Shaquille O’Neal got some good news recently when it was learned that Inside the NBA would, in fact, be returning to the 2025 TV schedule next season under the ESPN umbrella, but unfortunately another of his shows wasn’t as lucky. The former NBA star co-hosted the first season of Lucky 13 on ABC with Gina Rodriguez, but the decision was made to not renew the game show. Some of 2024’s TV cancellations have evoked outrage amongst fans, but that wasn’t the sentiment surrounding Lucky 13. Viewers aired their frustrations with the show while also expressing hope for The Chase to return.
Lucky 13 featured a somewhat complicated format, with a single contestant answering 13 true-or-false questions. They then would guess how many of those questions they think they got right with the opportunity to win up to $1 million. Despite a promising start, Deadline reports, the show’s audience dropped off after a few weeks, and ad revenue fell short of projections. Bad news for the basketball star-turned-broadcaster-turned-game show host and Gina Rodriguez, but it didn’t come as much of a surprise to viewers, per a conversation on Reddit, with one writing:
Kinda not surprising. It was a decent premise, but the execution was just weird. We watched the first 3 or 4 episodes, and something about it just didn't click, so we gave up.
I watched several episodes of Lucky 13 and can personally attest to this statement. Shaq and Gina Rodriguez are always charming and fun to watch, in my opinion, but the actual game was kind of a drag. You have to listen to the same 13 true-or-false questions twice, as well as the contestants’ reasons for their 50/50 guess. Other commenters agreed they won’t lose sleep over the loss of this game show, as they wrote:
- Thank goodness. Shaq on this show was like Shaq throwing free throws. – DizzyLead
- It was obnoxious and overcomplicated. I got pretty far through the interview process, but after watching the show, I'm glad I didn't have to go to Vegas and waste my time. – WallyJade
- Honestly good. The premise was so lame. – mattyGOAT1996
- Great format, horrible execution. I am not surprised this show failed. –WillieRayPR
- Watched one episode and that was enough … 👎 – Wardyman70
One sticking point for me was the fact that contestants had to predict how many they got right and then fall within a range of that number, meaning that sometimes contestants lost because they got too many questions right. Redditor wordyfard perfectly summed up the series’ cancellation using its own logic by saying:
That's too bad. I hear if they guessed they were only going to be on for 1 season, they would have been renewed for 100 seasons. But they guessed 3 so they got cancelled instead. 🤷
It seems there are other game shows fans would rather see, and many hoped that freeing up Lucky 13’s timeslot could be good news for one of the best game shows ever. One comment that received dozens of up-votes read:
Not shocked I just hope they renew The Chase. It needs a longer run in the USA.
The Chase, which pits contestants against some of Jeopardy’s biggest winners — James Holzhauer, Brad Rutter, Victoria Groce, Brandon Blackwell and Buzzy Cohen — aired for three seasons on ABC, but there’s been no news regarding Season 4 since its last episode in summer 2023.
Apologies to Gina Rodriguez, Shaquille O’Neal and his free throw-shooting ability, but if you ask me if fans would rather watch The Chase than Lucky 13, I’d have to say that’s true.
