CBS Cancels BrainDead & American Gothic
Two of CBS’s summer shows won’t be returned it was announced yesterday. BrainDead & American Gothic have been dropped by the US network after only 1 season.
Set in Washington D.C., BrainDead was a comic-thriller that followed Laurel, a young fresh-faced Capitol Hill staffer, who discovers that the government has stopped working, and bugs are eating the brains of Congress members and Hill staffers.
American Gothic followed the story of an affluent Boston family who discover shocking secrets from the past and present, which reveals one family member may be linked to a string of grisly murders.
Both of these series had struggled in the US ratings, so their cancellation doesn’t come as a huge surprise. The first signs of trouble arrived when BrainDead’s creators, Robert and Michelle King, were named as showrunners on The Good Wife spinoff, indicating the writing was on the wall for the freshman series.
These shorter season shows come from CBS’s Summer season, which are ordered under a model that have international and streaming deals in place to lower the license fee. Unfortunately that still wasn’t enough to save them. CBS have had mixed success with their Summer seasons in recent years, with shows such as Extant, Under the Dome and the wonderfully ridiculous Zoo!
BrainDead & American Gothic 1st and only season are available on Amazon Prime in the UK.
