ABC Boss On ‘Rebel’, ‘American Housewife’, ‘Mixed-ish’ & ‘For Life’ Cancellations

ABC last week canceled four series, ranging from veteran American Housewife, which had run for five seasons, to rookie Rebel, whose cancellation came after only five airings. In-between them were sophomores Mixed-ish and For Life.

“They are all unique shows who on their own specific timeline where they are creatively and with the audience,” Craig Erwich, President, ABC Entertainment and Hulu Originals, told Deadline. “I can say that just because we are not ordering new seasons does not take anything away from the impact that these shows had creatively or how many fans they have on ABC. These are difficult business decisions but we are really proud of the runs that all of these shows had.”

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(Ironically, For Life, canceled by ABC, is being pitched to Hulu, also overseen by Erwich.)

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Rebel, starring Katey Sagal and inspired/executive produced by Erin Brockovich, was the first series created by Grey’s Anatomy and Station 19 showrunner Krista Vernoff. It co-starred Andy Garcia and John Corbett.

Asked by Deadline why the show was not given more time, Erwich said, “Krista Vernoff is not just an amazing talent, she is a valued and beloved part of the Disney family. We gave Rebel a really considerable launch and a launch effort. It was a huge priority for us for midseason. One of the advantages of a stable schedule is, you can focus and platform new shows, which Rebel was a beneficiary of Unfortunately, it did not garner the audience that we needed it to do, so we had make that decision.”

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