‘The Catch’ Canceled By ABC: Shonda Rhimes Rom-Com Won’t Return For Third Season
The Catch’s second season finale aired on ABC on Thursday night, with the network confirming that it will be the show’s last. After just two seasons on air, ABC has confirmed that Shonda Rhimes’ slick rom-com won’t return to the network for a third season, following a less than average performance in ratings.
The Catch premiered on ABC in 2016, starring Mireille Enos, Peter Krause, Sonya Walger, John Simm, Jay Hayden, Rose Rollins and Elvy Yost. The series followed a cat-and-mouse game between L.A.’s top private investigator, Alice Vaughan (Enos) and her fiancé, Benjamin Jones (Krause), who turns out to be a formidable con artist.
However, according to Variety, the show failed to see the same level of success as Shonda Rhimes’ other dramas on the network and has been canceled after just two seasons. After a sluggish start in 2016, the show managed to score a second run in 2017, largely thanks to the involvement of Shonda Rhimes’ Shondaland. Despite a decision to retool the show as a romantic comedy in its second season, the ratings only continued to slip, ending with a disappointing 1.0 rating in the adults 18-49 Live+7 demographic.
According to Deadline, there was still those within ABC keen on giving The Catch a third season, especially considering how well it has performed internationally. In fact, the show’s creators even pitched ABC a new direction for that aforementioned third season, however, the network ultimately decided against giving the show another chance.
Thank you for all the love! It's been so fun. And enjoy the FINALE!!! ? #THECATCH pic.twitter.com/RiJ3quAHrc
— Mireille Enos (@iammireilleenos) May 12, 2017
Executive producer Shonda Rhimes expressed her disappointment in the decision not to renew the show, whilst thanking fans for their support over the course of its two-season run.
“I am sad to say farewell to The Catch, but I wanted to take a moment today to thank all of the amazing fans who joined us on the journey,” she tweeted.
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Despite struggling to gain momentum in the ratings, The Catch has still managed to develop something of a fan following. Following the news that ABC had canceled The Catch, many of those fans turned to streaming providers Netflix and Hulu, requesting that they pick-up for the rom-com for a third season. Such a move wouldn’t be unprecedented, given the recent interest streaming giant Netflix has shown in network dramas. Last year, it struck a deal with ABC to show weekly episodes of the Kiefer Sutherland political thriller Designated Survivor outside of the United States.
Despite canceling The Catch, ABC has renewed each other Shonda Rhimes drama that it currently airs, including Scandal, Grey’s Anatomy, and How to Get Away With Murder. That being said, according to TV Line, the seventh season of Scandal will be the political drama’s last. It’s reported that series creator Shonda Rhimes made the call for the show to come to an end.
ABC's 'Scandal' to end after season 7 https://t.co/mBQk8cW39d pic.twitter.com/3GEfsLk7Rz
— Forbes (@Forbes) May 10, 2017
“I feel like there is a finite amount of Scandal to be told,” Rhimes previously said about Scandal’s longevity. “So I know what the end of Scandal will be, and I feel really good about that. And I can see where the end point is. And I don’t think I’m going to change that.”
In its sixth and most recent season, Scandal has been averaging 5.7 million total viewers and a 1.5 demo rating, which is down 30 percent from Season 4. On April 6, it hit a series low of 5.1 million viewers, which is in comparison to its zenith, the Season 4 premiere, which attracted over 12 million viewers.
[Featured Image by ABC]
