By Melanie Mayberry, programming editor
Summer may be just a few weeks away, but the premium channels and networks are still cancelling shows as they look to tighten budget belts. Here’s the latest:
HBO has axed Perry Mason, the mystery series starring Matthew Rhys as the famous attorney from the 1950/60s TV series and the Eric Stanley Gardner novels. The show, which ran for two seasons, featured Mason’s early days as a private investigator in Los Angeles in the 1930s.
Critics seemed to like Perry Mason the show, which netted an 84 score at Rotten Tomatoes for season two.
“More cohesive and engaging than its woolly first installment, Perry Mason’s sophomore season is a marked improvement driven by an urgent sense of purpose, with Matthew Rhys commandingly watchable as ever,” Rotten Tomatoes states, summarizing the reviews.
Plus, Perry Mason averaged slightly less than two million viewers per episode, which compares well to other HBO shows that have not been cancelled. But Warner Bros. Discovery, which now owns HBO, is taking a more critical look at show budgets and potential and Perry Mason was seen as taking more from the company’s coffers than it was bringing back.
Showtime has cancelled I Love That For You, a comedy series which starred Vanessa Bayer (SNL) as the host of a home shopping channel who lies about having cancer to keep her job. The show, which co-starred Molly Shannon and received mixed reviews, ran its season one finale on June 19, 2022. Ratings for I Love That For You started slow and never got better.
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