Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Dustin Rowles | TV | April 23, 2025
Let’s start with CBS today, which has axed Poppa’s House, the freshman series starring Damon Wayans and Damon Wayans Jr. I watched a few episodes out of reverence for Damon Wayans Jr. It was not good. I hope it frees Wayans Jr. to appear more frequently in the next season of Shrinking, where he plays the other Derek.
CBS also pulled the plug on what was genuinely one of the worst reality competition shows I’ve endured in years, The Summit. The premise was interesting — contestants basically had to hike to the top of a mountain over the course of a couple of weeks. But the casting was bad, the challenges were nonsense, and worst of all, the hike didn’t even seem all that challenging. I hated it. Oh, and also: Manu Bennett was an atrocious host.
For what it’s worth, CBS has also opted not to move ahead with an Equalizer spin-off starring Titus Welliver, or a spin-off of The Neighborhood. It did, however, greenlight a spin-off of FBI, FBI: CIA, as well as an Einstein series starring Matthew Gray Gubler. The cancellation of Poppa’s House also makes room for DMV, a workplace comedy starring two SNL alums, Tim Meadows and Molly Kearney, and my Pajiba 10 pick last year, Harriet Dyer (Colin from Accounts).
Over on ABC, the network has picked up Dancing with the Stars for yet another season and has already named Robert Irwin as a cast member — his sister Bindi won the competition several seasons ago. The network is also moving ahead with another season of The Golden Bachelor, and Jimmy Kimmel will return to host another season of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
Over on Amazon, they’ve pulled the plug on Laverne Cox’s Clean Slate, which had OK reviews but never found an audience. That cancellation comes on the heels of the streamer’s decision to cancel both Citadel spin-offs, Honey Bunny and Diana, which Kayleigh wrote about at length here.
Finally, last week, Peacock axed two series: Kaley Cuoco and Chris Messina’s messy Based on a True Story, which went from mediocre to bad in its second season, and the delightful Mr. Throwback, the comedy starring Adam Pally, Ego Nwodim, and the Steph Curry. It got a lot of promotion during the Olympics, but I guess it couldn’t grab enough viewers to justify another season. That’s a shame. It was genuinely fun.
