If you haven’t glanced at the full list of canceled and ending shows, you may be in for a bit of a shock this TV season. It’s been a network bloodbath over the last month, as some fan-favorites from So Help Me Todd to Walker got canceled, and some other big shows like Young Sheldon ended. But it’s not just network TV that’s quietly been shuffling shows off the 2024 TV schedule; in fact, even Apple TV+ quietly canceled two shows this month.
Rom-Com Series Still Up Gets Canceled
Honestly, this sort of rom-com TV series often ends far too soon. Cristin Milioti’s highly-touted How I Met Your Mother follow-up A to Z dabbled in the genre and notably only made it for 13 episodes. Selfie with John Cho and GOTG star Karen Gillan only made it one season. Pushing Daisies made it two. Look, Darren Starr’s had a bit more luck with the genre with Younger and Emily in Paris by juxtaposing the rom-com storylines with fun and fashionable career opps. And Hallmark has had some long-running rom-coms find success with lower budgets. On a whole, though, it can be a tough genre to get to stick on TV.
So, while perhaps this isn’t a huge shocker, I do think the timing of the cancelation is is worth talking out as it is the second call Apple TV+ has made this month. We previously learned the streaming service had also axed Constellation, a space-related series about an astronaut (played by Noomi Rapace) who returns to Earth after staying behind to make repairs following an International Space Station incident. That show also only lasted one season on the streamer.
More Cancelations On Streaming Platforms
It's interesting timing for Apple TV+ to make these two calls, as well. May is the time of year when TV fans' sights are still fairly geared on the network TV schedule. Even if those fans are watching network TV on streaming platforms now, the fates of some of their favorite shows are still tied to the Live+7 audiences, and those two audiences are not always on the same page. Ergo, much of what we've been discussing here at CinemaBlend over the last month has been network shows that we've had to say goodbye to.
Meawhile, some streaming services have cancelled more one season shows with very little fanfare. It's not just Apple TV+ either, though I singled out the streamer given it quietly canceled two shows and not just one during the month of May. In another example, Max also just under-the-radar canceled The Girls on the Bus just a few days ago.
Of course streaming works differently. If you've been wondering why so many first season shows on streaming get canceled, there is a reason, and that has to do with streaming services greenlighting full seasons instead of just pilots for shows. That way those services get the opportunity to drop a full season and see if audiences bite. However, it also means that a lot of shows get one season and then fade out of memory pretty fast.
It makes me wonder if these quiet cancelations have been so quiet because these shows haven't garnered huge audiences or if timing the news for May couldn't have gone better for the streamers. Either way, though, it's definitely interesting enough to point out.
