Coming as no surprise, NBC announced late yesterday that their Wizard of Oz re-imagining Emerald City has been cancelled after one season. That show lived a troubled life as it was originally greenlighted to series for the 2014-15 season but cancelled in production then later revived with a different creative team. It took several years to finally make it to the Prime Time schedule and was then given the less-than-desirable Friday 9 PM EST timeslot. It debuted to mediocre ratings in that hour and saw those drop even further, essentially assuring that the show would be one-season-and-done. I thought it might have a slight chance if the network believed it would play well to the global audience in international syndication, but apparently, if that was a factor, it was not enough to save it. Emerald City was definitely an expensive production for NBC, and the low ratings (partially due to poor scheduling) ultimately doomed it. This is the third genre entry from NBC that will be exiting after this season with Powerless pulled from the schedule last week and Grimm having wrapped up its six-year run.
The series, which tried to be Game of Thrones in Oz, followed Dorothy Gale who gets transported to the land of Oz with her police dog by a tornado. Once there, she gets caught up in a struggle for control of the magical land. It starred Adria Arjona, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Ana Ularu, and Vincent D’Onofrio.
We are currently in Upfront season when the networks are preparing their schedules for the 2017-18 season and beyond, so expect plenty more announcements over the next month or so. And be sure to stay tuned to this site and the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for updates and breaking news.
