Ads Top

Miami Ink Canned?!

Here's an article I found online...

Posted on Mon, May. 19, 2008

Ami James said Monday he and co-star Chris Nuñez declined to extend Discovery Communications' option to order more episodes of the TLC show. James said that move effectively ended their contracts with the cable conglomerate, and that no talks are under way to shoot more episodes of their life as South Beach tattoo artists.

''It's done. It's over,'' James said by telephone from the Washington Avenue tattoo studio he and Nuñez own.

A Discovery spokesman declined to comment Monday evening.

The show boosted ratings for TLC and launched a franchise, with three ''Ink'' spinoffs in Los Angeles, London and Rio. But L.A. Ink emerged as a rival, debuting last year to an audience that doubled Miami Ink's and set a TLC ratings record for reality programming.

Charlie Corwin, whose New York company, Original Media, produces Miami Ink, said he did not know if the show would return. ''The show's been running a long time,'' he said. In terms of ratings, Miami Ink is ``not as high as it has been in the past, it's not as low as it has been in the past.''

Miami Ink's demise could mean the end of a popular tourist spot in South Beach. Fans regularly stop on Washington Avenue to snap pictures of the familiar storefront and catch a peek of the famous artists (who were rarely there and mostly confined their inking to when the cameras rolled behind blacked-out windows).

Discovery owns the rights to the ''Miami Ink'' brand, and James said in a November interview he worried the network would force him to remove the name from his studio's front window if the show ended.

So far, that hasn't happened: ''Miami Ink'' remains out front. But the famous tattoo studio has been converted into a gift shop selling clothes designed by the show's artists and friends. A sign directs customers to a new tattoo studio James and Nuñez opened earlier this year on the same block: Love Hate Tattoos.

The new store made a cameo in the show's April 24 season debut as the partners' latest venture. Viewers saw them open the Love Hate bar in South Beach last year, and both stars said their efforts to promote the brand on the show caused friction with network executives.

That tension doesn't seem to have eased. ''We weren't happy with the way we were treated,'' James said Monday. ``I will never work for Discovery again.''

He complained the network did not promote the show properly, particularly when it moved Miami Ink from Tuesday night to Thursday night this season.

James said he and Nuñez plan on pursuing other deals.

''There might be a TV project and there might be a movie project,'' he said. ``We always had bigger ideas than Miami Ink. Miami Ink was kind of like of going to school.''

The upside for fans could be more access to their favorite artists. Nuñez said he, James and the other stars are taking customers again for the first time since the show's nearly year-round production schedule began.

''Now we basically have to go back to work,'' he said. ``We all still need to feed our families.''

The last Ink episode was shot in December and TLC has begun airing the 13 taped during that stretch, James said. Reruns could keep the Miami Ink location alive on basic cable for years.

If not, James said he's not worried about losing the show's promotional muscle -- even with three South Beach businesses to sustain.

''We've been on the air for 81 episodes. That's three years. We're in 161 countries,'' he said. ``I definitely have enough marketing to last me a long time.''

2 comments:

  1. well that's gonna suck if they do indeed cancel the show. always felt that Miami Ink was more fun to watch as compared to LA Ink, even if LA had the better artists in my opinion. The Miami cast had better chemistry i felt, and guys being guys, would always produce constant laughter and pranks etc.

    oh well just gotta wait and see what the future holds i guess.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It does look like it's come to an end. But the boys could always move to another network. Tattoo shows don't cost much to do and any network with brains would sign them in a heartbeat!

    ReplyDelete

Please leave a comment but do note that comments are moderated on posts that are older than 7 days.

Powered by Blogger.