It’s the time of the season again. The time where major networks clear out the old to make way for the new. There’s a circle to the life of a show. They begin, some character disappears upstairs never to be seen or heard from again, skip a few, and then they end. Some of them skip all of those middle steps. And those make up the bulk of this list.
ABC
American Crime – John Ridley’s anthology series. While well reviewed, the high-concept plots based on current issues likely led to its downfall. Anthology series have it rough.
The Catch – Shonda Rhimes con-artist opera conned itself into an early grave.
Conviction – Haley Atwell’s a pretty good actor. Which is why it’s a shame that her last two series have died on her.
Dr. Ken – I like Ken Jeong as much as the next guy. Sadly, his show is no longer on life support.
Imaginary Mary – Oh, this fucking monstrosity. This was actually reworked so that Mary went from looking like this:
To this:
And nowhere in between was there a pleasant design. Even had it’s run slashed from 13 episodes to nine. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, we stick Imaginary Mary in the Earth’s crust.
Last Man Standing – Tim Allen’s second sitcom had a good run at 6 seasons. It even managed to get Jonathan Taylor Thomas to peel himself from the childhood bedroom walls of almost every girl I went to school with to make a cameo.
Notorious – I don’t remember a damn thing about this show. I’m not surprised it got canned.
The Real O’Neals – They’re and Irish Catholic family, the parents are getting divorced, One of the sons is a lunkhead and the other one is gay. There, I just saved you, what 10, 15 hours of your life?
Secrets and Lies – An adaptation of an Australian series. Lasted 2 seasons.
Time After Time – It was a bad season for time travelers. Doubly so when your pitch is “H.G. Wells The Time Machine only with Jack the Ripper and everyone’s sexy.”
CBS
Doubt – Katherine Heigl basically poisoned her own career. I’m not surprised to find this only ran for 2 episodes.
Pure Genius – “Tech Billionaire builds a hospital” is a bad idea for a show. The only thing more like televised Ambien is golf.
FOX
A.P.B. – “Tech Billionaire does a thing” should probably be scrubbed from the drawing board, guys. It failed twice in one season.
Making History – Time Traveling duffel bag. Writers of the Lego Movie.
Somehow went wrong. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Pitch – A show about MLB’s first female pitcher. No one knew it existed. Good Job, Fox!
Rosewood – Another 2 season show. this time, about pathology. I never watched it.
Sleepy Hollow – There will be some that are sad to see this one go. But once one of your leads leaves, it’s usually time to join the choir invisible
Son of Zorn – I liked Son of Zorn for whatever reason. But there comes a time in every barbarian’s life when they’re devoured by a Lovecraftian horror. Go with Glorb, Zorn.
NBC
The Blacklist: Redemption – My Dad liked The Blacklist quite a bit. He hasn’t watched a single episode of this. That should tell you what you need to know
Emerald City – Gritty versions of children’s classics have a nasty tendency to not work, don’t they?
Powerless – An office sitcom in a world with superheroes. Not a superhero to be seen. Sugar-free soda in television show form.
Timeless – Good news if you’re one of the small group of people that liked this show. The creators are looking to network hop with it. Just temper your optimism.
CW
Frequency – A series based on the movie of the same name. They can never seem to stretch these right, can they?
No Tomorrow – It seems Galavant must ride into the sunset once more.
RIP in pepperoni