This has been a chaotic year for television.

The entertainment strikes involving both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA unions delayed the production of a lot of shows and movies. Meanwhile, streaming services began to remove shows from their libraries. On the network side of things, ABC-TV, which is owned by Disney, ultimately decided that eight TV shows be canceled. So, let’s take a look at why those shows were canceled.

As we previously mentioned, ABC canceled a total of eight shows in 2023. Note that in many cases, Disney/ABC does not publicly comment on their reasoning for canceling a show. That said, here are the shows that got the axe last year.

Alaska Daily

Alaska Daily starred Oscar-winner Hillary Swank as a journalist seeking a new life when she goes to work for a newspaper in Anchorage, Alaska. She works with another journalist to report on missing and murdered indigenous women. The show was canceled after just one season.

According to Alaska Public Media, the show was very expensive to produce and did not get the ratings that ABC had hoped for. 

Big Sky

Big Sky, based on a series of books by C.J. Box, is about two private detectives searching for two sisters who have been kidnapped in Montana. They soon learn other girls have gone missing in the area. The show ran for three seasons before it was canceled in 2023.

Why? According to Deadline, the show’s ratings slipped a LOT in its second and third seasons and became one of the lowest-rated scripted series on ABC. There were also rumors of “on-set tensions.”

The Company You Keep

In The Company You Keep, a con man named Charlie (who is in debt to a crime boss) has a “night of passion” with an undercover CIA officer, Emma, who, it turns out, is looking for that crime boss. The series starred Milo Ventimiglia and Catherine Haena Kim but was ultimately canceled in its first season.

Variety reported that the series failed to find its audience and averaged under 4 million viewers per episode in the Nielsen Live+7 ratings. As you can see, low ratings are pretty much the death knell for a TV show, especially a new one.

The Final Straw

The Final Straw was a game show hosted by Janelle James, and it was basically a huge game of Jenga. Teams of players would compete to win up to $250,000 by removing one object at a time from a giant tower. Okay, we’re not questioning the premise of the show…but, well, we can understand why it might not have caught on.

TVLine broke the news of the show’s cancelation, and although no reason was officially stated, the show seemed to suffer from poor reviews, which often spells doom for a TV show. Typically, poor reviews = poor ratings.

The Goldbergs

So it’s a miracle for any show to make it to 10 seasons, which is something The Goldbergs managed to accomplish. However, ABC decided that the 10th season would be its last. With this show, though, we can say it certainly had a good run.

The Hollywood Reporter mentioned that part of the reasoning behind its cancelation was that ABC didn’t own it, plus it was suffering from declining ratings and “pricey licensing fees for an aging series.” Needless to say, it seemed unlikely that this show would survive another season.

Home Economics

Home Economics was a sitcom following the lives of three siblings, played by Topher Grace, Caitlin McGee, and Jimmy Tatro. It was canceled by ABC after three seasons — this was another show that suffered from low ratings.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the show had the smallest Nielsen-measured audience among all five ABC comedies that were airing at the time.

The Rookie: Feds

The Rookie: Feds was a spin-off of The Rookie starring Niecy Nash-Betts. The crime drama was one of several TV shows that were affected the most by the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. The show was on hold during the strikes, but it ultimately was canceled.

The Hollywood Reporter reported that the strikes “wiped out the September start” of the 2023-24 broadcast season, so in re-thinking its strategy moving forward, ABC decided no second season of the show was needed.

The Wonder Years

The Wonder Years sought to recapture lightning in a bottle by rebooting the series of the same name from the late ’80s and early ’90s. ABC confirmed that the reboot would not return for a third season earlier this year.

Deadline reported that the show ranked as the lowest-rated and least-watched ABC series of the summer. Ouch.

Station 19

According to The Hollywood Reporter, ABC’s Station 19 will conclude with one final season in 2024. The series is a spinoff of the famous Grey’s Anatomy show, focusing on the lives of a group of firefighters. It lasted for seven seasons, which is pretty impressive in its own right.

The president of Disney Television Group commented on the show’s ending, saying, “For seven seasons, Station 19 has been a highlight of the ABC lineup thanks to Shonda [Rhimes] and Betsy [Beers’] incredible vision, beloved characters and compelling storytelling,” said Craig Erwich, president of Disney Television Group. “With Zoanne [Clack] and Peter [Paige] at the helm of the upcoming farewell season, we have so much to look forward to, most notably the celebration of the show’s milestone 100th episode.”

So there you have it, a little insight into why these shows were canceled at ABC this year. We’ll be keeping an eye out for more cancelations. So stay tuned to DFB for more.

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Were you watching any of these shows before ABC canceled them? Let us know in the comments!