ABC has made some tough decisions today in terms of cancellations and renewals. After deliberating, the network ultimately decided to cancel freshman program Forever along with the comedy Cristela--a primetime comedy that highlighted a Mexican-American family in their home. Forever just wrapped up its series on Tuesday night, while Cristela finished out its run in the middle of April.In addition, the Season 2 drama Resurrection will not be returning for Season 3.
Regarding the two freshman programs, ABC’s big announcement was not a huge surprise, as neither show was performing super well in the ratings. On the flip side of the coin, neither show was performing horribly, either, so there was a chance that one or both could be renewed. Instead, ABC opted to take a chance with second seasons of other bubble shows Agent Carter and Galavant. The two cancelled programs join the recently axed Revenge on the cancellation block; that drama will finish out its run this Sunday.
Of the two shows, Forever had the more avid fanbase on social media and seemed to be generally well-liked by audiences—at least the audiences who had discovered the show. Forever’s supernatural bent, following an immortal individual who used his historic insight to help the NYPD solve cases made the procedural standout, and it’s finale was one of the best I’ve personally caught all season, wrapping up enough storylines, but leaving enough information to continue on to Season 2 should ABC have wished it. Despite the clever ending, we probably should have seen it coming when lead Ioan Gruffudd thanked fans for sticking with the show, telling US Weekly it could be the end of the road.
It's pretty extraordinary — people who have seen the show are are huge fans of the show, and [everyone else] has never heard of the show. We're very much on the bubble because we weren't a runaway hit, but if you ask anybody that's seen the show they can't believe that it's not a big hit. People are so passionate about it.
As it turns out, it was the end. Deadline reports it probably didn’t help Forever that the show was not owned by ABC; Warner Bros. TV produced the drama. Cristela suffered because it couldn’t keep up with Last Man Standing’s ratings on Friday nights. It could be worse, I suppose. Both shows earned full 22-episode orders and kept audiences watching until the very end. That’s way better than ABC’s comedy Selfie got earlier this season. It's also better than ABC's Manhattan Love Story, which aired for a paltry four episodes before getting shoved off the schedule.
Regarding Resurrection, it's been a much harder fall. The drama hit ABC's schedule at midseason last year and drew huge numbers for the premiere. It's no shock that Resurrection premiered as part of the fall season this year, but man have the numbers fallen on that show. Ratings dropped during the season and the show ended its run way back in January. This one seemed as if it wouldn't need to be revived next fall.
If you’d like to see what else has been cancelled and renewed this season, especially today by ABC, you can check out our handy cancellation and renewal list.
