Fox debuted one of the most ambitious new shows of 2016 with the baseball-centric Pitch. Unfortunately for fans who were hoping to celebrate another baseball season with another round of Pitch episodes, the network has decided not to move forward with a second season. Pitch has officially gotten the axe from Fox and will not be back for Season 2. Please, join me in a moment of silence.
The show actually ended its first season back in December 2016, so fans (and the actors) have been waiting quite a while for news of renewal or cancellation, and there was reason to be optimistic. As recently as January, the Fox CEO was praising Pitch for its delayed viewership and loyal core audience. The series ultimately averaged 4.7 million viewers and a 1.4 in the valuable 18-49 demographic, and those numbers evidently were not enough for Fox to order a second season. Despite the continued enthusiasm of fans and the valiant #RenewPitch campaign on Twitter, we'll never see a Season 2. So much for putting her in the game.
The cancellation of Pitch marks the end of a series unlike any other on television. It followed the struggles of a talented young screwball pitcher who just made a big debut into Major League Baseball... who just so happened to be a woman. Ginny Baker had to fit into a roster of Padres made up of men who weren't enthusiastic about a screwball pitcher taking the place of one of their own, and she had to fight to be accepted. She was a fun and inspiring lead character, played wonderfully by Kylie Bunbury. Throw in Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Mo McRae, and Ali Larter, and we had a cast worth rooting for.
I have to wonder now if Pitch might have stood a better chance for a renewal if it had debuted as originally intended. The series was initially scheduled for a spring 2017 premiere, but EW reports that ABC's decision to shift Scandal's Season 6 premiere back to January 2017 motivated Fox to try a grab a time slot that would appeal to audiences missing a female-led series. The bump to a fall premiere put it right in the thick of a broadcast TV roster filled with new and exciting series, and it might not have been helped by the extraordinarily suspenseful real-life World Series.
We can only guess what would have happened to Ginny Baker and the rest of the Padres if their stories got to continue. Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for the latest in TV news, and don't forget to check out our summer TV premiere schedule to discover all your viewing options now and in the coming weeks. Be sure to drop by our rundowns for cable/streaming and broadcast TV renewals and cancellations as well.
