ABC culled its comedy crop on Thursday, cancelling sophomore series Schooled, Bless This Mess, and Single Parents.
Goldbergs spinoff Schooled had a long road to the screen, as the original pilot was passed on in 2017 before airing as an episode of The Goldbergs during the 2018-19 season. The concept and cast were then rebooted, with the series sailing to a series order before premiering in January 2019. Schooled had a showrunner change earlier in season two, as The Kids Are Alright’s Tim Doyle was relieved of his duties in favor of co-producers Tom Hertz and Vanessa McCarthy.
Similarly, Bless This Mess didn’t have a linear path to its time on ABC. The series was originally in development at FOX before being passed on in 2018. ABC stepped in following the Disney acquisition of 20th Century Fox Studios, the production studio behind Bless This Mess, and gave it an off-cycle series order. The series, about a New York couple who move to a Nebraska farm, had a promising premiere but couldn’t get a ratings boost from its time slot upgrade this season.
Single Parents spent its first two seasons following the final two seasons of Modern Family. While the series had respectable non-linear numbers, it couldn’t generate much buzz and looked weak enough in L+SD that ABC decided to pass on bringing it back. Not helping its case is the bottoming out of the syndication market and how 44 episodes of a broadcast series aren’t the four-season guarantee that they used to be.
