Suburgatory, Revolution, Growing Up Fisher, Super Fun Night join the cancellation slaughter
Their pulse quickened by the acrid stench of carnage, the networks are throwing themselves full-bore into the massacre, tossing Suburgatory, Revolution, Growing Up Fisher, and Super Fun Night onto the pile of shows that were canceled in the past 24 hours. Both Suburgatory and Super Fun Night were already marked for death—the former nearly since its inception, though it soon developed a solid little following and hung on for three seasons. No such luck for the Rebel Wilson sitcom, which debuted to terrible reviews and ratings, and ended its run back in February with few noticing it had gone.
Their cancellations, coupled with the deaths of Trophy Wife, The Neighbors, and Mixology, leave ABC with just The Goldbergs, The Middle, and the stalwart Modern Family returning to its comedy lineup next year, when it will begin anew the search for something, anything that might be considered funny besides nuclear families. Good luck with that! Even mildly tinkering with the formula—such as adding divorce and blindness—spelled doom for NBC’s Growing Up Fisher.
NBC’s cancellation of Revolution seems particularly cruel, considering that—upon its debut—the show was heavily touted as the series that would finally reverse the network’s fortunes. But that was in the distant year of 2012, when audiences were still eager for stories of our inevitable apocalypse, and were particularly eager to see spirits crushed and civilizations crumble after watching The Voice. Since returning for a second year, the show has struggled mightily in the ratings; it’s now been cast out to wander a world where its power has been shut off, to make the reference to that half-remembered show that is Revolution’s destiny now.
Anyway, there are only a handful of series left that can be saved or killed. We’ll let you know when we do.
UPDATE: NBC has also tossed Believe and Crisis in there—a decision that’s not all that surprising, considering it pulled both shows from its schedule recently, but now it’s official.