8, Ten's head of programming David Mott said while the network hadn't seen the pilot he hoped the worldwide buzz surrounding the show would lure viewers.

"Generation X, who were targeted in the 1990s, have grown up and the show is already creating buzz in Generation Y," Mott said.

"I think it's a no brainer ... in our initial discussions with producers we were talking about the issues that faced Generation X - and they haven't gone away."

However, the audience has spoken, with the fate of the series apparent from the outset when the show's two-hour debut secured an all-people audience of 837,000, far less than anticipated.

Despite the program performing better in the network's younger demographics audiences have turned away from the drama with each passing week.

The network intends to broadcast the remaining episodes during the non-ratings period over summer.

source: news.com.au