Fox’s music drama Star has been canceled after three seasons. Its producing studio, former Fox sibling 20th Century Fox TV, is already shopping it to other platforms. Star’s cancellation is not unexpected. As we noted in our story yesterday on Fox’s decision to pick up four new drama series, with a fifth pending, the move did not bode well for the network’s bubble dramas Star, Lethal Weapon and The Passage. All of them were canceled today. Created by Lee Daniels and Tom Donaghy, Star followed three talented singers – running from their pasts and desperate for a new start – with ambitions of stardom, as they navigate the cutthroat music business. The series spent most of its run paired with Fox’s hip-hop family drama Empire. Family soap pilot Filthy Rich, whose series pickup at Fox is pending, is being eyed as a companion for Empire. Related Story Network TV Series Cancellations For 2018-19 Season: Photo Gallery Star, which premiered onDecember 14, 2016 with Empire as its lead-in, starred Queen Latifah, Jude Demorest, Ryan Destiny, Brittany O’Grady, Amiyah Scott and Quincy Brown. Scott became the third openly transgender person to play a major trans character in a scripted television drama series. Star existed in the same musical universe as Empire and the two shows crossed over in the second season. The series also included a star-studded roster of guest stars including Lenny Kravitz, Naomi Campbell, Tyrese Gibson, Gladys Knight, Missy Elliott, Big Boi and Paris Jackson, who made her acting debut on the series. That said, Star raked in solid numbers but hit a ratings low last November. The musical drama is expensive to produce, and its international sales have been challenging, which made the renewal decisions a bit more complex. Daniels and Donaghy executive produce alongside Pamela Oas Williams. Karin Gist serves as showrunner and executive producer. Network TV Series Cancellations For 2018-19 Season: Photo Gallery<doc-sep>Lethal Weapon type TV Show network Fox genre Crime Murtaugh’s been getting too old for this sh— anyway. After three seasons, Fox has decided to cancel Lethal Weapon. The move isn’t exactly a surprise, as the show has faced high-profile behind-the-scenes turmoil for a while now. Star Clayne Crawford was fired in May 2018 after reports of his bad behavior on set surfaced. Video and audio recordings later came to light that captured the on-set tension. Nevertheless, Fox renewed the show for a third season, replacing Crawford with Seann William Scott. But just months later, Damon Wayans announced that he, too, planned to leave the show after completing the first 13 episodes of the season, citing health concerns. “I’m a 58-year-old diabetic and I’m working 16-hour days,” Wayans said at the time. “It’s hard for me to play this loving, supportive father, husband, and friend on TV and be the guy in life who’s telling everybody, ‘I can’t, I’ve got to work. '” Wayans ultimately stayed on for two more episodes to finish out the season, which ended in a cliffhanger and what showrunner Matt Miller called “a launch to where we want to go in season 4.” “Since we’ve already mapped out in detail what season 4 looks like, it will definitely be a bummer if we don’t get to tell that story,” Miller told EW ahead of the finale. Alas, they will not. For all the news on renewals and cancellations, follow along with EW’s Deathwatch. Related content:<doc-sep>Beware: The upfronts are coming. While many fan-favorite series have gotten renewed, networks are also canceling a bevy of shows, from “Speechless” to “Lethal Weapon.” Look below for the full list of cancellations, and keep checking back as more announcements are made. ABC “Whiskey Cavalier”: Despite featuring “The Walking Dead’s” Lauren Cohan and “Scandal” alum Scott Foley, the action comedy-drama never found a substantial audience, and was canceled after one season at ABC. “The Kids Are Alright”: Obvious and heartless pun aside, the family comedy won’t see a second season. The series was inspired by the childhood of creator/executive producer Tim Doyle, and focuses on a traditional Irish-Catholic family in the 1970s. “The Fix”: About a district attorney’s redemption after suffering a “devastating defeat,” the freshman drama won’t get a second chance to make its case. It starred Robin Tunney, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, and Scott Cohen, and was executive produced and co-written by Marcia Clark (lead prosecutor in the O.J. Simpson case). “For the People”: ABC has canceled the legal drama after two seasons, which was the second lowest rated of the Shondaland series, averaging almost 3 million total live viewers and a 0.51 in the 18-49 demo. “Speechless”: It’s the third and final season for the single-cam comedy. Maya DiMeo (Minnie Driver) is a mother who will do anything for her