NBC has officially cancelled sophomore drama Taken, it was confirmed today.
The news comes as no surprise given the show’s poor second season ratings and NBC removing it from the schedule for May sweeps. Taken was able to manage a renewal last year due to international sales and its relative inexpense, but it just dipped too low this year to be sustainable, even after a full creative reboot.
Taken marks only the second cancellation NBC has given recently following the conclusion of Jennifer Lopez drama Shades of Blue, which returns for its final season this summer. The network still has a number of shows in limbo, though, including musical theater drama Rise, procedural thriller The Blacklist, and Mindy Kaling comedy Champions. Decisions should be made over the next day or two since NBC will debut its 2018-2019 schedule this Sunday.
Taken is set to return to the schedule Saturday, May 26th at 8:00, where it will air out its final three episodes.
1 Comment
Poor ratings? Not exactly. When Taken was in Blindspot’s slot during Blindspot’s hiatus, Taken beat their recent numbers over those weeks. It never dropped a ton of Blindspot’s lead-in and gained a lot in DVR numbers. The audience was there.
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NBC’s problem is that it isn’t satisfied with 4 million viewer shows, yet 4 million is a GOOD number for them and has been for years. So they keep canceling shows like The Brave instead of promoting growth. I see comments over and over from people outside New York and LA markets that they don’t see advertising for NBC shows that aren’t The Voice or This Is Us.