Syfy continues its cancelling ways as it has decided not to move forward with a third season of its fantasy procedural Happy! and has also cancelled its assassin-school romp Deadly Class after one year. The cancellation of Happy! was not a huge surprise because its ratings have been down notably in its second season. That show debuted with strong numbers in late 2017, but saw those decline throughout its first year run. Syfy still gave it the greenlight for a second season, but saw its numbers slip even further to ratings scraps levels this past Spring (averaging only a 0.09 rating based on same day viewing). According to Deadline Hollywood, the first season has been performing very well in its encore run on Netflix and the producers are shopping the show around. Whether the streaming service or another network will pick it up remains to be seen.
The cancellation of Deadly Class was a bit more of a surprise because it has performed okay for a Syfy series in its first season. It’s early numbers were better, but overall it averaged a 0.15 rating based on same day viewing and counts as one of the network’s higher-rated shows this past season. But Syfy does not have a full ownership stake in the series and apparently the ratings were not high enough for the show to be viable to a network which still relies more heavily on advertising revenue from the live broadcasts (more on that at this link). Like Happy!, the producers will be shopping this one around to other venues. Both of these shows could use a Call to Action from fans to help with efforts to find them a new home.
Happy! follows former policeman Nick Sax who starts seeing an animated, winged unicorn named Happy after a near death experience. The creature helps Sax track down a girl who has been kidnapped by a “Very Bad Santa”. It stars Christopher Meloni, Patton Oswalt, Ritchie Coster, Lili Mirojnick, and Medina Senghore and is based on the Grant Morrison comic of the same name.
Deadly Class focuses on a homeless, disillusioned teen recruited into the secret assassin school known as King’s Dominion where he trains with others his age to become a deadly killer. It stars Benjamin Wadsworth, Benedict Wong, Lana Condor, María Gabriela de Faría, Luke Tennie and is based on the comic of the same name created by Rick Remender and Wesley Craig.
The regular season has ended, but there are still several shows that are awaiting renewal or cancellation announcements. Be sure to stay tuned to this site for breaking news and updates. Also, head over to Twitter to join the #CancelledSciFiArmy and help bolster our ranks as we fight to save our sci fi and fantasy shows.
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Shame about Happy, I enjoyed that. So delightfully twisted, like a demented Toy Story. Easily the best show ever to feature exploding nuns as a season cold opener. D