children, especially eldest son JJ (Micah Fowler), who has cerebral palsy. While the show was a solid part of ABC’s family comedy lineup for the past few years, the recent season has ranked the lowest rated of the network’s scripted series, averaging 2.3 million total live viewers and a 0.49 in the 18-49 demo. “Splitting Up Together”: ABC has pulled the family comedy after two seasons. The show, starring Jenna Fischer and Oliver Hudson as exes who live together and redevelop feelings for each other, was the second-lowest scripted series for the network. It averaged 2.77 total million live viewers and a 0.66 in the 18-49 demographic. CBS “Fam”: CBS said “It’s a no from me, dawg” to renewing “Fam,” the comedy about an engaged couple (Nina Dobrev, Tone Bell) whose lives are disrupted when their 16-year-old relative comes to live with them. “Happy Together“: It’s a sad future for “Happy Together,” which CBS pulled after the first season. The comedy starred Damon Wayans, Jr. and Amber Stevens West as a 30-something couple who reconnect with their younger, cooler selves when a pop star (Felix Mallard) is drawn to their ordinary suburban life and unexpectedly moves in with them. “Life In Pieces”: Created by Justin Adler and starring Dianne Wiest and James Brolin, the comedy revolved around one big, happy family and their milestone moments. The cancellation arrives only five episodes into the fourth season, which is averaging a 0.84 rating in the 18-49 demo and 5.75 million viewers per episode, representing a dip from last season. “Murphy Brown”: Unfortunately, Candice Bergen’s return as the news legend was short lived. The first season of the sitcom concluded after 13 episodes, and CBS opted out of ordering more. The revival saw Brown entering back into the journalism ring amid the 24-hour news cycle and a vastly different political climate than when she (and the show) was last on. Fox “Proven Innocent”: The Kelsey Grammar-starring legal drama didn’t light any fires at Fox, where it was canceled after one season. David Elliot served as writer and executive producer on the project, while “Empire” co-creator Danny Strong and Stacy Greenberg also executive produced. The series centered on a legal team, led by Madeline Scott (Rachelle Lefevre), that reopened investigations, putting their own lives in danger to exonerate the innocent that were ‘proven’ guilty. “The Cool Kids”: The comedy proved lukewarm for Fox, which canceled the multi-cam after one season. The show hailed from executive producer Charlie Day and starred David Alan Grier, Leslie Jordan, Vicki Lawrence and Martin Mull as four friends in a retirement community who are determined to make the third act of their lives the craziest one yet. “The Gifted”: Set in the Marvel “X-Men” universe, the drama about teenagers with mutant powers couldn’t prevail at Fox. Following the show’s first season, the average rating for Season 2 almost halved down to 0.59, while the average viewership dipped to 1.95 million. “Love Connection”: There was no love for the unscripted series, which Fox canceled after two seasons. It was hosted by Andy Cohen and premiered in the summer along with “Beat Shazam.” “The Passage”: The network also closed the chapter on “The Passage,” based on Justin Cronin’s trilogy of novels. It centered on a young girl (Saniyya Sidney), who is taken by agent Brad Wolgast (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) for a mysterious government experiment, and ends up trying to save her from the same project. “Rel”: Creator and “Get Out” star Lil Rel Howery couldn’t escape the show’s fate. Canned after one season, the multi-cam comedy featured Howery as a self-made success who has to start over when he finds out his wife is having an affair with his barber. After returning solid ratings for its premiere, “Rel” saw a severe ratings dip for the remainder of the series, ending up with an average rating of 0.77 and a hint over 2 million total viewers. “Lethal Weapon”: Fox has put an end to the one-hour “Lethal Weapon” adaptation after three seasons, which might not come as a surprise to those following the drama surrounding the series. The show originally starred Clayne Crawford and Damon Wayans as a buddy cop duo, but the stars’ off-camera fighting led to Crawford’s dismissal. Season 3 continued with Seann William Scott replacing Crawford, but it was the beginning of the end, with Wayans announcing he was quitting, coupled with a steep decline in ratings. NBC “AP Bio”: Mike O’Brien’s series starring “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s” Glenn Howerton was the second-lowest rated scripted series for the network in its second season. Howerton starred as a disgraced Harvard philosophy scholar who returned to his Ohio hometown to teach high school biology. Patton Oswalt also starred.