It’s Time To Say Goodbye With These TV Show Cancelations In 2021
Each year, television networks need to make a tough decision about which series need to be canceled. Needless to say, fans aren't always happy with their choices.
From Comedy Central's Drunk History getting the boot after six seasons in favor of adult animation or Showtime deciding to cancel the renewal of On Becoming a God in Central Florida due to scheduling issues, these shows aren't getting one final hurrah in 2021. Instead, they're being canceled altogether.
Bless This Mess
Unfortunately for ABC and Dak Shepard, the network couldn't really clean up the mess that is the sitcom Bless this Mess. Following the story of two New York newlyweds moving from then Big Apple to live in rural Nebraska, the series was meant to pull at viewers' heartstrings.
Instead, no one got overly invested in the story and didn't see a need to watch the show on a weekly basis. So, after two seasons of low viewership and a 0.6 Neilson rating, Bless this Mess has been canceled.
Emergence
The drama series Emergence, starring Allison Tolman as Jo Evans, didn't emerge victorious in 2021—actually, quite the opposite. After ending season one with the wild plot twist that Piper had a part of Helen within her, and therefore had the potential to be controlled by a new group of villains, the show was canceled.
While Emergence definitely intrigued and wowed the critics, winding up with a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, viewership and its demo rating were very low. Both led ABC to make the final call, cutting the drama from its catalog after one season.
Schooled
Well, it looks like both school and Schooled are out for the summer, as ABC canceled the sitcom after two seasons and 34 episodes. A spin-off series of the popular sitcom The Goldbergs, Schooled follows Lainey Lewis as she takes up a new position as the music teacher of her alma mater, William Penn Academy, with some other well-known Goldergs characters.
Sadly, it doesn't look as though people are too interested in the familiar characters (even Tim Meadows as Principal John Glascott?!) since viewership went down 29% from its freshman run.
Single Parents
The time for scheduling playdates and going to PTA meetings is over for the Single Parents. After two seasons, ABC has decided to move forward with canceling the sitcom that stars Taran Killam, Leighton Meester, and more. Following the lives of multiple single parents who want nothing more than to raise their children while still maintaining a social life, the sitcom just wasn't getting the viewership it needed for renewal.
In fact, viewership for the second season maxed out at 2.6 million total viewers, a 29% decrease from its freshman fun.
United We Fall
The cancelation of the multi-camera sitcom United We Fall comes as little to no surprise to avid ABC series watchers. If it wasn't the lukewarm viewer response during its season one summer release, the critical response definitely put the nail in the sitcom coffin.
After the first season, the sitcom wound up with a disappointing 40% on Rotten Tomatoes. Granted, there were only eight episodes for people to work off of. Still, that is not a rating for a show looking to be renewed for a new season. Even veteran actor Jane Curtin couldn't save this one.
Drunk History
For those who don't like history unless the stories are being told by stars during happy hour, we're sorry to say that Drunk History is being canceled after a six-season run -- despite receiving a slew of awards and nominations. So, farewell to the days of learning about important historical events through the eyes of an inebriated Jack Black or Johnny Knoxville.
Comedy Central has decided to bring the popular show to an end as it makes moves to switch up its platform, looking to showcase more adult animated shows than live-action.
NOS4A2
Even though NOS4A2 received a 72% on Rotten Tomatoes, vampire stories just don't hit like they used to in the early 2000s. It looks like AMC is getting with the times, opting to cancel the drama after two seasons. Based on the Joe Hill novel of the same name, NOS4A2 follows the story of Vic McQueen, a woman who has the strange ability to find things.
That sounds well and good, but when an evil vampire who imagines something called "Christmasland" is thrown into the picture, it's understandable why AMC dropped the show. We're sure Ashleigh Cummings and Zachary Quinto will find new gigs soon.
Tommy
The CBS series Tommy might have come from successful series creator Paul Attanasio and starred Edie Falco, but it didn't stop the network from canceling it after just one season. Apparently, viewers weren't overly interested in the story of a female cop who becomes the first police chief of Los Angeles.
The cancelation is because the show didn't perform well. For the past few years, CBS has had a hard time finding a solid show for its 10 pm time slot. As it turns out, Tommy was just another casualty.
Tell Me A Story
While CBS All Access has around 17.9 million users as of November of 2020, the subscribers didn't settle in for the story Tell Me a Story wanted to tell. After two seasons of classic fairy tales weaving themselves into the lives of a few New Yorkers, the streaming platform has opted to cancel due to low viewership.
But for those who tuned in to watch the psychological thriller, there is some good news. The CW picked up the Kevin Williamson-created show for second-run airings.
