Sometimes it’s tough being a TV fan.
You spend hours (days? Weeks?) becoming invested in a show, only to have it yanked from rotation, sometimes without warning. In other cases, a longtime favourite show reaches its expiry date and after a handful of seasons, the plug is pulled. Either way, it’s not easy to bid farewell.
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Many popular TV shows faced the axe in the last week as American networks announced which ones wouldn’t be renewed. Here’s a list of the shows you’re going to have to say goodbye to.
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Kevin Can Wait (Global): Despite the show’s addition of Leah Remini in Season 2 and a rekindling of that King of Queens feeling, fans were displeased about the unceremonious disposal of original series star Erinn Hayes. Audiences never really got over it, and it may have impacted the ratings.
The Mick (City): Undoubtedly funny with It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia‘s Kaitlin Olson in the lead role, sometimes this show grappled with balancing its humour with seriousness. It also never really found a dedicated audience, so the time came to pull the plug.
Quantico (CTV): This thriller series, starring Priyanka Chopra, lasted three seasons, which isn’t too shabby by today’s standards. Some viewers complained that between seasons the show was on hiatus for too long, and people lost interest. While unconfirmed, it could help explain its cancellation.
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Law & Order True Crime (Global): While the show isn’t officially cancelled, it’s also not on the docket for the upcoming slate. It’s safe to guess that True Crime will probably return when a riveting true-crime story hits the headlines. Don’t count this one out just yet.
The Brave (Global): This past season of new TV featured more than a handful of military shows, so it was inevitable that some would bite the dust. The unfortunate victim this time around is The Brave, a close look at an elite covert operations team starring Mike Vogel and Anne Heche. It never caught on with viewers and its ratings reflected that.
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Scorpion (City): A comparative veteran to the other cancelled shows, Scorpion lasted four seasons before being cancelled. As the show progressed, its ratings continued to decline year-over-year, ultimately leading to CBS’ decision to axe it.
Taken (Global): A victim of the shuffle, Clive Standen‘s TV adaptation of Liam Neeson movie Taken was moved around from one day to the next, making it difficult for audiences to get attached or follow along. It ended up being NBC’s lowest-rated drama this season, which essentially sounded its death knell.
Great News (Global): This vastly underappreciated Tina Fey comedy was really, really funny, but again, couldn’t find a foothold. Like Taken, it had become one of the lowest-rated sitcoms on TV, and when a highly promoted Fey guest arc didn’t bring in the viewers, NBC didn’t want to take a chance on it for a third season.
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Rise (Global): The theatrical Rise, which had shades of Glee and High School Musical during its first and only season, never quite caught on. It may have been too much like other musical shows we’d seen before, though it’s tough to tell.
Me, Myself & I (CTV): With a stellar cast — John Larroquette, Bobby Moynihan and Jaleel White were among the stars — it’s a shocker to know that only six episodes of this show ever saw the light of day. (CBS claims that the remaining seven will eventually air, but they didn’t say when.)
Wisdom of the Crowd (Global): Jeremy Piven‘s latest offering about crowdsourcing to help find the killer of his young daughter didn’t resonate with viewers, even fresh out of the gate. Accusations of sexual assault against Piven, coordinated with the show’s premiere, also didn’t help matters.
9JKL (Global): This sitcom, run by and starring comedy veteran Mark Feuerstein (along with his wife, Dana Klein, who didn’t appear on the show), was based on his life and featured the typical comedy situation of being trapped with his family in the same apartment complex. The combination of the feeling that it’d been done before, along with low ratings, guaranteed it would only last one season.
The Mayor (CTV): Another show with much promise, The Mayor won’t be extended past Season 1. ABC prez Channing Dungey blamed the cancellation on “political fatigue,” but ultimately acknowledged the show “wasn’t connecting” with viewers.
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Ten Days in the Valley (CTV): One of the coolest premises from last year’s new-show announcements, Ten Days in the Valley may have been a victim of its placement on Saturday nights. Starring Kyra Sedgwick, the show about the search for her missing daughter felt rich and almost like a miniseries rather than a TV drama.
Designated Survivor (CTV): Three seasons in, it seemed like the Kiefer Sutherland-led political show was hitting its stride. Unfortunately, behind the scenes, things were more unsettled. ABC prez Dungey said it was a showrunner problem, in conjunction with decreasing ratings, that brought the show down. “Creatively, we’ve had a lot of behind-the-scenes churn on the show in terms of the number of showrunners involved,” she said. “We were less confident with the creative path forward than the other shows we brought back.”
Kevin (Probably) Saves the World (CTV): Starring Jason Ritter (the son of sitcom legend John Ritter), this show had enough chops to keep it alive, but the premise was muddy from the beginning: a white dude is assigned a mission to save the world, and he’s guided through it by a black “warrior for God” (Kimberly Hebert Gregory). This didn’t sit well with critics, and apparently not with audiences, either.
Marvel’s Inhumans (CTV): There are a lot of superhero and comic-book shows on TV. Even from its beginnings, this one was an outlier, and it simply never picked up steam. Dragged down by negative critical reviews, it had a tough fight to begin with, so it was no surprise when the network put it out to pasture.
Valor (W Network): Another military show on this year’s docket, Valor was a slightly soapy look at the intense world of elite helicopter pilots. While the premise alone sounds interesting, it didn’t have enough to separate it from the other army shows. Too bad, because it focused on one of the first-ever female pilots.
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