Why did ABC cancel this show?

where o where did you ever come up with that stupid idea cats? Here's the real reason. This is an article from NY times. June 26 1996...

TV Notes;'Naked Truth' to NBC

By BILL CARTER

ABC has not yet become the biggest supplier of programs to NBC, but it seems to be heading in that direction, thanks to one of ABC's own production partners, Brad Grey.

With the news yesterday that NBC had grabbed the comedy "The Naked Truth" away from ABC, no fewer than three shows co-owned by ABC and Mr. Grey's company, Brillstein-Grey Communications, will be broadcast by NBC next season, further raising the stakes in what many television industry executives now see as a blood feud between the managers of the two networks.

One senior industry executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said yesterday that NBC was "more concerned with embarrassing ABC than doing anything else."

NBC last year took "Third Rock From the Sun," which was developed and then rejected by ABC, and turned it into a hit (with NBC executives not hesitating to claim it as evidence of their superior programming skills). ABC's recruitment last week of one of NBC's program executives seems to have increased the antipathy between the networks.

Mr. Grey clearly stunned ABC this week with his decision to move "The Naked Truth," which stars Tea Leoni as a photographer for a tabloid newspaper, over to NBC after it had run for a year on ABC. He had already moved "The Jeff Foxworthy Show" to NBC from ABC this spring, and "News Radio," a third Brillstein-Grey show made in partnership with ABC, was already on NBC's schedule.

But unlike the "Foxworthy" show, which ABC had canceled before NBC picked it up, "The Naked Truth" was a show ABC wanted to retain. In fact it had made an offer, essentially the same one NBC made, for 13 new episodes. But this allowed Mr. Grey to exercise his right to move the show if ABC did not make a full 22-episode order for the coming season. Mr. Grey preferred to take "The Naked Truth" to NBC, even though it meant spurning his own partner.

"The difference between the offers was nickels and dimes," said Warren Littlefield, president of NBC Entertainment. "Brad is a charting a future for his company. This is a very good time to be at NBC. We're building assets for a lot of people."

Mr. Grey declined to return phone calls to comment, but executives familar with the situation said he had grown concerned about his ABC deal, which had been made before the network was taken over by the Walt Disney Company. Some executives believe that Disney will now try to terminate the partnership, which still has over two years to run. A corporate ABC spokesman said the company would have no comment on the "Naked Truth" decision.

NBC, meanwhile, is crowing. "We've been after Tea Leoni for a long time," said Mr. Littlefield, adding that NBC believed it could do a better job on the show, which received largely positive reviews but only middling ratings.

But he disputed the notion of a vendetta against ABC. "I don't know anything about conspiracies," he said. "Were there two shooters? Heck, I don't know. But I can't buy a show just to make a point to ABC."