After The TV Bloodbath: What TV Shows Are Renewed, Cancelled, & Which Are MIA – May 2019 Edition
As the smoke clears across the blood-soaked battlefield that is the Friday night massacre before US TV Upfronts next week, we look over the carnage and examine the aftermath… Who survived, who was wounded, who “failed this city” and took an arrow through the heart, and who was conspicuously missing from the warzone entirely! It’s our May 2019 roundup of the US networks renewed & cancelled shows, and, compared to last year’s bloodshed, the battle this time was surprisingly light for UK viewers.
The Cancellations
It was an interesting set of cancellations this year for UK viewers, as a lot of the shows which were taken down in the last 48hrs were shows that were not picked up on this side of the pond.
CBS butchered its way through their freshman comedy lineup, mowing down the revival of ‘Murphy Brown’, Nina Dobrev’s ‘Fam’, and Damon Wayans Jr. series ‘Happy Together’, the latter being the only one of the three to be aired in the UK. Unfortunately, veteran comedy ‘Life in Pieces’ (which is currently airing on Amazon Prime in the UK) got caught in the crossfire and was also taken out after 4 Seasons.
ABC ploughed through six shows, but again, only a couple of them had aired in the UK. Legal thriller ‘The Fix’, procedural ‘Take Two’, along with comedies ‘Splitting Up Together’ and ‘The Kids Are Alright’ all took a bullet to the head, but never aired in the UK. What did premiere here was Shondaland legal drama ‘For the People’, which aired on Sky Witness, alongside, sadly, ‘Speechless’, the brilliant comedy which has only recently been broadcast in the UK on E4, and was taken out after 3 Seasons.
NBC was surprisingly light with its butchery this year. A few shows had already fallen, such as supernatural drama ‘Midnight, Texas’, along with comedies ‘Marlon’ and ‘Trial & Error’. The only series to be taken out in the Friday night massacre was Amy Poehler-produced freshman comedy ‘I Feel Bad’, which again, hasn’t aired in the UK.
As always, FOX came out guns blazing and was probably the worst result for UK telly watchers. Marvel series ‘The Gifted’ was already pre-murdered before last night’s war. It is now joined by the troubled ‘Lethal Weapon’, sci-fi horror ‘The Passage’ (which seems to have a lot more love in the UK than it did in the US), and musical drama ‘Star’. The also stuck a dagger through the heart of comedies ‘The Cool Kids’ and ‘Rel’, neither of which aired in the UK.
Lastly, the fluffiest of networks, The CW, cancelled nothing… Not a single show! They have a few series which they had previously announced were coming to an end with final seasons, such as ‘Supernatural’, ‘Arrow’, ‘Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’, ‘iZombie’ and ‘Jane the Virgin’, but nothing was cruelly mown down in its prime. All those shows are being ended by the series producers and have a proper send-off.
The Renewals
Surveying the landscape for survivors, there were a lot of shows which managed to stand victorious this year. Some had been expected, others scrapping their way through the fight, but ultimately emerging unscathed.
Beginning with CBS, ‘S.W.A.T.‘ fought their way through, along with ‘Madam Secretary‘, ‘Blue Bloods’, ‘FBI’, ‘SEAL Team‘, ‘The Good Fight‘, ‘Bull‘ and comedy ‘God Friended Me’ (not aired in the UK). It was a good time for CBS’s “proceeduralverse” too as ‘MacGyver‘, ‘Hawaii Five-O‘, ‘NCIS: Los Angeles‘ and ‘Magnum P.I.’ all made it home, along with the main ‘NCIS‘ and ‘NCIS: New Orleans‘. Even better news for comedy fans as both ‘Mom’ and ‘Young Sheldon’ picked up double season renewals. As previously announced, ‘Elementary’ and ‘Criminal Minds’ are both returning for final seasons.
