In a major windfall for the concept of irony, ABC’s freshman drama Lucky 7 has been proven categorically unlucky, thanks to an early cancellation. The series, about a group of lottery-winning co-workers at a Queens gas station, has only aired two episodes two date: One was ABC’s lowest-rated premiere in several years, and the other attracted only 0.7 percent of adults under 50 who were watching TV during the 10 o’clock hour. Of course, it’s that tough timeslot that’s partially to blame for the show’s swift demise: Its competition at 10 p.m. included returning favorites Person Of Interest and Chicago Fire as well as whatever Tuesday-night programming viewers of The Voice, NCIS, or Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. happened to DVR during those shows. For the time being, Lucky 7 will be replaced by Scandal, a show that has generated a fitting amount of conversation and attention.
But we could also chalk this ending up to the ever-powerful forces of irony—which will, in a coincidence that Alanis Morissette might term “ironic,” not be able to play out to its fullest extent within the confines of Lucky 7, a series in which people who win a bunch of money learn that you can’t buy the solution to all of life’s problems. Still, considering the fact that MTV’s unfamous Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous also caught the axe this year, irony’s had a pretty good 2013.
This just in: Irony is dead.