After bottoming out in the ratings—a phrase that the show itself likely would have turned into a wink-wink joke—CBS' Partners is through, with the network pulling the sitcom about two pals (one straight, one cartoonishly gay) effective immediately. Though its cancellation is not unexpected given the show's dismal ratings, its failure is somewhat of a surprise, given how Partners, the network's only freshman comedy, seemed all but predestined for a second season. It debuted on CBS' highly rated Monday night, slotted between How I Met Your Mother and 2 Broke Girls. It hailed from Will And Grace creators David Kohan and Max Mutchnick, who once again mined their own straight/gay dynamic for laughs. And even better, it not only dipped into the old-fashioned, stereotype-driven hackery that so many modern sitcom viewers find reassuringly familiar, it recycled both Will And Grace's formula and just about everything else from the 1995 Fox sitcom Partners. In other words, it should have been a hit. Instead, it will be replaced, effective immediately, with Two And A Half Men repeats, whose likely success there will demonstrate exactly where CBS viewers draw the line on their broad comedy.
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