Katy Keene
While Riverdale has found monumental fame, its spin-off series Katy Keene didn't experience the same hype. Starring Lucy Hale as the title character, the sole season follows Katy as she embarks on adventures that would eventually lead her to become a fashion mogul.
Fans will never see that character development come to pass, as The CW has decided to cancel the show due to low viewership, on both the network as well as the digital platforms.
Deputy
In 2021, Fox decided to thin out its catalog. And one of the shows that didn't make the cut is the police drama Deputy. With a wild west feel and the wildly in-demand Stephen Dorff as the lead actor, it's surprising that the show didn't make moves on the network.
Alas, after a 13-episode one-season run, Deputy has come to an end. According to sources, the cancelation comes due to its low critical ratings, with a 40% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Filthy Rich
After one season of following the mega-rich Monreauxes family's crazy drama, Filthy Rich has met its end. Unfortunately, Fox's decision to cancel doesn't come from low viewership but rather scheduling and rising production costs.
After 2020 put a bit of a monkey wrench in the entertainment industry, a lot of series and films didn't come out on top. Filthy Rich is one of those shows that didn't make it out with its head above the water, even with Kim Cattrall in a starring role.
Next
Like Silicon Valley pioneer Paul LeBlanc (played by John Slattery) getting kicked out of his company by his own brother, Fox decided to kick Next out from its catalog. But, hey, that's what happens when your brother is a power-hungry man who wants to utilize your potentially destructive A.I.
Regardless, Fox said thank you, Next to the sci-fi crime drama, stating that after the hectic rescheduling and production cost increases brought on by 2020, they couldn't keep the show after its first season.
Outmatched
While a show about some child geniuses being raised by normal parents sounds like the start to a great sitcom, Outmatched proved otherwise. The one season the show aired on Fox proved that even Jason Biggs can't carry the weight of an entire show, no matter how many quirky one-liners he throws out.
Either way, sources say that the sitcom's cancelation isn't overly surprising. Between low viewership and a low 22% on Rotten Tomatoes, it's not worth production costs to move forward with a second season.
High Fidelity
A remake of the 2000s movie of the same name, the Hulu series High Fidelity was a nice change of pace for the streaming platform. Swapping in Zoe Kravitz as a music-obsessed young lady, taking on the role originally written for John Cusack, the show received positive reviews across the board.
Sadly, the reviews weren't enough to keep it in Hulu's catalog. In 2021, the platform announced its decision to cancel the series, most likely due to low viewership.
Utopia
After bouncing around networks trying to find a home, Utopia finally found a place within Amazon's catalog of originals. Unfortunately, while the sci-fi series had a lot going for it, like a high budget and cool premise of an underground novel that results in young adults having to save the world, it had little to no audience reaction. This is surprising to many since the show was based on Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn's work.
And when it comes to streaming platforms, no audience reaction is a bad sign, but a lackluster critical response is even worse. It received both, resulting in its cancelation.
On Becoming A God In Central Florida
Set in 1990s Orlando, Florida, the Showtime series On Becoming A God In Central Florida has ended. Starring award-winning actress Kirsten Dunst as a minimum-wage water park employee, the series follows her as she cons, schemes, and tries to move up the ranks of a pyramid scheme that sent her to ruin in the first place.
While the dark comedy was originally preparing for a second season, 2020 delays led to drastic scheduling shifts and higher production costs. As a result, the network canceled the show.
High Maintenance
Just a typical guy going about his job of delivering substances to the people of New York, intertwining himself into their daily lives is the amusing premise of the comedy-drama High Maintenance. And while the series had a solid following throughout its six-season run on HBO, the anthology has come to its end.
Now, the cancelation of this show isn't due to low viewership or even production cost. It's solely due to co-creators Katja Blichfeld and Ben Sinclair wanting to take a break and pursue other projects. Some fans might call that selfish!
Tosh.0
After airing more than 250 episodes, the commentary series Tosh.0 secured the title of Comedy Central's longest-running weekly live-action show. Too bad it didn't stop the network from giving the Daniel Tosh-led series the boot.
The cancelation comes in the wake of the networks move to more adult animation. But there are no hard feelings. Upon the announcement, Tosh tweeted, "After 12 years together, Comedy Central and I are consciously uncoupling. They get the cartoons, and I'm heading to any network with stronger wifi."
Ozark
In 2017, Netflix launched sleeper hit Ozark, starring Julia Garner and Jason Bateman. Bateman plays an "everyman" who slowly gets his family involved in a life of crime. At the time, the show was compared to Breaking Bad, but would eventually earn critical praise and multiple award nominations of its own.
