US Network Fox Cancels ‘The Gifted’ & ‘Rel’
As we head towards the US network upfronts next month, when a lot of the tv series are renewed or cancelled, some broadcasters are getting the knives out early. Fox has cancelled both X-Men-adjacent drama ‘The Gifted’ and the sitcom ‘Rel’.
‘The Gifted’ told the story of the Struckers, a suburban couple whose ordinary lives are rocked by the sudden discovery that their children possess mutant powers. Forced to go on the run from a hostile government, the family joins up with an underground network of mutants and must fight to survive. The series aired for two seasons and ran on Fox in the UK.
The cancellation doesn’t come as a huge shock. Whilst the series was liked by audiences and critics, it’s broadcast ratings weren’t all that great. Plus, due to the Disney/Fox takeover, Fox no longer has any ownership of ‘The Gifted’ so those ratings for a third season would matter a lot more than they did in the first two seasons. Technically, it is possibly Disney could rescue the series by moving it over to either Disney+, Freeform, FX, or Hulu. However, we suspect that is unlikely. Disney will have some big ideas set for mutants as part of the MCU, so having a rogue mutant show loosely attached to Fox’s X-Men universe still on air probably doesn’t fit into those plans.
‘Rel’ is a comedy about a recently divorced husband and father on Chicago’s West Side who jumps back into the dating pool and often finds himself the victim of his own well-intentioned hubris. Co-created by Lil Rel Howery and Kevin Barnett, the comedy starred Howery in the lead alongside Jordan L. Jones, Jessica “Jess Hilarious” Moore and Sinbad. The series ran for one season and never landed a UK broadcaster.
This cancellation seems to be purely a ratings issue. Whilst the show premiered well, its numbers soon dropped off to half the audience of the show it replaced, ‘Last Man On Earth’, so the writing was on the wall.
As we mentioned at the start of the post, we’re heading into the bloodbath that is “Upfronts” in May, when all the US broadcasters renew or cancel existing shows, along with announcing which of the pilots have made the cut to become full series. You can check out how your favourite shows are fairing on the Renewal/Cancellation page here.
