"Living Biblically," a comedy about a man who decides to live by the words of the Bible, has been pulled off the air only after eight episodes.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, CBS stopped airing the sitcom and replaced its Monday time slot with reruns of "The Big Bang Theory."
"Living Biblically," created by Patrick Walsh, has five more episodes remaining for the season, but it is not clear whether the unaired episodes will be returning at a later date. In the past few years, CBS has aired the remaining episodes of canceled TV shows during the summer on Saturdays.
The show, based on the best-selling book by A.J. Jacobs, "The Year of Living Biblically," stars Jay R. Ferguson as Chip Curry, who tries to live strictly by the laws recorded in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. Other members of the cast include Lindsey Kraft, Ian Gomez, David Krumholtz, Tony Rock and Camryn Manheim.
The creators of the show previously stated that various consultants were called in to contribute to the show to make sure that it was accurate and respectful to a faith-based audience.
"When I started my production company, it was No. 1 at the top of the list to try to do a comedy about religion," Johnny Galecki, executive producer of the series, told reporters at The Television Critics Association's Winter Press Tour, according to Fox News.
"I recognized that these conversations [about religion] weren't being had despite the fact that ... 80 percent of people in the world subscribe their lives to some sort of spiritual belief," he added.
Galecki, who also plays physicist Leonard Hofstadter on "The Big Bang Theory," said back in February that he was disappointed that there had been early speculation that the show's portrayal of a religious character would be "scathing and sarcastic."
He stated that he wanted the show to "really to inspire a conversation" about religion. "...Let's talk about it. Let's feel safe enough to talk about it in a respectful way," he said, as reported by Fox News.
The comedy series received low ratings during its premiere and viewership continued to decline for the succeeding episodes. The show opened in February with a 0.8 rating and 5 million viewers. By April 16, the number of viewers dropped to 3.5 million.
CBS has already announced the shows that have been renewed for another season, but it does not include any of the comedies on the Monday timeslot.