After three seasons, star and producer Bateman announced that the show would end after a fourth season,. It's set to debut in 2021 and will be split into two parts of seven episodes each.
The Outsider
Regardless of its rave reviews, high viewership, and startling plot based on one of Stephen King's best-selling novels, The Outsider is getting booted outside of HBO's catalog of original shows.
After a successful first season, it came as a surprise to many that the adaptation was getting the boot. Thankfully, it is possible that the crime series will find a new home at a new network, as the season two script is actually complete.
The Baker And The Beauty
Nothing says quality television quite like a comedy-drama series about a Cuban man working in his family's bakery in Miami who falls in love with an international superstar, causing conflict between two very different families.
Unfortunately, ABC viewers weren't exactly keen on the idea, and the lack of interest led The Beauty and the Baker to be canceled after a solid one season of nine episodes. Weirdly enough, the series received an 89% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Run
Well, HBO has decided Billy and Ruby can stop running, as the comedy-thriller Run has been canceled after one season. After making a pact in college, Ruby finds herself dropping everything to "RUN" to Grand Central Station to meet up with her college boyfriend.
The show actually received great reviews, but the powers that be decided it was time to cancel the Merritt Wever and Domhnall Gleeson-led series. An HBO representative said they tried to figure out a way to continue the story but wound up deciding on cancelation.
Castle Rock
Unfortunately for fans of the mystery series Castle Rock, based on characters and themes from Stephen King works, Hulu always intended to cancel the show after the telling of psychopath Annie Wilkes' story. As it so happens, the story came to a conclusion after the airing of the third season.
And while the reviews and viewership for the series were high since the initial first season, HBO didn't want the plot to become stale or repetitive to the audience. Pretty much, they cut out while they were ahead of the game.
Harlots
Fans of Hulu's Harlots were waiting anxiously for the release of the fourth season. Much to their disappointment, the ladies of Margaret Wells' brothel have seen their last season. Inspired by Hallie Rubenhold's novel The Covent Garden Ladies, the period drama was very popular upon its first season release.
It holds a high rating of 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, so, the question begs, why was it canceled? As it turns out, Harlots is getting the boot to make way for more original content for the FX and Hulu hub.
Helstrom
Jeph Loeb's final live-action Marvel show in the now-defunct Marvel Television unit, Helstrom has met its end. The Hulu series is based on the Marvel comic characters Daimon and Satana Hellstrom as they try to save the world from the worst of humanity.
And while the one and only season of the show is technically a standalone in the MCU, it wasn't enough to keep the show running. In fact, its low ratings and writing play a major role in why Hulu opted to cancel it.
Reprisal
Katherine Harlow's game of revenge is coming to a close, as Hulu's Reprisal wasn't reprised for another season on the platform. Starring Abigail Spencer as Harlow, a femme fatale dead-set on avenging her honor by leading a vengeful campaign against the people who left her for dead, the first season seemed interesting enough for viewers to get hooked.
It wasn't. Not only was viewership low compared to other shows on the platform, but the season one ratings were fairly low, at 53% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Bluff City Law
For the cast, crew, and many local workers who took the time to produce Bluff City Law in Memphis, Tennessee, the show's cancelation after its single season was a hard blow. A legal drama following a family of high-profile lawyers including Jimmy Smits as Elijah Strait, NBC thought the premise would be enough to bring in viewers.
They were wrong. After the first episode, viewership steadily plummeted throughout the show's ten-episode run. And the low 36% on Rotten Tomatoes wasn't helping its cause.
Siren
After three seasons, Freeform has decided to throw the mermaid drama Siren out to sea. While season three did see the epic showdown between mermaid rivals Ryn and Tia, the series didn't exactly wrap up the story in a tiny little bow.
Either way, Siren is sleeping with the fishes in 2021. Low viewership, down 30% from the previous season, has made the people upstairs come to the decision to cancel the series.
Council Of Dads
For the dads of NBC's drama Council of Dads, the first season is going to be the last time they convene. The family forward show with a talented cast was NBC's latest attempt to piggy-back off the success that This is Us brought to the network.
While viewers love their drama, a dad diagnosed with cancer, who calls upon his friends to step in as "dads" to his kids, wasn't what the NBC audience was looking for in a show.
Indebted
After a very low-rated first season, NBC hopes to not be in debt because of the failure of the sitcom Indebted. How could they have known people wouldn't want to tune in to watch a married couple deal with boomerang parents who don't understand the concept of boundaries?
