In the end, they just wouldn’t give them that pill. CBS has officially canceled Limitless, confirming suspicions that had been building ever since the series went unmentioned during the network’s spate of renewals and pick-ups a few weeks ago. The show—which starred Jake McDorman as a pill-popping super genius under the watchful eye of both the FBI and occasionally Bradley Cooper—ran for 22 episodes. CBS was shopping the series around to Netflix or Amazon as hosts for a potential second season, but those deals have apparently fallen through, according to a tweet today from showrunner Craig Sweeny:
Blending procedural elements with the name recognition of 2011’s second-most-popular Bradley Cooper vehicle, the series seemed like a natural fit for CBS. But while DVR-inclusive ratings for the series were relatively strong, its live numbers couldn’t stand up to the standards set by the network’s acronym-and-viewer-heavy menagerie of NCISes. And so, Limitless has reached its limits, trotting off with Rush Hour into the movie-to-TV dustbin, the better to make way for the Training Days and MacGyvers of the world.