Yesterday (May 12) turned out to be a bloodbath for American TV series and comedies as no less than 14 were canceled in a single day.
The brunt of the cancellations was distributed by The CW, the network jointly owned by Paramount and Warner Bros, with no less than seven shows having received their running orders.
In addition to The CW, CBS and NBC also had a showdown, with a number of high profile dramas and comedies leaving stars like Jason Isaacs, Morena Baccarin and Jay Hernandez with a lot more space in their diaries.
The start of summer tends to be when US networks announce what’s left and what’s happening in anticipation of when work resumes after the summer. Unlike Netflix, which seems to be constantly announcing cancellations, these cancellations tend to come in bursts, precisely when pilots of new shows are competing to make it to series.
Unfortunately for 14 of those shows, their last rites have now been fulfilled…
So what got cancelled?
We won’t be seeing the teen drama reboot Charmed again as it received its marching orders after four seasons on the air, meaning its run was exactly half the length of the original series.
Charmed wasn’t the only high-profile reboot to get the nudge, the Jay Hernandez-led Magnum PI is over after four seasons on CBS and Paramount Plus, while Dynasty, the reimagining of the high-strung 1980s drama is over. also after the seasons.
Roswell, New Mexico, which followed the success of the 1990s sci-fi saga Roswell, was also let go after a four-season run.
On top of that, Legacies, the spinoff of The Vampire Diaries and The Originals, has been canceled after four seasons, marking the first time in 13 years that an iteration of this franchise hasn’t aired.
Naomi, Ava Duvernay’s comic book adaptation where a teenage girl who runs a Superman fan site and discovers she has superpowers, is over after just one season. The show joins Legends of Tomorrow, Batwoman and Supergirl, which were previously confirmed to end on The CW.
In The Dark, the Ben Stiller-backed drama that follows a blind woman who tries to turn her life around while solving the murder of a friend, is done after four seasons, as is The 4400, the post-apocalyptic drama that only had only one season.
The 4400 wasn’t the only show to be a series and ending, Good Sam, which starred Sophia Bush and Jason Isaacs and followed Bush’s Dr. Samantha Griffith, a heart surgeon who is forced to step in after her boss and father, Dr. Rob Griffith (Isaacs), falls into a coma, is over after one season, as is The Endgame, the thriller directed by Morena Baccarin where a criminal mastermind and an FBI agent clash.
The cancellations were so sweeping and sweeping that Julie Plec, the veteran showrunner and executive producer of Roswell, New Mexico’s The Endgame and Legacies, joked it was a day reminiscent of the brutal Game Of Thrones episode The Red. Wedding. She wasn’t wrong…
It’s the Red Wedding on WBTV/CW today. Much more to say, but not today. Much gratitude to the fans, cast and crew in future tweets. But today we cry.May 12, 2022
So many canceled dramas, what about comedies?
Many of these also hit the tampons.
Kenan, the comedy built around Kenan and Kel and Saturday Night Live star Kenan Thompson, where he plays a single father and local news anchor trying to balance his kids and his career, is ended after two seasons, while Mr. Mayor, in which Ted Danson played a retired businessman who decides to run for mayor of Los Angeles and somehow wins another, is also absent after two seasons.
Two comedies by Chuck Lorre, the man behind mega hits like The Big Bang Theory, Roseanne and Cybil, were also eliminated.
The United States of Al, which told the story of the unlikely friendship between a Marine veteran and his unit’s interpreter as they attempted to build a new life in the United States, ends after two seasons. On top of that, B Positive, which starred Silicon Valley’s Annaleigh Ashford and Thomas Middleditch, only lasted two seasons.
How We Roll, the comedy that starred Crashing’s Pete Holmes as a middle-aged man who decides to pursue his dream of becoming a professional bowler after being fired, also ended after just one season.
So many cancellations, and, for once, we’re not talking about Netflix…