Bad news for fans of woman-dealt justice: MTV has canceled Jenn Kaytin Robinson’s Sweet/Vicious. Robinson broke the news herself via Twitter today, thanking the fans and critics who supported the show, through which she sought to support survivors of sexual assault.
The series starred Eliza Bennett and Taylor Dearden as Jules and Ophelia, respectively, two college students who mete out punishment to people who have assaulted women. But it wasn’t all so serious: In our pre-air review, The A.V. Club touted the series as “fleet and funny, smartly balancing the severity of its subject matter with a gallows humor and offbeat sensibility that, at its best, occasionally approaches Gilmore Girls territory in terms of wit and postmodern referentiality.” As you might have guessed, we’re pretty bummed about it.
Deadline reports that the cancellation is part of MTV’s move back to unscripted programming. MTV’s Chris McCarthy told Deadline back in February that the network “[loved] the characters and how the show relates to modern feminism. Its numbers were disappointing but the sentiment for the show has been nothing but fantastic.”
We reached out to MTV about the show’s cancellation, and got the following statement in reply, courtesy of a network spokesperson:
MTV has decided to not move forward with a second season of Sweet/Vicious. We are extremely proud of this critically acclaimed series and are deeply disappointed such an impactful show did not find a larger audience. Sweet/Vicious was a show we loved from the start, with empowering female leads and a message we believe in. We are grateful the series started a much needed dialogue around sexual assault, and thank the talented Jennifer Robinson, Amanda Lasher, Stacey Sher and the stellar cast, writers and producers for creating such a timely and thought provoking series.