NBC drops, Bravo gets’Quarterlife’

“Quarterlife,” the first Web-based drama to air on network television, has been canceled by NBC after a dismally rated first episode, but will move to sister cable channel Bravo, people close to the show said Thursday.

The highly touted online series about a group of young artists bombed in its NBC debut Tuesday night, drawing the network’s lowest ratings and smallest audience for that time slot in at least 20 years, according to Nielsen Media Research.

The show ranked a distant third place for the 10 p.m. hour, averaging just 3.1 million viewers and a meager 1.3 rating among advertisers’ favorite demographic, adults ages 18 to 49, which is the audience for whom the series was designed.

The program had been scheduled to move to Sundays on NBC starting this weekend. But two sources close to the program, though not authorized to speak publicly about its scheduling, said “Quarterlife” has been removed from the NBC lineup.

It will be shifted to the Bravo channel, which like the broadcast network is owned by General Electric’s media division, NBC Universal, they said. No new air date for the six-part series has been set, however.