The cancellations continue to pour in this season with two more announced yesterday. The time-travelling drama Kindred, which was streaming under the FX on Hulu banner, has been cancelled after one season. That show scraped the bottom of the Nielsen Streaming Rankings during its premiere week in December at the Number 10 slot with an estimated 361 million minutes of viewing. It slipped out the next week, possibly because it did not receive much promotion nor did it develop much buzz. It currently holds only a 59% Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes, though it does have an 88% Audience score. FX, which rarely cancels its originals after one season, had no comment on the show coming to an end. It adapted part of the book that it was based on, but ended on a cliffhanger and will not get the chance to resolve its storylines unless it manages to make the leap to another venue. And that will be difficult in the current environment where streamers are shedding originals to cut costs.
Also getting sent to the Network Executioner is Showtime’s supernatural drama Let the Right One In which has been cancelled after its first season. That series premiered in October (also with minimal promotion) and only average a 0.02 rating (two one-hundredths of a ratings point) based on same-day viewing for the 18-49 demographic and 80K total viewers across its first season. The premium cable companies do not pay as much attention to the same-day viewing because they are not beholden to sponsors, but those act as a leading indicator and the numbers were very low. I put that one On the Bubble immediately and considered the only way it would survive is if it had international partners and/or syndication deals. If it did, they were not enough to keep it going. The show has also been pulled from streaming. In addition to the cancellation, Paramount-owned Showtime will be rebranding to the rather wordy Paramount+ with Showtime (TV Guide will love trying to fit that on its schedule). It is merging with the streaming service going forward, though it is not clear exactly what will air on the linear cable channel.
Kindred follows a woman who moves to Los Angeles for family reasons and suddenly finds herself getting pulled back and forth in time to the Antebellum South. It stars Mallori Johnson, Micah Stock, Ryan Kwanten, Gayle Rankin, and Austin Smith and it is based on the book of the same name by Octavia Butler.
Let the Right One In follows a father and his twelve-year-old daughter whose lives were forever changed when she was turned into a vampire ten years earlier. It stars Demián Bichir, Anika Noni Rose, Grace Gummer, Madison Taylor Baez, and Nick Stahl and is based on the book of the same name by John Ajvide Lindqvist. There was also a feature film adaptation of the property in 2008.
The new year has just begun with more cancellations and renewals on the way, so be sure to stay tuned to this site for news and updates. You can see the status of all the currently airing and returning sci fi and fantasy shows on our Cancellation Watch Page. And be sure to follow the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for breaking news.
CancelledSciFi.com: Keep up with the status updates of all the airing, returning, and upcoming sci fi and fantasy shows for the current season with our Cancellation Watch posts. And be sure to follow the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for breaking news and updates.
SciFiTVSite.com: Follow our Sci Fi TV Schedule for all the currently airing and upcoming sci fi and fantasy television shows, and you can see the premieres for all the upcoming genre entries at this link.
