ABC cleaned comedy house on Friday, cancelling five comedies: Super Fun Night, Mixology, Trophy Wife, Suburgatory, and The Neighbors.
Three freshmen were given the ax: two that aired in the post-Modern Family slot and one that should have. Super Fun Night was passed over by CBS last year but then retooled and picked up by ABC this year. It got off to a strong premiere but quickly fell apart and ended its season in February, always a bad sign. It was replaced by Mixology, which didn't even get off to a good start like most post-Modern Family shows. However, it didn't drop as much as some did so there were rumors that it might get a second season, but recent drops soured ABC on that. The most critically loved of the three was Trophy Wife. It aired on Tuesday nights and regularly lost a lot of The Goldbergs' low audience numbers. All year, people clamored for ABC to give them a chance on Wednesday nights but they never did. I don't doubt that it would have been a better fit after Modern Family, but audiences routinely rejected it even compared to The Goldbergs so it may have not been enough.
Also cancelled were veterans Suburgatory after three seasons and The Neighbors after two seasons. Suburgatory was one of the hottest freshmen sitcoms two years ago as it fit like a glove with The Middle on Wednesdays. ABC moved it an hour later the next year to give it an even bigger lead-in but it fell apart in the ratings and creatively. It was only picked up for midseason this year which means it wouldn't have been enough for syndication with one more season. The Neighbors was critically savaged in its first season but held on OK throughout the year and scored a surprise renewal. But it received miniscule ratings on Friday nights and possibly even hurt Shark Tank in the process. The creators of the two shows: Suburgatory's Emily Kapnek and The Neighbors' Dan Fogelman both have new ABC pilots picked up with Selfie and Galavant, respectively.
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