Blond Charity Mafia has reportedly been canceled before its broadcast. Again.
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The Washington, D.C. socialites who appeared in The Hills-like docu-reality series received a Tuesday email from the show's PB&J Television production company informing them that The CW has officially decided against airing it, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.
"We just heard from The CW that they have officially decided not to air BCM," the production company said in the email, a copy of which was obtained by The Post.
"They have been very supportive and complimentary of the project, but they now have two other shows that are 'home grown' that they are choosing to air instead."
It's been a strange journey for Blonde Charity Mafia, which was originally developed by Lifetime in August 2008.
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The six-episode series was slated to premiere that November immediately after the network's broadcasts of new sixth-season episodes of Project Runway, which Lifetime thought it had managed to grab from Bravo in a surprise April 2008 deal with the show's The Weinstein Company production company.
However Bravo's NBC Universal parent company immediately sued The Weinstein Company over the deal, resulting in a year-long legal saga that prevented Lifetime from airing Project Runway's sixth season. A settlement was finally announced last April and Project Runway's sixth-season subsequently premiered in August.
The delay forced Lifetime to shuffle some of its programming slate -- resulting in the women's cable network dropping Blonde Charity Mafia, which was then picked up by The CW.
The CW had originally planned to premiere Blonde Charity Mafia this past July, however The Post reported in June that The CW programming chief Dawn Ostroff was so enamored with the show that the network had decided to make it part of it 2009-2010 midseason programming slate instead.
But things recently began to take a turn for the worse when Blonde Charity Mafia's page was taken off The CW's website and a fan page that linked to cast members' Facebook pages was also pulled.
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In addition, Blonde Charity Mafia star Katherine Kennedy told The Post that producers and The CW let her know she was free to search for other television projects.
"As we filmed BCM years ago, I am ready to move on with my career," Kennedy told The Post.
"Everything worked out for the best, and I am actually happy we aren't airing here -- no longer are we waiting with bated breath. Rumors surrounding the show brought attention to a lot of worthy causes in the area, which was my original intention for participating. As far as I'm concerned, we had the success we sought -- and get off easy."
"Home grown" projects The CW currently has in development include Fly Girls, a new docu-reality series that will follow five Virgin America airlines flight attendants, and a new Gossip Girls-like docu-reality series starring Tinsley Mortimer and several other members of New York City's young and wealthy socialite scene.
About The Author: Christopher Rocchio