ABC has silenced Speechless, canceling the comedy after three seasons, TVLine has confirmed. The short-lived series followed the everyday exploits of the DiMeo family — most notably J.J., a sharp-witted teenager living with cerebral palsy.
Speechless starred Minnie Driver as high-strung mom Maya, John Ross Bowie as fun-loving dad Jimmy Sr., Mason Cook as middle child Ray, Kyla Kenedy as prank-loving youngest child Dylan and, of course, Micah Fowler as J.J. The cast also included Cedric Yarbrough as J.J.’s “voice,” Kenneth Clements. [UPDATE: Driver reacts to cancellation.]
During its three-season run, Speechless was nominated for a handful of accolades, taking home Television Critics Association Award for Outstanding Achievement in Youth Programming in 2017.
And it’s just the latest series to get the axe from ABC this week, following the cancellations of Splitting Up Together, The Fix, The Kids Are Alright and For the People — all of which you can track via TVLine’s handy renewal scorecard.
Speechless this season averaged just under a 0.5 demo rating and 2.3 million total viewers, plunging 57 and 47 percent with its relocation to Friday nights. Among all ABC’s 12 sitcoms, it placed last in both measures. The show’s season (now series) finale aired on April 12.
Your thoughts on Speechless‘ cancellation? Drop ’em in a comment below.
Too bad. This was such a great show. I have to admit, I don’t know where they were going to go with it next season, what with JJ going off to college by himself.
Maybe it they definitely had a shot at another season then season 3 would have not ended that way. Perhaps they. could make a new show focusing solely on J.J’s transition into college.
This one hurts. I really loved Speechless.
Speechless is the funniest show on tv. It is a classy show (even though it depicts a lower class family). It is the only show that actually made me laugh out loud. I think the move to Friday nights killed the show. This is such a shame. I would give up any other show to keep this one on. We could do without an 11th season of Modern Family as this show has lost it’s laughable moments. Is there any way to save this show??? This would be the one I would stick my neck out to keep.
I suppose it was at a somewhat natural end-point with JJ going to college, but I will truly miss this show. Sad news.
This one hurts. It was such a great show and I enjoyed it tremendously, even though the last season was a bit weaker than the prior two.
I was really hoping we might see ABC expand their comedies on Friday and give this another shot. It did seem to know it might be ending the way it concluded, but there are so few shows like this. It’s a shame when ABC doesn’t stick with a show like this or The Real O’Neals a couple seasons back, but it’s an even bigger shame that gems like these can’t draw bigger ratings. I’ll really miss this one and also The Kids Are Alright.
Wow, a lot of shows getting the ax today! Between Speechless, Splitting Up Together and The Kids Are Alright, ABC has lost three of its sweetest comedies today. Fingers crossed on Fresh Off the Boat, Schooled and Single Parents.
It’s the Friday before the Network Upfronts, when the networks announce their Fall lineups. It’s been this way the past few years.
…past few decades. :-)
FoTB and Schooled I expect back. Single Parents is a toss-up to me yet, we’ll see though.
Makes alot less ABC watching now cancelling these great comedies. Not sure what they were thinking. These shows we nice family shows we all enjoyed.
I expected this but dang it hurts. Really, really enjoyed this show. One of the very few sitcoms I watched. It’s criminal that Minnie Driver never got an Emmy or GG nomination. The entire cast was actually fantastic. I’m honestly going to miss the DiMeo family. Yes Kenneth, that includes you.
Bracing myself for the inevitable tragedy about to fall Fresh Off The Boat.
This means one of the other comedies will be moving to Friday. American Housewives? I hope not unless it can assure it to live for a few more seasons
I probably wouldn’t describe a show that got 3 seasons short-lived. Never even heard of it! It’s amazing how many shows on broadcast networks are total unknowns to me.
Anything beyond four seasons is typically called short-lived because you would need a certain number of episodes to take a show into syndication (i.e. when you see Seinfeld or Two and a Half Men repeats on TV even though they are no longer airing new eps). Things are changing a bit with streaming, but 4-5 seasons depending on episode count is usually what most seek at a minimum for broadcast. Some ratings sites that predict renewals even have a three season rule that gives any shows with three seasons the benefit of the doubt for a renewal, so that the show gets to four (they’re that close, might as well go for the syndication money). But occasionally that’s not enough.
That should say below four seasons, not beyond.
Jeez, it’s a blood bath at ABC today!
