Renewals and Cancellations: 'Accused,' 'The L Word,' 'Animal Control'

Two months after the season three finale of The L Word: Generation Q aired, Showtime has decided not to pick it up for a fourth season. However, Showtime may very well move forward with The L Word: New York, because that’s what the new Showtime (under Paramount+) does now: It expands upon its popular IP, which is why we’ll be seeing more Dexter, Billions, and Ray Donovan spin-offs in the years to come.

Over on Fox, they have given second-season orders to Alert: Missing Persons Unit and Accused. I cannot speak to Alert, because I’ve never heard of it, but I’ll admit that — despite my negative review of the first two episodes — Accused has grown on me. I do not typically love the anthology format, but props to the show for tackling some controversial issues. Billy Porter, for instance, directed an episode about a drag queen who got wrapped up in a legal mess. I liked last week’s episode, too, which involved Jason Ritter playing a teacher who got involved in a legal mess for helping a Texas student travel to New Mexico to obtain an abortion. The episodes are hit-and-miss, and some of them can be very heavy-handed, but the series does tackle issues that other network shows do not dare to cover.

Word from Deadline is that Joel McHale’s Animal Control is also a lock for renewal. Some folks in our Slack were hard on the first episode or two, but I’ve continued to stick with it, mostly out of affection for Vella Lovell, whom I also loved in Mr. Mayor. It has also grown on me. There has been some slapstick-y physical comedy involving animals that might be a turn-off for some viewers, but the characters (and cast) are great, including Joel McHale. I also trust in creator Tad Quil, a longtime writer on Scrubs and the creator of the wonderful but forgotten Bent starring Amanda Peet, Jesse Plemons, and David Walton.

Remember David Walton? He played one of the more memorable boyfriends on New Girl, which I thought would translate to a bigger career in sitcoms. He was great. He has since bounced around largely in guest roles on TV shows, most recently on A Million Little Things and Power Book II: The Ghost, the latter of which I bring up because it is worth mentioning how popular it is. The season three premiere drew 5.8 million viewers last weekend, the largest-ever opening weekend for a Starz series. I’m embarrassed to say that neither Power Book II nor the also popular Power are even on my radar, despite the fact that the two series basically keep Starz alive. We devote scores of pieces about how no one talks about Yellowstone despite all the talk we do about no one talking about it, but seriously no one actually talks about Power Book II or the rest of the franchise (Power Book III, Power Book IV, BMF, and Raising Kainan.)