The CW Network has canceled “America’s Next Top Reality Show Producer,” heavily touted as one of its hottest shows for the fall season, before it ever aired. “Focus group testing has revealed that this reality show about reality show producers was very confusing to viewers,” said CW president Dawn Ostroff.

The CW greenlit “American’s Next Top Reality Show Producer” last spring with high hopes that it would turn into a major new reality show franchise. It even got the network’s prime time slot following “America’s Next Top Model.”

“The success of programs like ‘Top Model.’ ‘Top Chef’ and ‘Project Runway’ shows that Americans like to watch people compete in professions that they find fascinating,” observed Ostroff. “If there’s one thing people who love modeling, food and fashion also love, it’s reality TV. So we thought this program was a sure thing.”

On “America’s Next Top Reality Show Producer,” contestants who hope to make it in reality TV each have to come up with their own idea for a reality show. Each week focuses on a different aspect of the process, such as casting, production, elimination of contestants, and editing. At the end of the show, the winner gets a development deal at the CW.

Contestants were judged at the end of each episode by a panel of experts including “American Idol” executive producer Nigel Lythgoe, “Apprentice” and “Survivor” creator Mark Burnett, and Jennifer Bresnan, senior VP of alternative programming for the CW.

The program was marred with production problems from the start. In one episode, for instance, there was mass confusion when the judges tried to eliminate a contestant due to the weak elimination process she had conceived for her show.

“I kept trying to tell her she was eliminated, but she thought I was complimenting her on the way she eliminated contestants on her show,” recalled Lythgoe. “It took 45 minutes of us talking just to get her to understand that I wanted her to hand in her copy of ‘Final Cut’ and leave.”

Bresnan also admitted that her presence on the program as a judge created more problems than it solved.

“I thought it would be convenient, because I could supervise the production while at the same time providing insight as a judge and saving the show some money,” she explained. “But every time I tried to give notes, nobody could tell if I was talking to the producer-contestants or the producers of ‘America’s Next Top Reality Producer.’”

But despite problems during production, CW executives continued with the show, still confident it would be a hit. They were shocked, however, by the feedback from focus groups.

“Viewers said they just couldn’t get their head around a reality show about people who want to make reality shows,” stated Ostroff. “That’s weird, since it seems simple to me.”

Insiders said the most disorienting aspect of “America’s Next Top Reality Producer” may have been the contestant who was trying to make a competition reality show for people who want to be reality show directors. It was called “America’s Next Top Reality Director.”

“In hindsight, we probably should have eliminated him first, rather than making him the overall winner,” admitted Burnett.