After recently cancelling freshman series Perfect Harmony and Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector, NBC handed out more bad news to poorly performing newbies on Monday by cancelling Indebted, Sunnyside, and Bluff City Law.
None of the cancellations come as a surprise. Ahead of its premiere, Bluff City Law had an order for six additional scripts, but once the very soft L+SD ratings came in, said order was rescinded and the show kept its original 10-episode order. Sunnyside was the only new scripted series to be pulled from the schedule in 2019-20, subsequently finishing its order on Hulu and NBC’s digital platforms. There had been a small chance for the show to continue on a streaming platform, but when the cast were released from their contracts, the writing was on the wall. Indebted had an extremely quiet midseason run that concluded in mid-April.
With the cancellation of Indebted, Sunnyside, and Bluff City Law, the lone NBC scripted freshman from 2019-20 remaining in limbo is Council of Dads, currently airing Thursdays at 8:00. Thus far, NBC’s freshman renewals have been limited to musical dramedy Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, which overcame soft L+SD ratings and scored its renewal thanks to social media buzz, award consideration, and huge digital returns. The network already has four series orders for next season, including Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson origin story Young Rock, Tina Fey comedy Mr. Mayor, 2019-20 holdover The Kenan Show, and Law & Order spinoff Law & Order: Organized Crime.
