It seems Rob Lowe may have had it with broadcast television.
The star of Fox’s The Grinder, which was canceled Thursday, told THR‘s editor-at-large, Kim Masters, in an interview on KCRW that should the comedy starring him and Fred Savage not get renewed for a second season, he’d have serious reservations about doing a broadcast show again.
“I’ll be forever grateful that they put it on the air at all,” said Lowe the week before the fate of The Grinder had been announced. “If the show doesn’t get picked up though, I really need to examine what I have to offer on network television in this climate because I do a certain type of show — West Wing, Parks and Recreation, The Grinder — and my sense is that is really no longer where network television lives.”
When asked if he’s flirted with platforms better known for the creative freedom they bestow upon talent, like Netflix, Lowe acknowledged he hadn’t started those conversations yet. “But if The Grinder doesn’t come back, I will,” he added. “That’s certainly where I will put my focus.”
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Lowe first was surprised by the increasing dominance of cable and streaming platforms when Golden Globe nominations were announced earlier this year and very few broadcast series were included. “I was so happy that our show, so early in its life, was able to get the nomination, [but] I sat there looking at my colleagues in my category, and I was the only person on a network show,” he said.
One thing Lowe doesn’t seem to mind about broadcast? Network notes, believe it or not.
“I’ve always found in network notes, as maddening as they are, that oftentimes the kernel, if you can dig down through and find it, is usually correct because they’re not stupid people,” he said, noting that some networks are “way worse” than others, but declining to name names. “The way it’s articulated is usually wrong, [but] if you can find the spirit of the note and not the literal note itself, I usually have found there’s some value in it.”
Despite what he described as a positive experience with Fox, the West Wing alum found no enjoyment in having a show on the bubble these past few weeks. “Oh, this is no fun,” he admitted at the time, adding of The Grinder: “The level of talent that we’ve assembled, the reviews and the way it’s been embraced … it’s not going to be reproduced anytime soon.”
