2025 has officially arrived and with the new year ahead, there’s still time to look back on the year that was 2024. It was quite an interesting year for TV fans with the results of the 2023 actors’ and writers’ strikes bleeding into the new year leading to shortened seasons of some of the biggest shows on air and unexpected sendoffs for series that very well could have continued for many more seasons.
When it comes to cancellations, CBS by far had some of the biggest cancellations in broadcast in 2024 bringing a close to so many amazing shows including a handful of shows that very much remained at the top of the leaderboard in viewership. Fans were incredibly vocal about some of the choices CBS made, but The Eye network wasn’t the only network that made some difficult decisions leading to the end of a batch of amazing shows.
In total, ABC ended four incredible shows – okay three incredible shows and one show that none of us really got too attached to – over the span of 2024 while also handing out a final season to a show many expected to end in 2024 but which will instead sign off early this year instead. We’re referring to The Conners which was renewed for a seventh and final season which many expected would come in the fall but is instead making its way to ABC sometime this spring with what will be a shortened final season.
Season 7 will consist of just six episodes total, but the good news is that the creative team had the chance to bring the show to a proper conclusion rather than simply end without closure as was the case for Gina Rodriguez’s Not Dead Yet. The series was an amazing addition to ABC’s comedy lineup, but sadly ABC chose to cancel the show after just two seasons making it the only scripted series ABC canceled abruptly.
Looking back, 2024 was not kind to Rodriguez in general as ABC also canceled her unscripted series Lucky 13 after just one season though we’re not entirely surprised as that one didn’t take off with viewers. The good news is that Rodriguez will soon be coming back to ABC via a role in the upcoming third season of Will Trent, so perhaps third-time will be the charm for the former Jane the Virgin star in finding success at ABC.
ABC’s two highest-profile cancellations came via The Good Doctor and Station 19, which both concluded in 2024 following planned final seasons. While we felt the time had indeed come for The Good Doctor to draw to a close, ending Station 19 after just seven seasons felt like a miss as the show really hit a stride in what became its final season and we’d have loved to have seen the show continue on for a few more years.
Alas, ABC felt it was better to bring the show to an end and it seems to be working as Doctor Odyssey has emerged as a pretty solid replacement in the Thursday night block.
So in total, five ABC shows came to an end one way or another in 2024 and there’s no telling whether that total will grow or shrink in the year ahead.