‘AMERICA’ CANCELED BY KCBS-TV

“America,” the daily syndicated talk show starring Sarah Purcell and McLean Stevenson, is being dropped by KCBS-TV (Channel 2) and three other CBS-owned television stations in New York, Chicago and St. Louis after less than a season on the air.

Low ratings were cited Friday by a KCBS spokeswoman as the reason the station is canceling “America” after its Jan. 3 broadcast. The program premiered locally and nationally on Sept. 16 after a major publicity effort.

The one-hour show initially aired on KCBS from 3:30-4:30 p.m., then was moved to a 3-4 p.m. time slot in mid-October. It will be succeeded in the latter time period by repeats of CBS’ popular “Knots Landing,” starting Jan. 6.

The spokeswoman said that the decisions by KCBS and the three other CBS-owned stations to drop “America” were made independently by executives of those stations, and not by officials of the parent company.

A fifth CBS-owned station that airs “America,” WCAU-TV in Philadelphia, will keep the program on its daytime schedule, she said.

The series is co-produced by Paramount Domestic Television and Video Programming in association with Post-Newsweek Stations Inc. At present, it is carried by 114 stations, a Paramount spokeswoman said Friday.