While May is always the time of year when broadcast networks send series to the cancellation chopping block — this year was particularly plentiful in that respect — the same can’t be said when it comes to cable and streaming, which obviously aren’t tied to the same fall-to-spring schedules. But regardless of what platform is involved, no one expects shows to get canceled on the very day they’re set to premiere. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what’s happened with SNL vet Nasim Pedrad’s TBS comedy Chad, which was canceled by TBS hours ahead of the previously delayed Season 2 debut. Which doesn’t make me feel extremely optimistic about Daniel Radcliffe’s Miracle Workers.
Despite previous ratings success earned by the relatably cringe-worthy high school comedy in its first season, TBS opted to completely reverse course with Chad, according to Deadline, as part of the current transition away from scripted programming on both TBS and sister network TNT. (For which Chad definitely isn’t the first victim.) But unlike some of its other in-development projects that were cut short after the Warner Bros. and Discovery merger, the goal is for the company’s brass to work with the show’s producers in finding the show a potential new home.
Here’s how a TBS representative explained it in a statement:
As we continue to assess content and implement a new strategy for our network, we can now share that season two of Chad will not air on TBS. We are proactively exploring various options to find the right home for it. We celebrate and thank Nasim Pedrad, the passionate creator, executive producer and star of the series, for sharing a bold, unexpected coming of age story with heart and humor. We also thank executive producer Oly Obst, co-showrunner Max Searle, and the entire cast and crew of Chad for their ongoing partnership and wish everyone continued success.
Deadline also reports that if a different platform does step up to claim Chad as its own, it’s believed that the deal would include both the unaired season and the first season’s eight episodes. Obviously the goal would also be for a third season to come out of it, considering all the setbacks, but it’s definitely too early to call for that now.
Chad has had quite an unfairly hectic lifespan, with star and creator Nasim Pedrad originally setting it up as a pilot with Fox in 2016. It was officially ordered up by TBS in 2019, with its first season debuting in April 2021 to fairly stellar numbers for scripted cable series. To the point where the network officially put in a Season 2 order ahead of the first season’s finale, which at the time seemed like a reliable guarantee that we’d all be enjoying more of Chad’s uncomfortable AF teen-ventures a year or so later. Which, to be fair, is what the original plan was.
In February of this year, TBS revealed a teaser for Season 2 with an announcement that it would be premiering on Monday, April 11. But three days before that was set to happen, the WarnerMedia and Discovery merger closed, which temporarily (at the time) pushed Chad off of the schedule. It looked like things were going in the right direction in May, when the July 11 premiere was announced, but that has obviously also gone belly-up.
With Chad's sudden cancellation, that leaves Daniel Radcliffe and Steve Buscemi's anthologized comedy series Miracles Workers as the only live-action scripted series left on TBS' plate. Beyond that, there's just the animated stalwart American Dad, which has been a cable staple since shifting away from Fox years ago. So what does that possibly mean for the timeline-shifting and sometimes poopy silliness that Miracle Workers is known for?
Let's not forget that TBS pulled the plug on Damon Wayans' return to TV with the comedy series Kill the Orange Bear, with that plug getting yanked just a week before filming was meant to start. And while Jordan Rogers and JoJo Fletcher's dating competition series The Big D wasn't a scripted project, the network cancelled it weeks before it was set to premiere. At least Snowpiercer, TNT's only current scripted output, was renewed for a fourth season to go along with the news that it'll be the final one.
Which is all to say, even if Miracle Workers films, edits and fully completes its previously ordered fourth season, there's no guarantee TBS will be there to air it. Perhaps whatever plan is enacted for Chad Season 2 can also incorporate the network's other defunct projects in some way.
While no one will be tuning into Chad’s Season 2 premiere as expected, the first season can be streamed on TBS’ website. Head to our 2022 TV premiere schedule to see a slew of upcoming series that almost definitely won’t be canceled on the days they’re set to premiere.
