Yahoo News Canceled but Not Forgotten: 2023 Marked the Beginning of the End for a TV Era
Even before the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes of the summer, 2023 marked a pivotal time in TV.
Studios and streamers spent the year compiling a lengthy list of small screen staples ending in 2023 and 2024; the announcements came amidst a string of mergers, strategy pivots, and a smattering of natural narrative conclusions that for good or bad were impacted by the industry-wide work stoppages.
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From awards darlings like “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and “The Handmaid’s Tale” (renewed for a sixth and final season expected next year) to tried-and-true audience favorites like “Archer,” “The Blacklist,” and “Riverdale,” many of the TV shows that got the chop this year were considered buzzy cultural touchstones at one time or another.
Emmy winners “Barry” and “Succession” famously both came to an end on May 28 in a doubled-header spring TV finale that closed the curtain on a memorable phase in HBO’s post-“Game of Thrones” recovery. The two shows will meet again on the Emmys stage in January, competing for Best Comedy and Best Drama respectively, having exited at the top of their games. That valiant programming effort was somewhat hampered by the subsequent misfire that was Sam Levinson’s “The Idol,” halted after a single, abysmal season starring Lily-Rose Depp and The Weeknd. But the premium television network is sticking to its guns on Levinson’s “Euphoria” Season 3 — now expected sometime in 2025.
HBO simultaneously called it quits on “Avenue 5,” “A Black Lady Sketch Show” (a mutual decision), and “Perry Mason” among other series met with mixed critical reception. Production on Mike White’s “The White Lotus” Season 3 was reportedly delayed due to the strikes, but apocalyptic sensation “The Last of Us” is on its way back with a planned expansion beyond the narrative of the video game duology. There could also be a “Big Little Lies” Season 3 in the works, going by a mid-November update from Nicole Kidman.
At Netflix, longtime awards staple “The Crown” is closing out with Season 6, having finally gotten a little too close to the present day, and streaming its finale around Christmas. Netflix is also setting its plans to say goodbye to the sci-fi smash hit “Stranger Things” whenever Season 5 is finished, likely in 2025. Runaway Lifetime series-turned-Netflix obsession “You” will also end next year; as Penn Badgley, the star of the psychosexual thriller, told IndieWire, “Joe Goldberg needs to get what’s coming to him.” And Netflix’s critically acclaimed “Cobra Kai,” “Big Mouth,” and “Umbrella Academy” are all also expected to finish out in 2024. The streamer’s YA content took a particularly hard hit this year, with the finales of both “Never Have I Ever” and “Sex Education.”
The teen genre had it tough across the board in 2023 though, with the twenty-something “Riverdale” kids finally graduating from The CW after seven seasons. “Nancy Drew” also ended after four seasons, as did “The Flash” after a whopping 184 episodes. Like so many networks, The CW is in the middle of a content shakeup and has been heavily impacted by the change with DC Studios leadership. (Arrowverse co-creator Marc Guggenheim came out this year and shared that he was disappointed to not be approached by new company heads Peter Safran and James Gunn about reshaping the brand’s presence in TV.)
More long-running staples, like AMC’s “Fear the Walking Dead,” Paramount’s “Yellowstone” (now alive in its myriad spinoffs), Showtime’s “Billions” (now alive in “Million” and “Trillions”), Starz’s “Outlander,” and Amazon Prime Video’s “Jack Ryan” announced conclusions this year, alongside ABC’s ten-season sitcom “The Goldbergs” and CBS’s 14-season procedural “Blue Bloods.” (FX’s award-winning “Reservation Dogs” is ending after just three seasons, but that was a creative decision.)
For series that haven’t been around as long, cancelations saw insult added to injury with multiple new shows unceremoniously ripped from all streaming. “Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies” served as a breakout vehicle for dozens of first-time performers, but the Paramount+ exclusive was removed from online availability in record time as part of a content write-down during its initial bundling with Showtime. The animated “Star Trek: Prodigy” faced the same fate at Paramount+ before it was saved by Netflix, where new seasons are on the way.
“The L Word: Generation Q” ended abruptly at Showtime, canceled on a cliffhanger after three moderately successful seasons and simultaneously yanked from streaming; there is reportedly a New York-set reboot in the works. The network also dropped talk show “Ziwe” after two seasons, its last episodes having aired at the end of 2022.
LGBTQ television had a string of rough cancelations this year, with the lesbian reboot of “A League of Their Own” renewed at Prime Video for a half-season finale before the strike saw that offer revoked. (It’s worth noting that when times get tough many streaming companies have a track record of bailing on their queer and POC content.) Meanwhile, toxic workplace allegations ironically and disappointingly plagued “The Other Two,” which ended at Max after three seasons.
In the face of the strikes, original stories and legacy IP seemed to face comparable inclines on their uphill battles. Starz pulled the plug on its serialized “Blindspotting,” just as Paramount+ did the same to “Fatal Attraction” and the “iCarly” reboot, which ended on a cliffhanger.
Despite nods at last year’s Critics Choice Awards, Steven Levitan’s original sitcom “Reboot” was canceled at Hulu early in the year. The streamer later also canceled “The Great” and “How I Met Your Father”: two middle-of-the-strike decisions that marked some of the year’s worst. (The Elle Fanning period dramedy had a reasonably satisfying end, but we’ll never know the answer to the titular question in the sitcom spinoff starring Hilary Duff.)
Peacock bailed on “Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin” after a single season, and Apple TV+ ended Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s “The Afterparty” anthology after two self-contained seasons. Apple also faced extensive backlash for its cancelation of “The Problem with Jon Stewart,” a split reportedly caused by editorial differences related to its coverage of more sensitive topics like artificial intelligence and China. Other notable stories from the year included TNT’s decision to not air finished episodes of “Snowpiercer” Season 4 thanks to the Warner Bros. Discovery merger — and Bryan Cranston walking away from “Your Honor” after two seasons at Showtime.
With a slate of major titles coming to an end, and contracts finally secured for both the writers and actors’ guilds, TV seems primed to go bigger and better past 2024. Yes, there’s somehow even more “Black Mirror” on the way and “Abbott Elementary” has become America’s most sacred comfort watch (it’ll be back at ABC next year). But with “NCIS: Los Angeles” throwing in the towel after 14 seasons, and even “Dr. Phil” coming to an end, it’s safe to say we’re at the start of something new in TV.
Oh, and yes, “Severance” was delayed because of the strikes, but it should be back with Season 2 on Apple TV+ next year.
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