‘Outsiders’ unexpectedly canceled
WGN America canceled its filmed-in-Pittsburgh hillbilly drama “Outsiders” after two seasons, a surprising turn of events considering the network issued a press release last week that showed “Outsiders” averages more viewers than WGN America’s other current scripted series, “Underground.”
In a statement, Tribune Media interim president and CEO Peter Kern suggested a change in the network’s programming strategy was the reason for the decision to end “Outsiders,” which has two episodes left to air in its second season Tuesdays at 9 p.m.
“After three years of investing in marquee, brand-defining dramas, WGN America has successfully expanded its audience, its reach and its presence in the minds of viewers,” Mr. Kern wrote. “In our next phase, we intend to expand our original and unique content to continue growing our relevance and appeal to the widest possible audience. To achieve this, we will be reallocating our resources to a more diverse programming strategy and to new structures, enabling us to expand both the quantity and breadth of content aired by WGN America. This move is designed to deliver even more value to our advertising and distribution partners. To free up the resources to reach this goal, we will unfortunately not be renewing ‘Outsiders.’ We are grateful to our production partners at Sony Pictures Television and the terrifically talented people who made the show possible.”
The timing of the announcement from WGN America’s corporate division, not the network’s publicity arm, suggests the decision also may be related to a change in corporate direction at Tribune, which has a new CEO at the helm and this week scrapped plans for a digital news site, Tribune.com, that had been set to debut on April 25.
Although WGN America had yet to officially renew “Outsiders” for a third season, the local production office at 31st Street Studios in the Strip District already had opened and begun hiring, and writers had begun working on stories in Los Angeles.
According to trade reports, Sony intends to shop “Outsiders” to other TV networks, a standard tactic that sometimes proves fruitful (“Nashville” moved from ABC to CMT) but more often does not (Amazon’s “Good Girls Revolt” could not find a new home after Amazon canceled it). A Sony publicist did not respond to a request for
comment but with production already gearing up, Sony would need to find a new network partner quickly.
“Outsiders” cast members also seemed to be caught off guard by the cancellation. Often TV series stars see the writing on the wall and take to social media as soon as a show is canceled to comment, but as of late Friday afternoon only series regular Kyle Gallner had tweeted, “Thank you all for everything. Your support and dedication to @OutsidersWGN meant so much to all of us.”
In an April 7 press release titled “WGN America Posts Best Primetime Month in Network’s History,” WGN America touted its March ratings, noting that “Outsiders” averaged 2 million total viewers compared to 1.9 million for “Underground.” In the adults 25-54 demo, “Underground” did a little better with an average 909,000 viewers compared to 874,000 for “Outsiders.” Of the two, period drama “Underground,” with its focus on the underground railroad, is considered the more prestigious series with better reviews.
“The Pittsburgh Film Office is disappointed in WGN America’s decision to not renew the very successful ‘Outsiders’ TV series,” said PFO director Dawn Keezer. “This has been a great project for our region and our amazing crew. We are hopeful that Sony is successful in shopping the series to another network and bring them home to Southwestern Pennsylvania.”
With “Outsiders” canceled — unless Sony finds the show a new network home — Pittsburgh will have two TV series in production in 2017.
Netflix’s “Mindhunter” is gearing up to film its second season beginning next month, although Netflix has yet to announce the show’s renewal, and season one won’t air until October. NBC Universal International’s procedural drama “Gone” will go into production next month, too.
The future also remains cloudy for a second season for ABC’s “Downward Dog,” which doesn’t premiere until May 17 for a summer run.
TV writer Rob Owen: rowen@post-gazette.com or 412263-2582. Read the Tuned In Journal blog at post-gazette.com/tv. Follow RobOwenTV on Twitter or Facebook.