CANCELLATION ALERT: Happy Endings, Malibu Country, How to Live with Your Parents (for the Rest of Your Life), Family Tools, Body of Proof, Red Widow

ABC handed down cancellations to today to several bubble series: Happy Endings, freshman comedies Malibu Country, How to Live with Your Parents, and Family Tools, and dramas Body of Proof and Red Widow.

To no surprise, ABC cancelled Happy Endings after three seasons and 57 episodes. The show initially aired after Modern Family to decent ratings but it ran into trouble when it was called on to be part of a Tuesday night comedy block with the long-gone Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23. It was moved to Fridays at midseason and part of an odd "save this show" campaign by ABC. However, numbers sunk even lower and it was cancelled despite lots of love from ABC executives. It has been rumored that USA is interested in picking it up so it will be interesting to see if that happens.

A somewhat surprising development was the cancellation of Malibu Country, which had low ratings on Friday nights but seemed like a good pairing with Last Man Standing and had the star power of Reba McEntire. The show got off to a great start but ratings quickly fell. However, it was Friday night which means less of an expectation. This move makes me think ABC may not be planning a two hour block of comedies on Fridays.

Two recent entries were also given the hook: How to Live with Your Parents (for the Rest of Your Life) (or the longest title ever) and Family Tools. Tools came as no surprise as the show didn't even premiere until May 1 and has gotten terrible ratings in its first two weeks. However, I am genuinely surprised that How to Live with Your Parents did not get picked up. I thought for sure ABC would give it another chance after Modern Family in the fall after decent numbers in the spring. This is one of the biggest surprises yet to me along with CBS passing on the Beverly Hills Cop pilot.

Also cancelled were dramas Body of Proof and Red Widow. Proof was cancelled after three seasons and 42 episodes. The show was the only drama to emerge from ABC's brutal drama class of the 2010-11 season despite so-so ratings. The show could never do well on its own but always perked up when it followed the results of Dancing with the Stars. That recent perk-up and positive reactions to its re-tooling made it seem like a fourth season was likely but it was not to be. Far less surprising was the cancellation of Red Widow which delivered miniscule audiences during its seven episode run on Sunday nights this spring. The Red Widow cancellation means that only Nashville returns of the new ABC dramas.