Cancellations and Renewals: 'Magnum P.I.,' Pete Davidson, 'The Idol'

I’m not trying to bag on Pete Davidson, but Peacock’s decision to renew Bupkis for a second season is a mystery to me. It’s not that it’s bad — it’s decent — it’s mostly that I don’t know anyone who actually watched Bupkis. It did not generate much buzz beyond its premiere weekend, and it is yet another mediocre project loosely based on the life of Davidson. Maybe it’s just that Peacock doesn’t have much better going on. Traitors and Poker Face have been the streamer’s only breakout hits, Based on a True Story hasn’t taken off like they probably expected, Mrs. Davis should have been much bigger than it was, and I think that Bel Air is the only Peacock series that has gotten a third season greenlight, so far.

The point is: Peacock is kind of a mess. But then, it seems like most of the streamers are these days. Why else would Hulu decide to renew Nine Perfect Strangers nearly two years after the lackluster first season finished its run? It really was not a very good show (based on a not-very-good book), and other than the cast, it had little going for it. All we know, so far, is that Nicole Kidman will return, and Murray Barlett may also be involved, which makes sense if they’re trying to turn the series into Hulu’s White Lotus.

Meanwhile, among a slew of Paramount+ cancellations, there was one renewal: They’ve given a second season order to Peyton List’s School Spirits, in which List plays a teenager investigating her own disappearance from the afterlife. I appreciate that someone outside of Netflix is trying to cater to the YA audience.

As for the cancellations: Paramount+ gave the ax to Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies and Star Trek: Prodigy, The Game, and Queen of the Universe. Paramount+ will also be pulling all four series off of their platform, along with all episodes of Inside Amy Schumer, including the rebooted season, a decent Dave Grohl docuseries From Cradle to Stage, and a whole slew of Nickelodeon series. Many will probably end up at some point on a FAST streamer like Freevee or Tubi.

NBC has also canceled Magnum P.I. after five seasons, after the series came over from CBS. The circumstances surrounding its cancellation are odd, because the series performed well for NBC. However, when they renewed it for a fifth season batch of 20 episodes, they divided the order into two halves, airing the first 10 episodes during the 2023 midseason and holding the other 10 episodes for the 2024 midseason. It meant that a potential sixth season wouldn’t start shooting for another year, and NBC didn’t want to pay what was necessary to keep the cast under contract during the hiatus.

Finally, I know that it was mentioned in Pajiba Love last night, but the season finale of The Idol will air this Sunday after five episodes, although six episodes were originally planned. The company line is that, after Sam Levinson took over the series from Amy Seimetz, he didn’t need as many episodes to tell his story, but why did they wait so long to tell us? Is there a sixth episode they don’t want to show us? Is Max in a hurry to remove it?

Related: The Idol is maybe the worst show of the year, and it absolutely does not deserve a second season. And yet, the Parents Television and Media Council is calling upon Max to cancel it. What does it say about me that I want Max to renew it to spite the Parents Television and Media Council? I hate watchdog groups.