It's Official: The Good Guys Are Gone For Good

Janis Burklund, head of the Dallas Film Commission, just called with disappointing but not entirely surprising news: The Good Guys will not return for a second season. Which means Bradley Whitford can go ahead and shave off that 'stache now, and Colin Hanks -- who tweeted earlier today that "as soon as i know about the fate of the good guys...i will let it be known. But in reality, you all will tweet about it before i will" -- can find something better to do. Dan Stark and Jack Bailey are no longer Dallas Police officers.

Burklund says she just learned the news from a high-ranking Fox Television Studios executive who worked on the show. Burklund says the exec "was kind enough to call me and let me know as soon as the decision had been handed down." Fox Television Studios confirmed to Unfair Park that the show won't return, but would not comment further.

Burklund, who's already seen Lone Star abruptly and unceremoniously axed after but two episodes and just watched NBC scale back its order on Chase, says that of course she's bummed: "We liked the show. And they had a great experience here. But the ratings weren't good. I asked if there was any shot at cable, and he said there didn't appear to be any shot at that either, and I think it would have done well on cable. It's not the kind of show network viewers understand -- it's too quirky. It's one of those shows where either you get it or you don't. Where cable viewers are more apt to go sampling and try out different stuff, network viewers are looking for more traditional shows. And it had a horrible time slot." Indeed -- Friday night at 8, that ratings wasteland.

The set's still standing at Jack Matthews's Cedars studio, and the series had the lease for one more year, though it'll likely be struck sometime after the holidays. But Burklund says that, well, as a matter of fact at least a piece of it may wind up in another Fox series sooner than later. She says the same Fox exec who broke the bad news today "told me they're still considering us for other projects." No what or when though, only: "It'll be the right show at the right time, and I expect we'll have them back soon."