Why did Comedy Central decide not to give 'The Jeff Dunham Show' a second season?

   Comedy Central's critically savaged "The Jeff Dunham Show" will not be back for more.

Earlier this year, Comedy Central debuted "The Jeff Dunham Show" with a massively-watched season premiere and a slew of terrible reviews.  Since that time, the show's ratings have been in decline, and over the past few weeks speculation on the show's chances at a second season ran rampant.  Well, now we know.  Read on for the details, my gentle Examiner readers...

Hey, remember when "The Jeff Dunham Show" had its series premiere and something like 5 million people tuned in to watch?  Well, about that...

The Hollywood Reporter has broken the news that Comedy Central's much-maligned, little-watched puppet-palooza is not getting a second season.  Here's what they're saying:

Following Dunham's record-breaking October series debut that drew 5.3 million viewers, the puppet master's audience dropped 55% for episode two. His December episodes drew between 1.3 and 1.8 million viewers.

Asked whether "Jeff Dunham" has been canceled, a Comedy Central spokesperson said, "We have no plans to renew the series at this time."

This will come as good news to fans of comedy, bad news to fans of shows involving puppets.  We can only imagine that John Malkovich has been traumatized by this not-so-unexpected news.  The article over at the Reporter goes on to say:

Even near the end of his run, Dunham still earned a higher average rating than fellow Comedy Central series newcomer Daniel Tosh, whose series "Tosh.0" scored a 25-episode second season renewal. The difference is the cost of production -- and to some degree, critical reception.

Hey, that's right: Daniel Tosh's show did get picked up for a second season, and for 25 episodes at that.  While "Tosh.0" has yet to catch on with a broader audience, it's certainly had a stronger appeal with the younger crowd than Dunham's show ever did.  Perhaps puppets just aren't what the kids are into these days (while videos of monkeys masturbating or people setting themselves on fire and posting the results on the internet-- the stuff of "Tosh.0"-- is).  If you're a fan of Dunham's, the news ain't all bad:

Under Dunham's pact with the Comedy Central, he will topline another special for the network targeted for fall 2010, following his blockbuster 2008 special seen by 6.6 million viewers, as well as a tour, a DVD and consumer products release.

Does anyone else get the impression that The Hollywood Reporter's throwing out those numbers to make Jeff Dunham feel better?  Maybe it's just us being paranoid.  At any rate, here lies "The Jeff Dunham Show", 2009-2009.  Ashes to ashes, puppets to puppets, and all that jazz.  Stay tuned for future news on whatever show Comedy Central decides to greenlight to replace Dunham, comedy fans.  And, in the meantime, feel free to check out these other recent Comedy Examiner articles:

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(photo: comedycentral.com)

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