‘The Will’ canceled after a single airing

NEW YORK  — CBS lost “The Will” after just one night.

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This reality series, which logged a minuscule 4.2 million viewers on its premiere airing Saturday, has been axed by CBS, the network confirmed Wednesday. Despite heavy promotion, “The Will” ranked 79th place in viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research, making it CBS’ lowest-ranked show of the week. (The week’s most-watched show, CBS’ “CSI,” drew almost 29 million viewers.)

A rerun of CBS’ Sunday crime drama “Cold Case” will plug the hole this Saturday, the network said.

A reality show whose 10 participants vied to be sole heir to the fortune of a 73-year-old rancher, “The Will” thus joins a handful of other one-shot blunders in TV history.

The most recent was “South of Sunset,” a CBS detective drama with former Eagles rocker Glenn Frey, which debuted Oct. 27, 1993, then was never seen again. With a 6.1 rating, that show attracted what was deemed the smallest audience ever for a series premiere on any major network.

For the sake of comparison, “The Will” got a 2.9 rating.