<doc-sep>Photo : Frederick M. Brown ( Getty Images ) Empire is gone, mayne. Deadline reports that after five seasons of twists, turns and trysts, the Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson-led series will be bowing out after its upcoming sixth season. Advertisement “We are turning the final season into a large TV event, we are trying to go out guns a blazing,” Fox CEO Charlie Collier said of what will be Empire’s final season. “You allow fans to lean in and have the ending they deserve.” And no, Fox has no plans whatsoever to involve embattled actor Jussie Smollett in any future episodes as the show rides off into the sunset. But thanks for asking. “There’s an option to have Jussie in the series but we have no plans for that,” he said. Which sounds a lot like when you break up with your girlfriend, but aren’t quite ready to post memes about inner strength and moving on on Instagram. Empire serves as the latest show on the network to get the axe. But more specifically, it’s the latest featuring a black lead. This announcement of Empire’s demise comes on the heels of Fox pulling the plug on the Damon Wayans helmed-Lethal Weapon, Lil’ Rel Howery’s Rel, Russell Hornsby’s Proven Innocent, Lee Daniels’ Star and David Alan Grier’s The Cool Kids, denoting a troubling trend at the network. But Collier insists that unlike other rival networks, diversity will remain a priority at Fox. Advertisement “The diversity of Fox is an issue that is so important and an ongoing effort for us to make sure we’re best in class. As I was looking at Fox and joining, what’s remarkable is that the history of this company and what it’s done in terms of diversity,” Collier said. “If you look across our slate in terms of scripted and unscripted and sports, we really are doing a good job but the job never stops. The effort continues, it never stops.” As a general rule of thumb, I’m always leery of white men touting the virtues of diversity and inclusion since their track record almost always says otherwise, but I guess we’ll just have to wait and see this time around.<doc-sep>
Fox has canceled both the drama series “The Passage” and the comedy “The Cool Kids.” Both shows aired for just one season. The multi-camera comedy “The Cool Kids” hailed from executive producer Charlie Day and starred David Alan Grier, Leslie Jordan, Vicki Lawrence and Martin Mull as four friends who live in a retirement community. These self-proclaimed “cool kids” are determined to make the third act of their lives the craziest one yet. The series was part of a Friday night comedy block on Fox anchored by “Last Man Standing.” In addition to Day, Patrick Walsh and Nick Frenkel executive produce the series. “The Cool Kids” was produced by 20th Century Fox Television, in association with FX Productions and 3 Arts Entertainment. Based on Justin Cronin’s trilogy of novels, the first season of “The Passage” centered on Amy (Saniyya Sidney), a young girl who was chosen by the scientists behind the mysterious Project Noah to be injected with a virus that was meant to cure all disease but was instead turning humans into vampire-like creatures known as virals. The 10-episode first season told a linear story of Brad Wolgast (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) kidnapping Amy from foster care to deliver her to Project Noah, only to bond with her and end up fighting to save her from the organization’s clutches. The season finale jumped forward in time 100 years, when the world was overrun by virals. Adapted for television by Elizabeth Heldens, the first season of “The Passage” also starred Jamie McShane, Caroline Chikezie, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Brianne Howey, McKinley Belcher III, Henry Ian Cusick and Vincent Piazza. It was executive produced by Heldens, Matt Reeves, Ridley Scott, David W. Zucker, Adam Kassan and Jason Ensler. The series had a long path to the screen. It was originally picked up to pilot off-cycle at the network in 2017 and eyed for a fall 2018 launch. According to sources, the original pilot came in below expectations at the network, with Fox wishing to reshoot significant portions. Complicating matters was the fact that Marcos Siega, the pilot’s director, was not readily available to direct the reshoots due to other commitments. Jason Ensler then came on board to direct the reshoots, which took place in last March in Atlanta. On Thursday, Fox ordered six new shows to series for the 2019-2020 season. That brings the networks total new series orders to eight, including the two straight-to-series orders for the animated comedies “Duncanville” and “Bless the Harts.” Fox previously renewed the shows “Empire,” “9-1-1,” “The Resident,” “Family Guy,” “Last Man Standing,” “Bob’s Burgers,” and “The Simpsons.” Comedy “Rel” and drama “The Gifted” have already been canceled.