Today Fox Television announced that it was canceling three of its prime time comedy series with the demise of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Mick, and The Last Man on Earth at the end of the 2018 season.
While all three shows had a fan base, none of them were pulling in ratings to brag about. Brooklyn Nine-Nine, the longest-running of the three shows canceled, has only ranked in the top 100 one time and all three shows have been on a downward trend as they have continued to air.
Last season all three shows were ranked lower than 2 Broke Girls and The Great Indoors, both of which were canceled, so to say all three shows were on borrowed time is a bit of an understatement.
On the bright side for fans of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, the show did hit the magic milestone of 100 episodes in its final season — ultimately landing at 110 — which means it will likely be a staple in syndication for years to come.
Many popular syndicated shows have fewer than 100 episodes so The Last Man on Earth‘s 67 may be enough to get a regular slot but the 37 episodes of The Mick will probably doom the series to Netflix binges and may never be seen on television again.
Regardless of the continued airing of these shows, their cancellations do put a number of top tier actors and comedic talents out of work.
Fox has several other shows struggling in the ratings which are on the fence. The series Gotham has slipped in the ratings every season since its debut but with 88 episodes in the can, it may live to see another season if only to reach the magical syndication number.
In total, Fox did not have a single show in the top 25 last week in terms of actual viewers. Empire and Star were the best performing shows among 18-49 year olds last week for the network but expect the retool of their comedy offerings to continue as they look towards the 2018/19 season and beyond.