TV Cancellations/Renewals This Week – ‘Hitmen’, ‘Drag Race’, ‘The Society’, ‘Penny Dreadful’ & More!
There have been a number of renewals and cancellations this week, so I thought rather than do separate articles for each one, I’d rip off the band-aid in one go and collect them all together! We’ll kick off with the bad news, and the cancellations…
First up, Netflix has canned two shows, ‘The Society‘ and ‘I Am Not Okay With This‘. Both series had only aired one season, however, ‘The Society’ had previously been renewed for season two, but Netflix has now reversed that decision. Both of these cancellations appear to have been made due to the global pandemic.
“We’ve made the difficult decision not to move forward with second seasons of The Society and I Am Not Okay With This,” Netflix said in a statement. “We’re disappointed to have to make these decisions due to circumstances created by COVID, and we are grateful to these creators, including Jonathan Entwistle, Christy Hall, Shawn Levy, Dan Levine, Dan Cohen and Josh Barry at 21 Laps Entertainment for I Am Not Okay With This; Chris Keyser, Marc Webb and Pavlina Hatoupis for The Society; and all the writers, casts and crews who worked tirelessly to make these shows for our members around the world.”
The production on both shows was impacted by COVID-19, leading to delays in filming. According to ‘The Society’ star Kathryn Newton, “Everything was written” for Season 2, they were just waiting to see when they could get back to filming. Whilst ‘I Am Not Okay With This’ had not been greenlit for a 2nd Season, work had begun on the next season’s script as the renewal was looking likely before the pandemic hit. Unfortunately, both shows also ended on massive cliffhangers, which now won’t be resolved.
On a happier note, it’s not all cancellations over at Netflix. They did renew Simon Barry’s ‘Warrior Nun’ for Season 2 earlier this week.
Over on Comedy Central, the US broadcaster has performed two renewal u-turns, cancelling the previous approved 7th Season of comedy ‘Drunk History’, and future seasons of ‘Tosh.0’. Production on the 7th Season of ‘Drunk History’ had actually already begun when the pandemic hit, forcing them to shut down. However, this seems less to do with the pandemic, and more to do with a shift in programming by parent company ViacomCBS to move the channel away from live-action comedy toward adult animated series instead. This is reinforced by the reversal of the ‘Tosh.0’ renewal, which previously picked up four-seasons only last year, which would have taken it to Season 16. It will now end on Season 12 this Autumn/Fall.
The last cancellation is Showtime’s ‘Penny Dreadful: City of Angels‘, which will not be back after one season. The US broadcaster released a statement saying “Showtime has decided not to move forward with another season of Penny Dreadful: City of Angels. We would like to thank executive producers John Logan, Michael Aguilar and the entire cast and crew for their outstanding work on this project.”
Showtime doesn’t give a specific reason for the cancellation, but whilst it was reasonably reviewed, the drama didn’t quite seem to capture the magic of the original series. Couple that with the pandemic, and the fact it is probably quite an expensive show to produce, that may give you some idea of why it won’t be back.
Onto the renewals, and fans of ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race‘ will be glad to know the reality show won’t “sashay away” anytime soon. The main show has been renewed for Season 13, alongside the spin-off ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars‘ which returns for Season 6, and the unscripted aftershow, ‘Untucked’, which will also return.
Another renewal sees Apple TV+ pick up football comedy ‘Ted Lasso‘, from star Jason Sudeikis and ‘Scrubs’ creator Bill Lawrence, for a 2nd Season, only weeks after Season 1 aired. The series stars Sudeikis as an American college football coach who is recruited to coach English “soccer” team, AFC Richmond, despite having no experience with the sport. The renewal comes following reports that the comedy has been Apple’s most-watched show on its opening weekend in multiple countries including the UK and US, with people binging the first 3 episodes.
Lastly, returning to the UK, Mel & Sue’s debut scripted comedy series, ‘Hitmen‘, will return for a 2nd Season Sky One has announced. The series sees the former ‘Bake Off’ hosts as two best friends trying to make their way in the world with only each other to rely on… They also just happen to kill people for a living… “Couldn’t be happier that I’m back in the van with my 9mm and best chum.” commented Sue, with Mel adding “The opportunity for two perimenopausal women from Surrey to get back into the action-comedy hot seat is a) a rarity and b) just too exciting.”
You can see a list of all the renewed and cancelled tv shows this year by checking the ‘Renewed/Cancelled TV Shows’ page here.
