Entertainment

ABC dumps Fred Willard show after porn theater bust

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ABC is pulling the remaining two episodes of Fred Willard’s sketch show “Trust Us With Your Life” as a result of Willard’s July 18 arrest at a Hollywood porn theater.

In its place the network is airing reruns of the reality competition series “Wipeout” during what was Willard’s Tuesday night time slot.

ABC claims that ratings for “Trust Us” were slipping. When it premiered on July 10 it had 3.3 million viewers. Last week, that number fell to 1.8 million.

This is the second job the “Anchorman” star has lost due to the porn theater incident. Immediately following his arrest, PBS pulled all of the unaired episodes of “Market Warriors,” which featured Willard’s narration, and began remaking them without him.

Willard on Thursday appeared on NBC’s “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” and claimed his arrest was the result of a misunderstanding.

“Nothing happened. I did nothing wrong. Everything is being sorted out as we speak,” Willard told Fallon.

Fallon attempted to guess which movie Willard was watching when he got arrested. His guesses included “The Firm,” “Free Willy” and “Anaconda.” Willard joked that the film was “Get Shorty.”

Afterward, Fallon interviewed Willard about his “new” comedy show “Trust Us With Your Life,” airing clips from the show that did not feature Willard.

“That is genius,” Fallon said. “That’s gonna to be a great show!”

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