NBC Cancels ‘Ironside,’ ‘Welcome To The Family’

NBC has canceled Ironside and Welcome to the Family after three episodes.

Ironside, a remake of the 1960s series of the same name, premiered on October 2 to 6.81 million viewers, but dropped by 2 million viewers in its third episode. The original Ironside ran for 199 episodes from September 14, 1967 to January 16, 1975. Raymond Burr starred as paraplegic Chief of Detectives Robert T. Ironside, and earned six Emmy and two Golden Globe nominations for the role.

When Blair Underwood was cast in the role, there was some controversy over the fact that the former L.A. Law star was not actually disabled. Sons of Anarchy star Kurt Yaeger, whose left leg was severed following a motorcycle accident, compared it to “having a white guy do blackface” and said “you need to start having disabled playing disabled characters.”

Executive producer Teri Weinberg said the role was cast with a non-disabled actor because the series featured flashbacks to Ironside’s life before he became a paraplegic, which “required an actor to be on their feet in their previous life.”

The final episode of Ironside will air October 23, and NBC will air Dateline on Wednesdays at 10 pm through November and December, as well as a number of holiday specials. The Chicago Fire spinoff Chicago PD will take over the time slot starting January 8.

Welcome to the Family premiered October 3 to 2.99 million viewers, making it NBC’s lowest in-season comedy debut, and dropped to 2.42 million for its third episode. The network will air back-to-back episodes of Parks and Recreation, a special edition of The Voice and The Sound of Music Live in the Thursday 8-9 pm time slot for the rest of the fall. The sing-off will take over the slot for two weeks in December. Community will return with back-to-back episodes in the 8-9 time slot starting January 9.

Ironside and Welcome to the Family join ABC’s Lucky 7, which was canceled after two episodes earlier this month.