Renewals and Cancellations: 'One Piece,' 'Wonder Years,' and Starz Cancels Starz

By Dustin Rowles | TV | September 26, 2023 |

By Dustin Rowles | TV | September 26, 2023 |

Though it will not happen until next year, the Starz network is splitting off from the Lionsgate studio. This makes sense for Lionsgate because it’s probably more valuable as a stand-alone entity: They have some decent IP in John Wick, The Hunger Games, and Saw and the reason we see these reboots and sequels is that Lionsgate is trying to make itself more attractive to potential buyers (their fourth Expendables movie, however, did them no favors in that department).

But Starz? I’m not sure what the play is there. They have a decent subscriber base — 30 million, which is actually more than Apple TV+. But what do these 30 million subscribers watch? Besides Outlander, which is ending soon. They have the Power Book franchise and … two shows that have been renewed for third seasons — P-Valley and Hightown — though I see no actual evidence of third seasons coming to fruition despite the fact that their second seasons aired in 2021 and 2022, respectively.

They also have Party Down, which may or may not come back, and Shining Vale, which was OK, but hardly anything worth building a network around. Likewise Minx, which came over from HBO.

And now? They have canceled Heels, Run the World, and Blindspotting. I get it because — besides Heels, which is very good! — I don’t know anyone who watches those shows, and I’m the only one I know who watches Heels (plus 3-4 people in the comments who agree that it’s great!). But the network barely has anything left, and one show that was in development (and mostly shot) has also been canned, The Venery of Samantha Bird with Katherine Langford. I was actually looking forward to it, too.

How does Starz plan to sell itself now? They’re going to have to lean hard on that Spartacus sequel series reboot or sell itself for parts. I wish them the best of luck because I root for the smaller studios like Starz and AMC, the latter of which did do itself a solid and renew season three of Dark Winds. Aside from The Walking Dead universe, which the network is determined to ride into the ground, they’re making a real effort to grow some shows like Dark Winds and Interview with a Vampire. They should loan a season of Dark Winds to Max for a couple of months, too, and generate some interest in additional seasons.

Elsewhere, Peacock has canceled the second season of the Pitch Perfect spin-off, Bumper in Berlin, after previously renewing it. This was probably a good decision. ABC has also canceled Dule Hill’s The Wonder Years reboot. I’m sad about it. I really liked the first season, but we didn’t keep up with the second season because it aired over the summer when family television time was a rarity. It was really a victim of scheduling; ABC would have been wise to hold it until now and air it during our current scripted wasteland on network television.

Finally, in case you missed it, Netflix has renewed One Piece, which everyone seems to like. I haven’t seen it yet, though I do worry that it will end up like Sweet Tooth and Shadow and Bone: Everyone really liked the first season, but because Netflix is terrible at keeping viewer interest up in between seasons, fewer people return for a second season (Sweet Tooth has been renewed for a third and final season, while a renewal on Shadow and Bone, which wrapped its second season in March, is still pending). This is why the binge model sucks.