USA announced yesterday that its dystopian series The Purge will be ending with its second season. That show proved to be a hit in its first year, but saw its same-day viewing numbers drop notably this last Fall by 46%. It did make up some slack in delayed-viewing, which the cable channels pay more attention to than the broadcast nets, but apparently that was not enough to justify a third season. Earlier in the season, I considered the show to have a decent shot at renewal despite the ratings drop, especially since it is an in-house production of parent company NBCUniversal. But when no renewal was announced for months after it wrapped up its second season, I shifted it to Bubble status.
USA appears to be moving away from scripted programming, a trend that we are seeing across several of the basic cable networks. It also cancelled the Bourne franchise spin-off series Treadstone yesterday (another in-house entry) and previously axed the non-genre entry Dare Me. That network will instead focus on WWE and unscripted programming going forward. Whether fans of The Purge will stage a Call to Action to lobby for a third season of the show on USA or a different venue remains to be seen.
The Purge takes place in a dystopian near-future where the country’s totalitarian government makes all crime legal, including murder, for a twelve-hour period once per year. The first season focused on the Purge itself while the second season dealt with the after-effects. It stars Gabriel Chavarria, Hannah Emily Anderson, Jessica Garza, Lili Simmons, Amanda Warren and comes from Blumhouse Productions.
There are still more renewal and cancellation announcements on the way as the season wraps up, but those may be spaced out over the next few weeks as the networks have staggered their Upfronts when they will unveil their schedules for next season. You can see the status of all the currently airing, returning, and upcoming sci fi and fantasy shows on our Cancellation Watch Page. And be sure to stay tuned to this site and the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for breaking news and updates.
More from CancelledSciFi.com
Keep up with the ratings developments and the status of all the currently airing sci fi and fantasy shows with our Weekly Roundup posts. And join the #CancelledSciFiArmy on Twitter to bolster our ranks and help us fight for the struggling and cancelled sci fi and fantasy shows.
Follow our Sci Fi TV Top 5 column for the top sci fi TV stories each week.
Check out our Sci Fi TV Schedule for debut and season finale dates and follow our Weekly Listings for a rundown of the shows airing in the current week.
Check back each Saturday for Sci Fi TV Retrospectives: A look back at cancelled, classic, forgotten, and more genre shows from the past.
