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Hallmark Shakes Ranks After 'Stewart' Woes

Amid the disappointing performance of Martha Stewart on the Hallmark Channel, Laura Sillars, a key programming executive who had been hired just four months ago to work with Stewart, was let go. She wasnt' part of the team that decided to introduce Stewart to the channel in an effort to makeover programming.

She had been tasked with developing a slate of other original lifestyle shows so that Hallmark could wean itself from its reliance on reruns of classic feel-good programs such as "Little House on the Prairie" and tear-jerker movies. So far, Stewart has proven a bad bet. In the four weeks since Stewart's marquee show launched, it has produced anemic ratings. Telecasts of "The Martha Stewart Show" on Hallmark have been averaging fewer than 200,000 viewers -- less than half the audience of "The Golden Girls," which ran in the 10 a.m. slot on the channel a year ago.

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