10 Freshman Shows That Just Got Axed

With so many great series on TV these days, it can be hard for new comedies and dramas to stand out. Case in point? Several freshman shows have recently been canceled after failing to resonate with audiences in their debut seasons. Below, check out 10 new TV shows that just got axed.

1. Emerald City

Emerald City | NBC

NBC’s much-hyped Wizard of Oz adaptation is at the end of its yellow brick road. The show, which earned mixed reviews from critics, never really found a strong audience during its 10-episode run. Though it earned 4.5 million viewers in its January 2017 debut, the drama continued to dip from week to week, with its finale garnering an audience of just under 2.9 million.

2. Time After Time

Time After Time | ABC

ABC’s new time travel drama has been axed after just five low-rated episodes. The series debuted to awful reviews and equally bad ratings, with its fifth and final episode scoring a low 0.5 in the key 18–49 demographic.

The show will be replaced by unscripted entry, Match Game, in the Sunday at 9 p.m. time slot. The network currently has no plans to air the remaining produced episodes.

3. Pitch

Pitch | Fox

Fox’s baseball drama, starring Kylie Bunbury as the first woman to play Major League Baseball, earned some of the strongest reviews of any new fall series. Unfortunately, its ratings didn’t match its critical praise. Though the show had steady ratings, it only averaged 3 million viewers and a 0.8 in the key 18–49 demographic.

With viewership not living up to expectations, Fox opted to cancel the show after just 10 episodes.

4. Powerless

Powerless | NBC

DC Comics delivered its first ever sitcom-like comedy with this NBC series, starring Vanessa Hudgens, Danny Pudi, and Christina Kirk. Unfortunately, the risk hasn’t paid off the way either party might have hoped. The series earned slightly mixed reviews from critics (a 64% on Rotten Tomatoes) and failed to register with audiences, pulling in the lowest ratings of all of NBC’s comedy lineup.

Its fledgling viewership ultimately led the network to pull the final two episodes of the show’s freshman season, suggesting that the series is effectively canceled.

5. Doubt

Katherine Heigl and Dulé Hill in Doubt | CBS

Despite boasting an all-star cast that included Katherine Heigl, Dulé Hill, and Laverne Cox, this legal drama was yanked from CBS’ schedule after just two episodes. Though it was one of the more high-profile shows making a midseason debut, Doubt’s February 2017 premiere only drew 5.3 million total viewers and a 0.8 rating in the 18–49 demographic. It dropped even lower in its second week, with 4 million viewers and a 0.6 rating.

With its viewership starting low and only decreasing, CBS decided to pull it altogether, airing Season 2 of Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders in its place.

6. Good Girls Revolt

Good Girls Revolt | Amazon

Amazon made the surprising move to ax this freshman period drama after only one season. The abrupt cancellation came as a shock to many, as the show had earned solid reviews (scoring a 70% on Rotten Tomatoes) in its debut and ranked as one of Amazon’s biggest series among female viewers. Creator Dana Calvo later suggested that Amazon Studios head Roy Price didn’t care for the show, ultimately leading to its cancellation.

Whatever the reason, the drama won’t be getting a second chance or more episodes. Producer Sony Pictures Television reportedly shopped it around to other networks, but it wasn’t picked up. Calvo confirmed that Good Girls Revolt was officially done in January 2017.

7. Conviction

Conviction | ABC

ABC‘s new Hayley Atwell starrer didn’t last very long. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the network has opted not to produce any additional episodes of the legal drama following the completion of its initial 13-episode order. The decision doesn’t come as a huge surprise, as the show earned poor reviews and even worse ratings. Its October 2016 debut marked the lowest-rated series premiere of the fall and the show only continued to struggle in the following weeks.

Though it opted against renewal, the network did decide to air all of the remaining episodes of Conviction. The freshman season concluded on January 29, 2017.

8. Incorporated

Incorporated | Syfy

Incorporated earned some buzz ahead of its premiere, thanks to its A-list executive producers, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. But the show didn’t perform as well as expected. The series earned modest ratings and averaged just under 500,000 viewers in live viewership in its first season. That puts it below many of Syfy’s other series, including The Magicians, Z Nation, and The Expanse.

Given its mediocre performance, it’s no surprise that Syfy has opted not to renew the freshman drama for a second season. The thriller’s freshman run ended in January 2017.

9. Eyewitness

Tyler Young and James Paxton in Eyewitness | USA

The USA Network has decided not to order a second season of the crime thriller, Eyewitness. The drama was originally envisioned as an anthology, with the show taking on a different story every season. In Season 1, it followed two small-town teenage boys who witness a murder.

The channel took a different approach with the show (adapted from the Norwegian drama Øyevitne), giving it a 10-episode straight-to-series order at a lower budget. Though it earned decent reviews, Eyewitness didn’t attract much of an audience. It was the second-lowest-rated original series on USA this season, following Falling Water.

10. Sweet/Vicious

Sweet/Vicious | MTV

MTV has decided to cancel its freshman drama, Sweet/Vicious, despite the strong reviews it earned in its late 2016 debut. The show, which followed two female students who become vigilantes at night to seek revenge on sexual assaulters on campus, only earned about 180,000 average viewers an episode. According to Deadline, that made it the lowest-rated scripted series on the network.

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