That was fast!

It was in December when we wrote about Nickelodeon's efforts to revitalize the network's ratings, by banking heavily on the success of a new musical TV show titled How To Rock, and its chosen star, Cymphonique Miller, a name you might immediately recognize; she's Master P's 15-year old daughter.

Will Smith often gets criticized for sheperding his children's careers, but the Master P family is certainly building an entertainment empire of its own. His son, and Cymphonique's older brother Romeo Miller, formely known as Lil Romeo, also headlined his own Nickelodeon series a few years ago, and went on to appear in big screen projects, in addition to a music career. 

No *hate* here though; not from me anyway.

And certainly none from Nickelodeon, a network that, as I said, had been facing ratings trouble, competing with the Disney Channel for kiddie eyeballs.

“We’re hoping for great things from Cymphonique – a big, fat, giant hit; That’s what I’ve been working for with this series, so why not say it?” said Margie Cohn, president of original programming at Nickelodeon to the New York Times. And the company reportedly put mucho advertising muscle behind the new show; for example, an 8-part video series introducing Cymphonique Miller to the series' target audience; also a song Cymphonique sings in episode 1 of the series was made available on iTunes on Christmas day.

How to Rock, produced by the same production company responsible for The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, centers on "a popular girl who is rejected by her perfectly coiffed clique – a group of girls called “the Perfs” – after she gets glasses and braces. The joke is on them as she joins a band and creates a new cool crowd."

And the young Ms Miller stars as the girl described in the above synopsis, with the series making its debut on February 4th, 2012. 

Skip ahead to yesterday, August 26th, when series executive producer David Israel, announced on his blog that Nickelodeon will be canceled after season 1, the current season.

There have been rumors swirling around about the future of How To Rock so I thought it time to set the record straight. Nickelodeon has decided, unfortunately, not to give How To Rock a second season. I know this news will be very disappointing for many of you. Believe me, it’s disappointing for me, too.

And why isn't the show being renewed for a second season after all that hype? Israel had this this say:

There’s no one simple answer. Nickelodeon is going through a transition right now. You already know that iCarly and Victorious are not coming back. Nickelodeon has many new shows in production and development that they believe will better suit their audience. While I don’t love their decision, I have no choice other than to accept it. The Nickelodeon executives who’ve worked on the development and production of How to Rock have been incredibly supportive of the show this past year. They’re good people who want nothing more than to make the best shows for their audience. I know it wasn’t an easy decision for them — they truly do like the show — and I’m grateful for the time and energy they’ve put in to make How To Rock as good as it is. Or was.

So there you have it. Case closed I guess.

But for fans of the series, you should know that there are still 9 episodes left in the season. Israel says Nickelodeon will air them all, starting on September 22nd, through December 8th.

According to Deadline, the series premiere of How To Rock drew 3.3 million total viewers, winning its time slot across all of TV with kids 2-14, which is the network's target audience. 

And its ratings continued to remain strong, until a recent slip. However, average viewership has stayed above 2 million. But it doesn't look like ratings were solely responsible for the cut.

I'm not in Nickelodeon's target audience, and I haven't seen a single episode of the show (although I'll probably check out an episode or two just so I can get a feel for Cymphonique's talent, and be able to talk about the series.

No word on where she might head or what she might do next, but I'll certainly be watching the young Ms Miller's career from here-on, as she ages. 

It's not often that a TV mainstream network makes this much of an investment into project starring a person of African descent – and a relatively unproven talent as well. Although, it all matters little now, since the show's ending after its only season.