Well, viewers didn't, resulting in the super low Rotten Tomatoes score of 25% and an average Metacritic score of 36 out of 100. Ouch. What's even more surprising is that the show was created by Dan Levy!
Kidding
Sorry, Kidding fans, but know that Showtime is not kidding when they announced the cancelation of the Jim Carrey-led dark comedy. Kind of putting a dark twist on Mr. Rogers, Kidding follows Mr. Pickles, a television host who is the pillar of all childhood wisdom whose entire world begins to crumble around him.
Unfortunately, low ratings led this series to the lowest-rated show slot on Showtime, making it an easy series for the series to ax at the beginning of 2021.
Penny Dreadful: City of Angels
A spin-off of the popular gothic horror series Penny Dreadful, Showtime's drama City of Angeles, didn't receive the same fanfare. Based in the Golden Age of Hollywood, the show's first season did nothing to keep its already low viewership.
Between sloppy writing, weird technical difficulties, and the underutilization of top-tier actors like Nathan Lane, the show received so many mixed reviews it was giving people whiplash. After one season of ten episodes, Penny Dreadful: City of Angels has been canceled.
LA's Finest
Reprising her role as Syd Burnett from Bad Boys II, Gabrielle Union teams up with Jessica Alba as they take on the bad guys on the streets of Los Angeles. The powerful women are two of LA's Finest and forces to be reckoned with in the LAPD.
But when it comes to viewers, they weren't forceful enough. After two seasons, low viewership and ratings led the network to come to the hard decision to cancel the action series.
Vagrant Queen
Vagrant Queen's reign on SyFy has come to an end in 2021, as the network has opted to cancel the space thriller after one season of ten episodes. The action-packed adventure tale follows Elida, a former child queen who, along with her long-time frenemy and a mechanic, travels the galaxy in hopes to take down her nemesis.
Ironically, this canceled show has a perfect score of 100% on rotten Tomatoes, leading people to question why the network canceled. Answer: high ratings doesn't always equate to high viewership.
GLOW
Sadly, the Netflix wrestling comedy-drama GLOW will not be returning to the ring for its originally scheduled fourth season. The renewal decision came in the summer of 2019, but after the hectic upheaval that 2020 had on the entertainment industry, GLOW became another casualty.
The streaming platform announced its decision to cancel the otherwise very popular and highly rated show after production was put on hold in mid-March of 2020 and never returned.
Briarpatch
Based on the Ross Thomas book of the same name, the USA drama Briarpatch followed an investigator who returns to her hometown of San Bonifacio, Texas, to solve the mystery of her sister's murder. Led by the amazing Rosario Dawson, the show's first season brought an equal blend of mystery, thrills, and crime to the table.
But even the high ratings couldn't bring in a steady audience base, leading the network to pull the plug on the second season.
Hoops
In Netflix's brave attempt at an original animated series, Hoops really didn't stand a chance, making its 2021 cancelation not too surprising. One critic even said the show was "Crude, rude, and aimless, Hoops' first season throws nothing but bricks." Ouch.
Apparently, viewers didn't appreciate the foul-mouthed high school basketball coach who wanted nothing more than to make it to the big leagues. Pretty much, Netflix's animated series attempt fouled out of the game despite the voice talents of Rob Riggle, Nick Swardson, and more.
Stumptown
Much to fans' dismay, the Colbie Smulders-led crime series Stumptown will not be returning for a second season on ABC. After 18 episodes of Army veteran Dex Parios flirting with the line of law-abiding private investigator and a hard-hitting criminal, ABC has decided to cancel.
While the series was originally slated for a second season, production delays in 2020 led to more than one timing issue. So, the network decided not to move forward with the project.
I Am Not Okay With This
Fans of the coming-of-age comedy I Am Not Okay With This were not okay when they heard the news that Netflix wasn't planning on renewing the show for a second season. Seriously, the people need to see more of Sydney Novak navigating both the hardships of high school while juggling her newly acquired superpowers, Netflix!
Alas, the people aren't getting what they want, as the production to move forward with the second season would have cost a lot of money after the 2020 delays.
The Society
Dubbed a modern-day Lord of the Flies, the Netflix series The Society started with a bang, receiving great reviews and a high enough viewership to lead into a second season. It came from the mind of Party of Five creator Christopher Keyser, after all! However, like a lot of shows, the 2020 production delays didn't do The Society any favors.
Due to a lot of uncertainty, including higher budgets to ensure cast and crew health and an unknown production schedule, the streaming giant decided it best to pull the plug, even though they were already set to start filming. Sigh.
