Summary
- ABC has canceled The Wonder Years reboot after two seasons, citing poor reception and low ratings.
- The original coming-of-age comedy drama aired from 1988 to 1993 with six seasons and 115 episodes.
- ABC has canceled several other shows in 2023, including Hilary Swank’s Alaska Daily and Julia Cohen’s The Company You Keep.
The wonder is over. ABC has decided to cancel The Wonder Years reboot after two seasons, just a month after the finale of the second installment of the show aired.
The original version of the coming-of-age comedy drama premiered on the same network in 1988, ending in 1993 after six seasons and 115 episodes. In 2020, it was confirmed that ABC was developing a reboot, featuring a new cast to play different characters. Like the original story, the reboot takes place in the late 60s and follows the life of young Dean Williams, his family, life at school, the relationship with his friends, romantic experiences and more.
Unfortunately, Dean’s story will not continue. Deadline confirms that ABC has decided to cancel the show a few weeks after the end of its second season, which failed to improve the numbers of the first one. The outlet states that The Wonder Years is the series with the worst reception and with the lowest-score this summer, which makes the decision not to continue with it seem logical, especially with the ongoing strikes at Hollywood.
The series stars Don Cheadle, who narrates the story as the adult version of Dean Williams, Elisha “EJ” Williams as the young Dean Williams, Dulé Hill as Bill Williams, Saycon Sengbloh as Lillian Williams, Laura Kariuki as Kim Williams, Julian Lerner as Brad Hitman, Amari O’Neil as Cory Long and Milan Ray as Keisa Clemmons.
The Wonder Years Isn’t the Only Recent Cancelation from ABC
ABC, like many networks and streaming platforms, has left behind a long list of canceled series in 2023, so The Wonder Years is by no means an exceptional case. Among ABC’s list of casualties was Hilary Swank, whose thriller Alaska Daily only managed to stay on the air for a single season before being scrapped. The story centered on a journalist who decides to move to Alaska after making a serious mistake that almost end her career. The search for a new beginning leads her to join the team of a newspaper in Anchorage.
Julia Cohen’s drama The Company You Keep was another one-season wonder. That series focuses on a con artist and an undercover CIA agent who end up spending a night of passion together, just before their professional lives crash catastrophically.
One series that did succeed in making it to a third season before getting the chop was Big Sky, a show following the story of two private detectives and a former police officer who must investigate the kidnapping of two sisters, discovering a much larger conspiracy behind it.
Fortunately, ABC fans will be able to continue enjoying some of their biggest hits like Grey’s Anatomy, The Good Doctor, Station 19, and The Rookie, which have been renewed along with a few others.
