In what appears to be the first cancelling of a sci fi / fantasy series by the broadcast nets for the 2016-17 season (axed CBS entry Braindead was a Summer series), ABC has announced that their time travel series Time After Time has been pulled from the schedule immediately and will not air its remaining episodes. The network has not officially cancelled the series yet (they avoid that word at all cost these days), but this effectively spells the end for the show. The news comes as no surprise seeing as Time After Time debuted with low ratings then subsequently slipped to historically low levels for a Big Four broadcast network series. It aired on Sundays 9 PM EST which was once a strong hour for ABC when Desperate Housewives was at its peak, but has since become a difficult timeslot for the network. Time After Time had the previously strong performer Once Upon A Time as its lead-in, but that series has been on the downswing the last year and a half and could be in its final season. I have been predicting that the time travel series would get pulled since its low debut, and apparently ABC finally decided they had seen enough in the way of low ratings from this show.
Another series very much in danger of getting yanked is NBC’s superhero comedy Powerless. That one has been preempted three out of the last four weeks, last Thursday getting pulled for a repeat the new sitcom Trial & Error (apparently at the last minute as the schedule indicated a new ep of Powerless). It is currently set to air a new episode tomorrow, but we will see if a last minute scheduling change occurs once again.
As we head into the May Upfronts when the networks announce their schedules for the 2017-18, expect to hear more cancellation and renewal announcements. Stay tuned to this site and the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for breaking news and updates.
Time after Time was incredibly lame, poorly written and acted, full of inconsistencies (2 guys from early 20th century having no problems watch full HD tv, making calls on touchscreen smartphones, playing with remotes and clearly early adepts of manscaping…), the forced romance with another geeky-but-superhot-and-forward girl, dumbing everything down and taking its audience for braindead morons…
This series was a perfect summary of everything the big US networks and often hollywood can get wrong with genre television, overlooking all the things that should matter so they can just copy paste the usual tv tropes in a new context.