Leaving four unaired episodes in the chamber, ABC announced Thursday (Jan. 4) that it will cancel their new show, The Mayor, electing instead to shop the political comedy at other joint ventures.
The show – whose plot sounds more like a Pac Div song than a series – follows a rapper after he is elected as mayor. Being backed by big names in entertainment like executive producer, Hamilton‘s Daveed Diggs, ABC showed faith in the show’s success. The network ordered three backup scripts and paired it with the popular series, Black-ish, on their Tuesday night comedy line-up.
Yet despite this, The Mayor only raked in a 1.2 rating from the intended demographic with viewership declining as the season continued. However, these ratings may be contributed to poor positioning. The Mayor was ABC’s only comedy to launch in the fall. And as if that wasn’t already an uphill battle, ABC positioned the show against NBC’s hit drama, This Is Us.
With The Mayor’s removal, ABC will have its second cancellation of the year, as it chose to pull drama, Ten Days in the Valley, off airwaves. This on top of breadwinner, Shonda Rhimes, leaving for a deal with Netflix, may put a strain on ABC’s content going into the new year.
But Disney’s (ABC’s parent company) eagerness to shop The Mayor’s remaining episodes and scripts with another venture, might be telling of how much potential the show has. And with Netflix’s rival, Hulu, rumored to have an increasing interest in the series, The Mayor may get a very beneficial re-count.