We Don't Say 'Canceled' Anymore; We Say 'Relocated'

The great thing about the digital era is that nothing ever really goes away. It just gets turned into a thumbnail you can click on your smartphone! That is indeed what has happened to NBC’s Sunnyside, which became linear television’s first casualty of the season. NBC has pulled the Kal Penn sitcom from its Thursday night schedule, and beginning next week, will roll out the final season of Will & Grace in its slot.

But don’t worry, Sunnyside fan! Because NBC has actually increased the order for Sunnyside episodes from 10 episodes to 11. But now, instead of worrying with all those knobs and doohickeys on your television set, you can watch it exclusively on digital platforms like NBC.com, where it can be seen with the tap of your finger. Just look for the thumbnail in between Total Divas and Below Deck Mediterranean.

This may feel like a demotion, but it only feels that way because it is. The series debuted with a .4 rating in the 18-49, which is super bad. However, it actually has performed modestly well on digital platforms (it increased to a 1.0). Also, per Deadline, it has the fourth most “affluent” audience on broadcast TV and the third most “educated” audience, which doesn’t speak particularly well of affluent, educated people, because Sunnyside is bad TV. I mean, there’s a lot of great talent involved behind the scenes, Kal Penn is a wonderful human being, and the series could theoretically get better, but the first two episodes were not good. They weren’t even in the realm of good.

Maybe the season will improve, and maybe it will be a digital hit, and maybe it will become the first TV show ever to get bumped to digital-only and claw its way back to linear. Or maybe people will just forget about it, because there are better things to watch.