• TV Week, Friday, April 21, 2006 11:15 AM

When a show loses 46 percent of its audience between its debut outing and its second show, expect repercussions. That's what happened to NBC's "Celebrity Cooking Challenge," which aired Monday of this week for the first time, then swiftly dropped off the radar. The five-night reality series performed so poorly that NBC honchos pulled it yesterday, after only three episodes had aired. The remaining two episodes, the network says, will be available at NBC.com for those who care enough to watch. "Will & Grace" and "Deal or No Deal" will take the slots that had been reserved for "Cooking." "Cooking"'s failure to boil is an embarassment for NBC and surely will be the subject of easy potshots from media scribes and late-night talk hosts for at least a few days. It's also a welcome sign that simply adding the word "Celebrity" to a show's title is no assurance that it will be a hit with viewers.

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