With the 2019-2020 TV season winding down and networks starting to look ahead to 2020-2021, renewals and cancellations are hitting the web. Sadly for fans of Dax Shepard’s Bless This Mess, the show won’t be back for a third season, and it wasn’t the only series to get the axe at ABC. In fact, ABC is saying goodbye to several comedies, along with one drama.
Along with Dax Shepard’s Bless This Mess being cancelled just a couple of weeks after the Season 2 finale, ABC has cancelled The Goldbergs spinoff Schooled after two seasons, Saturday Night Live vet Taran Killam’s Single Parents after two seasons, Tiffany Haddish’s Kids Say the Darndest Things reboot after one season, and Emergence after one season that ended in early 2020.
Unfortunately for viewers, all five of these shows already wrapped for what proved to be their final season. While this won’t be as big of a deal for Kids Say the Darndest Things, which isn’t exactly a plot-heavy serialized series, the other four will have ended without getting the chance to produce an actual conclusion. Emergence Season 1 ended on a cliffhanger, and viewers likely weren’t ready to say goodbye to Bless This Mess, Schooled, and Single Parents as well.
ABC did order some new series to fill comedy and drama holes left behind by these cancellations. ABC ordered the David E. Kelley drama Big Sky to series for the 2020-2021 TV season, starring Katheryn Winnick of Vikings fame, Kylie Bunbury of the sadly short-lived Pitch, and Ryan Phillippe of Shooter. Big Sky will be a thriller involving a search for two sisters, so it wouldn't be Emergence 2.0, but it will fill a drama gap. On the comedy front, ABC gave a series order to Call Your Mother about an empty-nester who decides to reinsert herself into her kids’ lives.
As for shows that received renewal orders, far more will be back than were cancelled. On top of shows that were already renewed, ABC is bringing back The Rookie, Stumptown, black-ish, The Conners, American Housewife, Dancing with the Stars, The Goldbergs, A Million Little Things, mixed-ish, Shark Tank, 20/20, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, and (unsurprisingly) The Bachelor, although there is no word on whether or not The Bachelor: Listen to Your Heart will get another season with some of the suggested changes.
ABC series that had already been renewed include The Bachelorette, America’s Funniest Home Videos, American Idol, The Good Doctor, Supermarket Sweep, and Grey’s Anatomy and Station 19 to open the door for even more crossovers in the new seasons. The Alphabet Network definitely isn’t running out of shows despite the five cancellations, although I do wonder if ABC will start adding new comedies or use the slots vacated by Bless This Mess, Schooled, and/or Single Parents for new dramas.
Only time will tell. More news of renewals, cancellations, and series orders will undoubtedly continue to release as the summer TV season progresses despite the production halts throughout the industry. For now, be sure to check out our 2020 summer premiere schedule for what’s coming to television in the not-too-distant future.