Turning to ABC, on the comedy side, ‘Black-ish’ will be back, as will ‘Fresh Off the Boat’. Bringing the drama we have ‘Grey’s Anatomy‘, which been handed a two-season order, whilst ‘Station 19‘ will be getting a 3rd Season and ‘How to Get Away with Murder‘ gets a 6th Season. Nathan Fillion’s freshman drama ‘The Rookie’ also managed to score a return, much to a lot of people’s relief. They are joined by comedies ‘Bless This Mess’, ‘Single Parents’ and ‘The Conners’, alongside drama ‘A Million Little Things’, none of which have UK broadcasters. Previously announced renewals include ‘Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ which returns for Season 7, ‘The Good Doctor’ for Season 3, and ‘Modern Family’ which gets a final 11th Season.
Over on FOX, a lot of their renewals had already been announced. ‘Empire’ will return for a 6th Season, whilst ‘9-1-1’ and ‘The Resident’ will be back for 3rd Seasons. On the comedy side, ‘The Simpsons’ got has a two-season renewal, taking it to Season 32, whilst ‘Family Guy’ returns for Season 18, and ‘Bob’s Burgers’ for Season 10. Tim Allen’s ‘Last Man Standing’ was also picked up for Season 8, but currently is without a UK broadcaster.
It was a similar situation over at NBC, with the notable exception of ‘Blindspot’, which was just handed a 5th and final season. Previously, the network had renewed ‘The Blacklist’ for Season 7, medical drama ‘New Amsterdam’ for Season 2, along with ‘Chicago Fire’, ‘Chicago PD’, and ‘Chicago Med’ for their respective next seasons. ‘Law & Order: SVU’ landed a record-breaking 21st Season, making it the longest-running primetime drama ever on US TV, and making Mariska Hargitay’s Lieutenant Benson the longest-running character in a primetime live-action series. Freshman drama ‘Manifest’, which amazingly, still doesn’t have a UK broadcaster, was renewed, along with comedies ‘Superstore’, ‘Good Girls’, and the much beloved ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’.
Lastly, The CW had already renewed everything, although (as mentioned above) ‘Supernatural’ and ‘Arrow’ are both coming back for final seasons. That means ‘The Flash’, ‘Supergirl’, ‘Legends of Tomorrow’, ‘Black Lightning’, ‘Riverdale’, ‘Charmed’, ‘Dynasty’, ‘The Outpost’, ‘Burden of Truth’ and ‘The 100’ all return. They also renewed ‘Legacies’, ‘All American’, ‘In The Dark’ and ‘Roswell, New Mexico’, all of which have yet to be picked up in the UK.
Still Missing In Action
There are a few shows left which are conspicuous by their absence… Some of these are very likely for renewal but have yet to be announced.
On FOX, there is still no word on ‘The Orville’, which should be a shoo-in for renewal, but may yet throw up a nasty shock. ‘Proven Innocent’ also hasn’t officially been cancelled or renewed yet, but is presumed dead due to its dire ratings. UPDATE: ‘Proven Innocent’ now officially cancelled, and ‘The Orville’ officially renewed!
Over on ABC, ‘The Goldbergs’ and it’s spin-off ‘Schooled’ have not yet been announced either way. These should be safe, but they are being left quite late for some reason. – UPDATE: Whilst there are come contract things going on, ‘The Goldbergs’ and ‘Schooled’ are both back.
ABC also has Lauren Cohan’s new show ‘Whiskey Cavalier’, which seems could go either way. Whilst that doesn’t have a UK broadcaster, the pick up could affect whether we see Cohan return to ‘The Walking Dead’ next season, so it is worth keeping an eye on if you are a TWD fan. UPDATE: ‘Whiskey Cavalier’ is now officially cancelled.
At CBS, there is no news on ‘Instinct’ yet. That is due to the 2nd Season having not yet been broadcast in the US, so we don’t expect to hear about that until some time after it has aired.
At NBC, the biggest surprise is ratings giant ‘This Is Us’ has not yet been renewed or cancelled. It is a flagship show for the network, so it seems odd that they have left it so late to announce, but it also seems inconceivable that they wouldn’t bring it back. One possible reason for this is, like ‘The Goldbergs’ at ABC, the show is produced by an outside studio, so there may be some last minute deals being worked out before they can officially give the go ahead. UPDATE: ‘This Is Us’ renewed for 3 more seasons.
There will still be a lot more news about the various new shows (check the home page!) and some more renewals & cancellations over the next week as the US networks present their line-ups for the coming seasons at their Upfronts next week. Check back in for all the latest info!
