Article originally published on 5/7/15. Continually updated after the break.
It is May, and the Upfronts are right around the corner. Before the networks make official their upcoming slate of fall shows, they must decide the fate of current series.
ABC made waves Thursday evening, announcing a whopping 16 renewals and 3 cancellations. Without further ado, the following series will be making their way back to the Alphabet network next season.
Shonda Rhimes’ “TGIT” lineup remains in tact, as Grey’s Anatomy (season 12), Scandal (s5), and How to Get Away with Murder (s2) will all return for more intense drama. Veteran Castle (s8) and ABC staples Once Upon A Time (s5) and Nashville (s4) are also coming back–no surprise there. Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (s3) is here to stay as the Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to unfold on TV; also, the TV gods thankfully heard our collective cries to keep Marvel’s Agent Carter on the air which will return for a second season! The low-rated, critically acclaimed American Crime is also getting a sophomore run, as is the surprisingly fun murder mystery series Secrets and Lies.
Over on the comedy side, veteran Modern Family (s7) remains the network’s crown jewel, and other Wednesday night sitcoms The Middle (s7) and The Goldbergs (s3), and black-ish (s2) will follow suit with new seasons next fall. Freshman series Fresh off the Boat and musical Galavant have also been greenlit to return. Though it hasn’t been made official quite yet, Tim Allen sitcom Last Man Standing is expected to make a fifth season. Update (5/10): LMS will return.
Last, the net’s alternative programs that have been renewed include American’s Funniest Home Videos (s26), The Bachelor (s20), Dancing with the Stars (s21), Shark Tank (s7), Beyond the Tank (s2), and newsmagazine 20/20.
Those series not returning include dramas Resurrection and Forever and Friday night sitcom Cristela. While the latter two failed to find broad audiences, the former simply couldn’t manage to sustain its dragged out premise involving dead people coming back to life (good luck, The Returned!). Fans will surely hold onto Resurrection‘s quietly superb 8-episode first season, and thankfully, the season 2 finale happened to bring much closure to the story.
As I teased before, this is just the beginning, people. Hold onto your hats because the Upfronts are coming next week!
Jump after the break for other renewal/cancellation news from the big networks.
Update: The latest programs to get renewed include The Simpsons (Fox has greenlit seasons 27 and 28 simultaneously), The CW’s iZombie will return for a second season, Orphan Black (BBC America renewed it ahead of the series’ third season finale airing June 20) Orange is the New Black (Netflix made the announcement prior to the series’ fifth season premiere arriving June 12), Daredevil (Doug Petrie and Marco Ramirez are taking over showrunner duties from Steven DeKnight on the Netflix original), and PlayStation Network’s first original series Powers will be back for a second round. Stick it here for more as the networks continue to make final deliberations.
Update (5/8): Fox’s long-running procedural Bones is returning for an eleventh season; the network’s psychological serial killer thriller The Following is dead after three seasons (the two-hour (now) series finale airs this Monday). And NBC has axed genre drama Constantine and Katherine Heigl vehicle State of Affairs.
A quick note on The Following. The Kevin Bacon/James Purefoy top-lined series came out of the gate in 2012 with a quite stellar debut season. It was packed with fun twists and turns, and of course its affinity for violence and scare tactics defined it as an intense, edge-of-your-seat thrill ride. Series creator Kevin Williamson (a producer from the popular Scream franchise) departed the show during its sophomoric slump in season two; the cult camp storyline always felt messy and not nearly as cold and calculated as the stuff from season one. And now, in the show’s third and final season, Purefoy’s psycho killer Joe Carroll spent nearly the entire time on the sidelines and recently (spoiler alert!) met his maker. With that character out of the mix for good, it feels like there’s no better time to call it quits than now. It has always been the Ryan Hardy/Joe Carroll relationship that carried the series to its highlight moments. With that gone, so must the show go, it seems! Kudos to the stars, as well as executive producer Marcos Siega–he’s a fine director with a knack for extracting suspense in literal darkness and I can’t wait see what he works on next.
