The current fourth season of the Starz basketball comedy will be its last, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. The season finale on Sunday will now serve as a series finale.
“We have been fortunate to work with incredible talents like Mike O’Malley, the executive producers and our cast on this very special show for four seasons,” Starz president and CEO Chris Albrecht said Tuesday in a statement. “While this may be the end of the Calloways’ story, we do believe that the themes Survivor’s Remorseconfronted over the seasons, through a unique mix of humor and sober observation, will be appreciated for the insightful, heartfelt way they were addressed. We are proud of the show.”
The half-hour comedy centered on Cam Calloway (Jessie T. Usher) and his family after he signs a professional basketball contract and moves to Atlanta to begin his NBA career. RonReaco Lee, Erica Ash, Teyonah Parris, Tichina Arnold, Robert Wu and Meagan Tandy also star.
The project marked one of NBA star LeBron James’ first forays into scripted television. James executive produced with his producing partner Maverick Carter through James’ SpringHill Entertainment banner. Mike O’Malley (Shameless) created the half-hour and served as showrunner through his O’Malley Ink shingle. Other exec producers included TV veteran Tom Werner of Werner Entertainment, Paul Wachter, Victor Levin and Hilton Smith. Starz produced the comedy.
Since its 2014 premiere, Survivor’s Remorse had been warmly embraced by critics, including THR’s Daniel Fienberg, who called it “one of the cleverest, profane, most provocative comedies on TV.” Earlier this year, Fienberg praised the fourth season for not shying away from potent issues and being “emboldened to try new things in terms of style and tone.”
For Starz, Survivor’s Remorse was one part of the pay cabler’s strategy to reach underserved audiences like African-Americans (50 Cent’s Power) and women (Outlander). However, ratings for Survivor’s Remorse had dipped in season four. With three days of delayed viewing factored in, the series had been averaging just under 600,000 viewers.
After moving its originals from Saturdays to Sundays last year, Starz is next setting its sights on Latino audiences with the recently ordered half-hour Vida. The pay cabler also recently greenlighted another half-hour original series, Sweetbitter, which hails from exec producer Brad Pitt and is based on the best-selling book by Stephanie Danler. Starz’s originals comedy slate also includes Ash vs. Evil Dead, which returns for season three in early 2018.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
