Fox has cancelled Almost Human. While it's not massively surprising, it's most definitely disappointing, as the futuristic cop drama was one of the networks' most promising and entertaining series. Created by J.H Wyman, with J.J. Abrams among the executive producers, Almost Human starred Karl Urban and Michael Ealy as a human and lifelike robot partnered together as detectives in the year 2048.
But if you're reading this, chances are you know that already. The premise of the series worked on multiple levels, as it related to the unlikely friendship of the tech-wary John Kennex (Karl Urban) and the unusually human-like robot cop Dorian (Michael Ealy). We thought we might not hear confirmation about the fate of the series until Fox's upfront presentation next May, however THR is reporting that Almost Human will not return for Season 2. The site goes on to note the strong start the Fox drama had, with 9.2 million viewers turning in for the premiere episode. Ratings dropped steadily from there, however, and the show was down to about 5.6 million by its finale.
It's hard to look at Almost Human's cancellation and not cringe -- or flashback to a certain other single-season Fox sci-fi drama -- when we consider that the network aired many of the episodes of Almost Human out of order from how they were originally intended by the writers. Via Geek Tyrant, Fox followed Almost Human's pilot with Episodes 5-8, then aired Episode 3, then jumped to Episode 10, then finally got around to airing the intended second episode of the series. They closed out the series with episodes 4, 11, 12 and 13. Now, we can argue that the episodes were stand-alone enough for that not to be a major issue, but there were serialized elements of the plot, enough to cause some continuity disruption as it related to the character arcs, which might have played out easier if the episodes had aired in the intended order. We'll never know.
Is the episode order to blame for the series' cancellation? It's a frustrating strategy for those who prefer continuity, but in all fairness, it's doubtful it was the primary reason the show's ratings suffered. And it didn't stop me from watching or from hoping the show would return for Season 2. In addition to appreciating the developing friendship between Kennex and Dorian -- their patrol car scenes were so great -- I also appreciated the creative way the writers used the futuristic backdrop to create different crime and crime-solving scenarios.
As THR points out, Fox's slate is filling up with shows like Hart Hanson's Backstrom and the anticipated Gotham drama, among other shows already set with series orders, so they may not have room to nurture a drama that wasn't paying off for them in its first season. Still, it's disappointing to know that Almost Human won't be back next year.