Update (5/9): NBC has made some more calls: Debra Messing procedural The Mysteries of Laura is returning for a second season, and medical procedural The Night Shift earned itself a third season. As previously reported, genre drama Constantine is dead at the Peacock network, but according to showrunner Daniel Cerone it may live on elsewhere; Warner Bros. is shopping the short-lived series around to other networks and cable stations. Bill Lawrence’s sitcom Undateable, after recently proving itself a worthy contender with a special live episode, will return for a third season–and get this–consisting entirely of live episodes. Getting the axe at NBC are three comedies About A Boy, Marry Me, and One Big Happy. Elsewhere, CBS has cancelled dramas Battle Creek and Stalker as well as sitcom The McCarthys. CSI, CSI: Cyber, and Hawaii Five-0 remain in contention at the Eye. Fox is letting go of Rainn Wilson crime procedural Backstrom.
A few words on the departing NBC comedies… It’s a damn shame seeing the network cut About a Boy in its second season. I haven’t seen a comedy packed with so much funny and so much heart in a long while. The cast led by David Walton, who finally found a show that fired on all cylinders with audiences following failed attempts Perfect Couples and Bent, meshed wonderfully. Mini Driver’s Fiona and Benjamin Stockham as Marcus rounded out the quirky, lovable series from Parenthood creator Jason Katims that will never see its storylines wrapped up. In my head, Will and Fiona get together and live happily ever after. Plus, Marcus gets the girl, Shea. This sweet show will be missed.
As for Marry Me, the cooky David Caspe comedy was just getting into its creative groove right before the network yanked it from the schedule along with About a Boy. Both series have unaired episodes in the can; no word on if/when they will see the light of day. Of course, this raises the all-important question: what will Caspe do next? The stars have quite literally aligned for the cast of his previous cut-short series Happy Endings to make the comeback we all want to happen. Casey Wilson (Marry Me), Elisha Cuthbert (One Big Happy), and Eliza Couple (Benched) are all coming off recently cancelled series. Damon Wayans, Jr. just departed New Girl and Adam Pally left the recently axed The Mindy Project. And Zachary Knighton’s Weird Loners was basically DOA at Fox. The entire principal cast, as well as creator Caspe, are primed for a Happy Endings revival–make it happen, people. And this time, no joking around!
Update (5/11): Lots of news out of CBS’ camp today. The Eye renewed 15 series including Blue Bloods, Criminal Minds, Elementary, The Good Wife, Hawaii Five-0, NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles, and Person of Interest. Freshman CSI: Cyber and The Odd Couple are returning for second rounds. These show join the previously renewed Scorpion, Madam Secretary, NCIS: New Orleans, Mom, Mike & Molly, and 2 Broke Girls. Also returning are reality programs Survivor, Undercover Boss, and The Amazing Race, as well as newsmagazines 60 Minutes and 48 Hours. Still lingering on the bubble is the long-running CSI mothership series; sources say it will return to wrap up storylines, either in a 17th season or a TV movie. Over at Fox, sitcoms Weird Loners and Mulaney, drama Red Band Society, and reality show Utopia join The Mindy Project, The Following, and Backstrom in the wastebasket.
POI fans, take note: According to Deadline, Person Of Interest (the sole scripted series not owned by CBS to get renewed by the network today) is returning with a truncated fifth season, likely lasting 13 episodes. Though the network nor the studio (Warner Bros. TV) is commenting on this, Deadline speculates that this news may mark the beginning of the end for the procedural/serial hybrid. The last time CBS made a move like this it was with The Mentalist; shortly after greenlighting a new season with a short episode order, it confirmed that it would be the show’s last. As much as I’d like to follow Team Machine for many more years to come, let’s hope that CBS treats POI with respect by giving it time to conclude on its own terms.