This one I’m OK with. The season finale worked well as a series finale.
This is the ONLY show in television history to have featured a non-verbal actor with a disability in the lead role. It was groundbreaking. This cancellation strikes a blow to families with members who have disabilities. It gave hope to so many youth who are STILL told they have no chance at a “normal life.” And it showed that PWD ARE a part of the mainstream. This was not a show about disability, but rather was a show about a family who happened to have a child with a severe disability, and how that impacted their lives. It was funny, well written, and had a fabulous cast. SHAME ON YOU ABC for canceling a show that was so groundbreaking and SO important to so many people. BOO!
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Just when we were feeling represented, ABC has to take THAT away from us too. :(
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Guess it’s back to able-bodied folks portraying folks with disabilities but not quite getting it. Back to Kevin Hales and Bill Fitchners instead of folks who literally have wheeled a mile in those shoes.
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This one hits extremely hard.
Why are you picking on ABC? They are the ones that freakin’ MADE and PICKED the show! It is the fault of all these disabled viewers and their able-bodied allies that CHOSE to NOT watch this show that are to blame.
Hello…do you know how this stuff works??? What an absolutely stupid retort! You are obviously an ableist and prejudiced against PWD, as your ignorant remark CLEARLY shows. Go back to watching football with the other folks who are not intelligent enough to watch scripted shows .
Wow entitled much! Then to attack.someone just because they made a point that you can’t refute. THEN to go on and show your dusdain for able bodied people by attacking people that like football. You are just a nasty person that cried and plays the victim card when you don’t get what you want. Take a walk lady. See what I did there ;)
Another idiotic comment. Does “Why blame ABC because ABC canceled a show” really need refuting? Go back to hiding under your bridge, troll.
Your a nasty little creep. Laurelnev ignore trolls like ths, they are clearly a saaaaaaaad sad little person with no life who gets their kicks from being negative to everyone. I am shocked the Web page monitor allowed it to go up and stay up seeing as its a nasty dig at a person with a disability.
The human race is just not as evolved as it should be by now
<3 <3 Thank you @Purrr
That is nasty and idiotic. If you were disabled how would you feel if someone said that to you? You are a vile person.
They, the first one who mentioned disabled and laurelnev did disrespect all people who watch football for what? to say that she can discriminate herself? My brother has autism and I watch this show faithfully asshole AMERICAN
I’m disabled and I watched every episode since my friend told me about it. Maybe, if ABC did a better job of promoting this instead of “Modern Family”, it would be renewed. Maybe, if they would have moved to Sunday nights, it would have improved. ABC has a history of doing this.
I will miss this show, I really enjoyed it.
However, it was only the character JJ who was unable to speak.
Micah Fowler can talk, and though he mostly uses his wheelchair,
he can stand and walk short distances with a walker.
I think it’s a travesty – to cancel such a great show which had such a positive impact on the general populations acceptance of persons with a disability being no different on the inside is a massive step backwards. Shame on you ABC. This one you should have stuck with for moral reasons, not just cancelling it for something you think would make you more money, SHAME ON YOU ABC.
Just 2 points to make:
A) Micah Fowler is not a non-verbal actor, the character is
And B) it seems your tirade is sorely misdirected. The main – but not only – factor in a shows renewal is the audience figures, and the figures were pretty low. It was (sadly) inevitable that the show was cancelled
Ugh, I was like, “Saying the obvious probably won’t make any difference at this point, just keep reading,” but then we get this.
I’m sorry, but pretty much every single person in this thread is wrong on some level. Being wrong isn’t a crime (which… sadly, is more a commentary on how people behave behind a screen, A), and B) a perception on interaction in social media, but that aside…), it’s just… that outside of being in error, you’re all being incredibly heartless to one another, and with a show like Speechless that’s ALL HEART, I’m failing to see why people are jumping on on another. Allow me to help.
1) ABC could be to blame for the cancellation, but not because it didn’t house and support this show. ABC could simply be blamed for the cancellation because they moved a wildly popular series (both in numbers (feel free to check the viewership for Seasons 1 and 2. They collectively tell the tail) to a wildly unpopular day in ANY network schedule. Friday is known (and has been for decades) as the death day of a series. Even if a network does everything right, even if a SERIES does everything right (which this one did), Friday night is a typical go-out night, so people just aren’t sitting around a television, unfortunately. This was a very strong series (5+ million viewers even in S2), so putting it in the Friday night lineup was a risk, but a calculated one. But you can clearly see, by the numbers, it was clobbered, losing more than HALF of its viewership.
