The CW cancels 'Beautiful Life'

By James Hibberd and Nellie Andreeva

We have the first casualty of the fall season.

After two episodes, The CW has canceled Ashton Kutcher's scripted drama "The Beautiful Life."

Production on the the show, which had been filming its seventh episode, was shut down Friday.

Wednesday's episode was seen by just 1 million viewers and generated a 0.5 rating in the adult demo.

The decision comes on the heels of two reality show pickups by the network, "Fly Girls" and a Tinsley Mortimer docusoap.

The CW's freshman revamp of "Melrose Place" has had difficulty achieving liftoff as well, but Thursday night's "Vampire Diaries" has been performing strong. Last night's third "Diaries" episode grew in the adult demo despite facing increased competition.

The CW has not yet announced a replacement for the "Beautiful Life" slot. The new reality shows won't be ready until January. One option is airing "Melrose Place" encores (like the way the network double-pumped "90210" last season). Another option, less likely, is to bring "Smallville" back into the midweek mix.  "Smallville" was shifted to Friday nights for its (presumed) final season and debuts this evening.

The main driver behind the CW’s order to“TBL” was the similarity in setting with the network’s veteran reality series “America’s Next top Model,” which served as its lead-in on Wednesday.

“TBL” got a lot of pre-launch publicity stemming from the medical problems of star Mischa Barton.

In July, the show’s production also was postponed by a week because the stages were not ready.

UPDATE: Yup, "Melrose Place" encores after "Top Model," starting next week.