ABC is cutting back on its drama offerings before it launches next week.
The network has canceled first-year shows Alaska daily And The company you maintain And Big sky, which ran for three seasons. They are the first cancellations ABC has made this season; fellow drama A million little things and comedy The Goldbergs announced their end in advance.
Big sky, from creator David E. Kelley, performed strongly for ABC in its first season, but ebbed somewhat in subsequent years. The third season of the show, subtitled Deadly trailswas the shortest run at 13 episodes, and seven-day Nielsen ratings fell about 15 percent in total viewers (from 5.65 million to 4.85 million) and 17 percent in adults 18-49 (from 0.6 to 0.5).
Alaska dailystarring Hilary Swank as a reporter trying to rebuild her career in the titular state, had the largest total audience of the three canceled shows with 5.3 million viewers over seven days – but also the second smallest rating (0.41) of all ABC dramas in the adults 18-49 demographic which is key to advertisers. The company you maintainwhat stars This is us alum Milo Ventimiglia, never quite caught on the post-american idol spot on Sunday night, averaging 3.78 million viewers and a 0.4 rating in the 18-49 demo.
Alaska daily And The company you maintain were both produced by ABC’s Disney sibling 20th Television; Big sky is a co-production of 20th TV and A+E Studios.
ABC has yet to make decisions on four series — The Conners, home economics, not dead yet And The rookie: Feds — and has six pilots (four dramas and two comedies) in contention for the 2023-24 season. Decisions on those projects will be made next week, as sources say the Disney network is still in talks with producers and the multiple third-party studios behind many of the programs. ABC is expected to reveal its fall schedule on Tuesday morning. What remains unclear is whether the network’s fall schedule will largely ignore the potential fallout from the Writers Guild of America strike (as CBS did) or factor in the work stoppage more in line with NBC’s largely strike-proof slate.
Keep track of all canceled broadcasts, renewals and new series orders with The Hollywood Reporter’s network scorecard.
Additional reporting by Lesley Goldberg.