2) Obviously this decline has NOTHING to do with disabled people not supporting the series. Whatever vernacular you use to describe a differently-abled person, they are obviously allowed to have a life outside the house, too, and they numbers support that. =/ It’s sad.. this series had such beauty. It was uniquely humorous, but it was also so loving! I’ve seen it represented in many places by people who ARE handicapped (or capable) and they’ve always seemed to genuinely like it. The reviews have always been incredibly supportive, so… why someone would say otherwise is in error.
3) Likewise, and this isn’t typical of your normal sitcom, this series has been highly supported by able-bodied folks. Metacritic, not always known for its warm fuzzies, and obviously home to both professional and armchair critics, has always thought highly of not just the show, but its cast, its performances, and the content! So, again, to not just offer an opinion, but to attack people for this is… strangely untrue.
4) This _WAS_ a groundbreaking series. And it’ll pave the road for future shows with similar content! For that I think we can sincerely thank the creator of the series, the writers, and the really great acting from EVERYONE! It was a touching effort, and I think that’s to blame for a lot of the vehemence we’re seeing in this thread (also sad to me). It seems Laurel was happy, for once, to have some representation on television, which, I think we all get. And I think having the series yanked (again, for none of the reasons she stated so… um… angrily?), was upsetting to her. But lashing out at folks who are patently not responsible upset others. These aren’t trolls flaming her, they’re people who don’t understand the misplaced contempt. And, I think we can all get that, too. But, again, for a show that really hammered home the idea of _listening_ to one another, and trying to _understand_ … people really missed the mark on this one. =/
5) It’s pretty clear by how the series ended, that the writing was on the wall early on in the season. The ending they gave here was well-rounded, it was thoughtful, and it was hopeful. There are just a metric crapton of series that don’t even get the respect of a network, either leaving it on a cliffhanger, or rushing an ending that basically pounds a square peg into a round hole, right? I mean… we all go, “Firefly” and everyone just nods in understanding. =P So… while this one hurt me, too, there are a lot worse things when it comes to network television.
6) Be nice to one another. Please. Try to understand one another. And if you’re not sure you fully comprehend a situation (like why a great series like this was axed), do the research. A really simple Google search will almost ALWAYS help you out. =) And don’t just take someone’s for things, either. Do your own legwork. I promise you, it’ll make you a better person! Knowledge is really the ultimate power. Even silly knowledge, like what’ll effectively end a series. But the bigger message is just to be kind when you can. This world is hard enough without people hurting each other. Intentionally or not.
Be well.
Sorry, ^don’t just always take someone’s _word_ for things… (darn typos ;D).
They better not cancel Fresh Off the Boat!
I am sad it’s cancelled but in a way I’m okay with it. The final season episode was great and it felt like it could be a series finale. JJ going off to college and everyone starting a new chapter
I liked this show but have to admit that the finale this season felt like a series finale so I’m not too crushed. It had a nice ending. That being said, I realized while reading this that JJ stands for James Jr so that shows how well I pay attention.
Oh man! I loved this show!! Im a mom of a teen w/special needs (ASD) and I really related! Plus love Minnie Driver!
ABC killed it by putting it on Friday nights. It’s a show that really showed what dealing with a disability was like.
Heartbroken. :'( Not only for myself as a fan, but over the past three seasons I’ve read a lot of touching comments in the show’s and cast members’ social-media accounts from individuals and families in the disability / special-needs community who appreciated seeing their lives reflected in funny, heartwarming and honest (but all-too-rare) ways — this news will be devastating to them.
I really hated this show is being brought too an end. The show was groundbreaking and gave positive insight to an individual who had Cerebral Palsy. I do not understand which direction ABC wants to go. The network in the past was the leader of some great shows and now there is barely a reason to watch the network.
Such a great show. Sad.
It’s relatively rare that a show in its third season isn’t renewed because 4 seasons is that magic number for lucrative syndication deals. Especially when the network owns the show. I wonder what happened. Were its ratings THAT bad?
I love this show!! I can honestly say I’m Speechless!! It was fun and wholesome. I’m hoping enough people say something and theypassword bring it back
First The Kids are Alright, now this, these shows were so good, but atleast this one’s ending gave some closure, still could’ve gone on though.
Brilliant show! We were blessed. I hope they change their minds.