The adult animated comedy Bless the Harts has been denied renewal order for season three by Fox, Variety reports. The series is currently in the midst of airing its second season, and will reportedly finish its network run in May, according to Deadline. Ultimately, below-average viewership figures have been suggested as the culprit behind the show’s cancellation: “It never gained traction in the ratings… with 1.4 million total viewers and 2 million multi-platform viewers,” via Deadline.
Bless the Harts is a family sitcom set in the fictional town of Greenpoint, North Carolina. The series’ main character is a put-upon single mother: “Jenny Hart (Kristen Wiig, Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar) attempts to raise an artistically minded daughter (Jillian Bell, Workaholics)… while dealing with boyfriend Wayne (Ike Barinholtz, The Mindy Project) and mom Betty (Maya Rudolph, Big Mouth). Also, sometimes she talks to Jesus (Kumail Nanjiani, The Lovebirds),” via The A.V. Club. The program is created by Emily Spivey (Up All Night, Saturday Night Live).
Prior to authoring Bless the Harts, Spivey worked as writer on the Texas-set family sad-com King of the Hill, which is reportedly when she first thought about telling a story set in her home state of North Carolina in a similar way to how creator Mike Judge (Silicon Valley, Office Space) expressed his vision of his own Southern upbringing with King of the Hill. “My favorite things to write are Southern stories and… Judge gets to write abut his hometown. So in my mind, I was always like, ‘That is the dream,'” Spivey explained, via Hollywood Life. It was not until she connected with writer-producer duo Phil Lord and Chris Miller (The Lego Movie, Clone High) while writing on The Last Man on Earth that she had the opportunity to develop Bless the Harts. “We were wanting [sic] to pitch show together and then I said, ‘Hey, what about a King of the Hill but set in North Carolina?'” Spivey recalled in her Hollywood Life interview.
Although Bless the Harts is exiting the Fox Sunday night Animation Domination programming lineup in May, the network has confirmed that season two of the Amy Poehler (Wine Country, Moxie) vehicle Duncanville will premiere on May 23 and new series Housebroken will debut on May 31, according to Variety. The current spring 2021 Animation Domination schedule features Fox’s flagship trio of family-themed comedies — The Simpsons, Family Guy and Bob’s Burgers — as well as new addition The Great North from Bob’s Burgers scriptwriters Wendy and Lizzie Molyneux (Deadpool 3).
In the meantime, Bless the Harts‘s final batch of episodes promises more of the show’s trademark humor and humanity, per statements made by writer Andy Bobrow (Community, Brooklyn Nine-Nine) on his Twitter. “Easter’s 11,” an all-new episode wherein the family attempts to pull off a heist at a local megachurch, airs on Fox on Sunday, April 4 at 7:30 P.M. EST.