It's been a tense couple of weeks for TV fans. The annual renewal and cancellation season that brings with it the best and worst of news for those who love to watch broadcast television each and every night. Some shows lived to fight another day, earning that renewal we were all hoping for, while others unfortunately couldn't avoid the ax that came down. There were also announcements from ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC about some new and exciting upcoming shows we can look forward to as well.
Much like it is every year, the month of May was an emotional rollercoaster, but the good thing about it is that it's almost all over, so we can go back to anticipating the offerings from each network's fall TV schedules as they arrive after the summer. The bad news, however, is that there are some shows that we simply don't know will ever be back.
Every show and its fans hate being on the bubble, but these particular bubble shows are unfortunately stuck there for just a little bit longer. The sad truth is that, should the networks burst those bubbles, they might never return for new episodes.
Doctor Odyssey
It goes without saying that Doctor Odyssey was one of the most alluring new shows of the 2024 - 2025 TV season. Coming from the creative mind of Ryan Murphy and starring Joshua Jackson and Don Johnson, the sexy medical drama introduced us to the crew aboard the dazzling cruise ship known as The Odyssey. Jackson was the new doctor while Johnson was the captain, and the viewers had nothing to say but "Aye, Aye" to the whole cast and their outlandish adventures.
That being said, the ship steered into some rough waters after its early viewing figures trailed off to just decent. And while "just decent" is enough to save some shows in today's day and age, it's worth remembering that Doctor Odyssey is likely among the more expensive shows on TV right now. So can it really afford to have anything other than a tidal wave of viewership?
Fans were expecting to hear about its fate come the ABC Upfronts but it has yet to be renewed or cancelled. Disney Television Group president Craig Erwich revealed that the network is leaving it up to Ryan Murphy himself to decide whether Doctor Odyssey season 2 should happen. With Murphy busier than ever (including launching new 911 spinoff 911: Nashville), can he commit to bringing the lavish series back for another outing? Given that he actually wrote six episodes of it last season, it's likely that a second might require another six... and since he's busy right now, that's looking pretty unlikely. Unfortunately.
The Cleaning Lady
When The Cleaning Lady first premiered back in 2022, it simply took one short promo and you were hooked. The series stars Elodie Yung as Thony De La Rosa, a cleaning lady who accidentally witnesses a murder when she is just trying to do her job. Arman, the man responsible for the killing, sees her and, instead of taking her out too, he offers her a job as the organization's resident cleaning lady (and doctor) in exchange for protection of both her and her son. And as the series goes on, you begin to see more sides to her, as well as Arman himself.
The FOX series opened with solid viewership (almost 4 million viewers) and it maintained the majority of those viewers for its first season. But a steady decline took place across its four seasons, with some episodes slipping into the 900K territory. It's not an ideal position to be in, but it's network TV in the 2020s. And as a result, FOX has yet to make a decision on whether it will return for another season.
It's important to note that the series is still airing its fourth season so that is also a major reason as to why a decision on its future hasn't been made yet. President of Fox Television Network Michael Thorn acknowledged the uncertainty surrounding The Cleaning Lady, Alert: Missing Persons Unit and The Great North right now, offering press a more positive update:
"We love the teams and those shows, and I think there will be more to come after they finish their current seasons."
Here's hoping we have a reason to celebrate whenever decisions on all of them are made. The Cleaning Lady in particular has a loyal fanbase and the show deserves at least one more season just so that we can watch Elodie Yung's thrilling performance one more time.
All American
It's really sad that it has come to this. All American is the last remaining show on The CW that was created as part of the original CW's vision. It's also one that new owners Nexstar were particularly enthusiastic about keeping around. And just like they were with Superman and Lois and Walker - the network's two most-watched shows - that enthusiasm doesn't appear to be enough to guarantee a renewal.
The show has a 50/50 chance of renewal according to Deadline, which sounds about right given the "new" CW's track record when it comes to renewals. All American may have been the only one of the original CW class to receive a renewal last year but it came at a cost: A budget cut that saw the departure of some original characters, including the face of the show in Daniel Ezra's Spencer James.
A new class of characters were introduced and the All American story continued, but it clearly had an impact on fan interest as the show just didn't have as much buzz as it once did. Seven seasons in that can be normal, but its still popular on streaming (each season eventually finds its way to Netflix) so the studio making it (Warner Bros.) benefit greatly from it staying on the air.
All American is a legacy series for The CW and one of the network's biggest original hits. Even if Nexstar decides that it's time to end the veteran show, it deserves an eighth and final season to make that happen; not a cancellation after its seventh season has already aired.
Accused
Accused is a rarity for network television in that it's an anthology series. Each episode focuses on a different trial, with a different character at the center of it, meaning that viewers learn more about the accused and the case against them as each respective episode progresses. At the beginning there are no attachments, but by the time that the end credits roll? Lots of them.
The reason that Accused is such a rarity is that is based on the eponymous British series and follows the same format. That makes it easy for major, well-known stars like Cobie Smulders, Sonequa Martin-Green, Michael Chiklis, Mike Colter, Jaime Chung, Ken Jeong, and more to pop up for an episode and leave it at that. And that might ultimately work in the show's favor.
Accused has been on the bubble all Upfronts season and FOX has yet to make a decision on its future. That's particularly troublesome when you remember that its second season wrapped in December. And yet, its anthology nature may be the silver lining here. There are no regular cast members, meaning that FOX could decide to rest the series for now and bring it back midseason. Heck, with a show like this, it could hold off until next fall if it wanted to, as there are less commitments to make when each episode will have a different bunch of stars.
That being said, the show's ratings haven't been particularly fantastic, with the second season averaging around 1.5 million viewers, so it sounds like a third season would have to be particularly major for the show to stage a return. At least that's how FOX's Michael Thorn feels as he referred to potentially "eventizing" a comeback season in a rather concerning update about the show's future:
"If there’s an opportunity down the line to eventize a return that can really work for us and Howard [Gordon], we’d love to do it... Right now, there’s no plan, but there could be down the line.”
At this point it could still go either way, but those words don't exactly fill fans of the show full of confidence. We're just hoping that the fact that FOX held off on a cancellation almost six months down the line means they might have plans for it in the future.