NBC just put The Enemy Within, and two more shows, out to pasture. The drama was cut along with half-hour comedy Abby's and another drama, The Village. All three shows were in their freshman seasons, meaning that viewers didn't have long to tune in and give these shows a shot. These cancellations join the previously announced ones for A.P. Bio, I Feel Bad and Midnight, Texas, meaning that the network cut six of its scripted shows after the 2018-2019 season.
According to Variety, all three shows were cut loose by NBC today, and, as you might imagine, the latest additions to the cancellation list were no winners, overall, when it came to ratings. The Enemy Within, for instance, saw its February 25 debut lead in the key 18-49 ratings demographic during the first hour with a 1.2 rating, but subsequent episodes slipped below that (already low) number to a 0.7 average and never rebounded.
In The Enemy Within, Jennifer Carpenter played Erica Shepherd, a gifted former CIA operative who's now known as a notorious traitor and is serving a life sentence in a Supermax prison. But, when FBI Agent Will Keaton (Morris Chestnut) needs to track down a very dangerous and difficult to find criminal that Erica is very well acquainted with, he enlists her help in aiding his team to think like the spy they need to catch.
The Enemy Within was Jennifer Carpenter's second series after her long run on Showtime's serial killer drama, Dexter. Unfortunately, that show, Limitless, was also cancelled at the end of its first season on CBS in 2016.
Abby's starred Natalie Morales (Parks and Recreation, White Collar) as the title character, a Latina bisexual Marine sergeant who's no longer on active duty and decides to open up an unlicensed bar in her backyard. Abby has some very specific rules for those who want to drink at her establishment, and all of her oddball regulars need to follow those rules or lose their access to the local watering hole.
Abby's averaged just a 0.4 in Live + Same Day ratings in its seven episode freshman season, with the highest number of total viewers tuning in for the pilot, which brought in only 3.49 million people, so, it seems the quirky comedy was unable to connect with people long-term.
The Village was trying to ride the heart-tugging wave that took off on NBC when This Is Us became a massive hit a few seasons ago. It followed the residents of a New York City apartment building who had bonded beyond the point of friendly neighbors and created a found family for themselves; helping each other through illnesses, relationship troubles and life's many other trials and tribulations.
But, The Village failed to become appointment viewing like This Is Us, with the drama getting an average demo rating of only 0.7 in its first run, and the premiere getting the most viewers with 7.44 million.
In each case, these shows fell victim to something that is quite common among shows in the first season. People tune in to catch that premiere, especially at midseason when some of their old favorites might still be on hiatus, and once they've taken the measure of the series they bow out if it isn't up to their standards.
NBC did renew 13 of its scripted shows, so there will be plenty of returning favorites when the fall TV season ramps up. Be sure to stick with CinemaBlend for the latest on everything television as the year goes on!
