The niche cabler, which is losing three of its originals to the forthcoming Paramount Network, is parting ways with two of its remaining four original shows.
The Viacom-owned cable net has opted to cancel George Lopez vehicle Lopez and podcast-turned-comedy Throwing Shade. That leaves the Keith Cox-led TV Land with two scripted shows: the network-defining entry Younger and Teachers.
Lopez, picked up straight to series as part of TV Land’s push for single-camera fare, ran for two seasons. June’s season two finale will now serve as the series finale. The comedy created by John Altschuler, Dave Krinsky and Jeff Stilson starred Lopez as a version of himself — a stand-up comedian trying to stay true to his roots in the Latino community.
Throwing Shade, meanwhile, was a late-night comedy based on the podcast of the same name hosted by Erin Gibson and Bryan Safi that featured the duo as they took on topics that included women’s rights and LGBTQ rights, politics and pop culture. The show wrapped its run in February.
The decision to cut back scripted on TV Land comes as Viacom has shuffled its portfolio of originals while it focuses on six core brands — Paramount Network, MTV, BET, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. — and CEO Bob Bakish looks to reinvigorate the media conglomerate.
Cancelling Throwing Shade and Lopez follows the decision to move Melissa McCarthy- and Ben Falcone-produced comedy Nobodies from TV Land to Paramount Network, the latter of which is rebranding from Spike in January. Nobodies will join Heathers and American Woman at Paramount Network. The latter pair were developed by Cox — who also oversees originals for Paramount Network — and were originally earmarked to air on TV Land.
As for the future of scripted originals at TV Land, sources tell THR that the plan is for the niche cabler to focus on just Younger and Teachers in the immediate future. Darren Star’s Younger, starring Sutton Foster, will return for a 12-episode fifth season, and Teachers will air its 20-episode third season in 2018. The larger plan is to focus development on the Paramount Network, though if a Cox-developed show feels more in line for TV Land, a decision could be made about adding it to the schedule.
Younger is fresh off its highest-rated and most watched season in history among viewers 18-49. Teachersrecently hit new highs in the second half of its sophomore run, up 21 percent year-over-year among adults 25-54.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
