You have questions. I have some answers — but I’m giving Tyra Banks a break this week.
Can you provide any more information about the cancellation of “Stumptown”? It was renewed, then suddenly canceled. All I can find is it was about scheduling issues. I enjoyed the show and thought the ratings were good.
Several shows that were expected back this season were canceled as a result of the pandemic, and this ABC series with Cobie Smulders was one of them. According to Lesley Goldberg of the Hollywood Reporter, the series was getting an overhaul for its second season, but that was not going as well as the network and studio had hoped. In addition, new episodes would not have been available until April, later than the network wanted, especially with a show as expensive as this one.
“All told … a lack of creative steam, late delivery and high price tag were all factors that ultimately led to the drama’s cancellation,” Goldberg said.
I have been a fan of the NBC series “Manifest” but have grown increasingly frustrated with the extended time lapse between each new “season.” It almost seems that NBC is being intentionally negligent by keeping the show away for such long periods of time. I still do not know for sure if the show is returning. I have concluded that NBC is trying to kill it. Can you provide any update or reason for this situation?
First, “Manifest” will be back for a third season sometime after Jan. 1, 2021. And there is nothing unusual about the way it is scheduled. Its first season began in fall 2018 and went into early 2019. But, for a second season, NBC decided the show would be more useful as a midseason replacement and launched the second run in January. The third season probably would have been in January 2021 or later as well, but that became more certain as the pandemic caused production delays for shows all over television. (See “Stumptown,” above, for another example.)
At the same time, many shows do relatively few episodes in a season compared to TV’s past, so time between seasons can stretch longer.
Do you have any information why CBS decided to cancel “Man with a Plan”? I always thought it was a steady performer for the network. I still thought it was good and deserved another year.
Speaking again about scheduling, CBS apparently thought this show worked best as a late-spring addition to its schedule but found that the numbers did not add up. Even with high-profile star Matt LeBlanc, the show was far from the most popular comedy on the network and saw a significant decline in its young-adult audience in its most recent season, TVLine reported. The New York Daily News thought that “pricey production costs” were also a factor.
