Fox seems to have struck out when it came to comedies this TV season.
According to TV Guide, Fox has officially canceled The Grinder, starring Rob Lowe, and Grandfathered, starring John Stamos. The cancellations of both Grandfathered and The Grinder are in addition to Fox’s cancellations of its other freshmen comedy series, Seth MacFarlane’s Bordertown and Cooper Barrett’s Guide to Surviving Life.
Neither The Grinder nor Grandfathered were doing well in the ratings. As Variety reports, Grandfathered and The Grinder‘s finales were both watched by 1.6 million people with a .6/2 in the 18-49 demographic. Before the announcement of these cancellations, there was speculation that Fox would only cancel one of them. Each show had its advantages. Grandfathered was a slightly higher rated show, but The Grinder had better reviews and was solely the property of Fox rather than a co-production like with Grandfathered.
From what Deadline reports, it seems like it was a tough decision for Fox to cancel both shows. The studio went over the ratings performance of each of the two shows, and heard the producers from each series pitch their ideas for season 2. This all led to some hope that Grandfathered would possibly be given a second chance, with murmurings going around about making changes to the show.
In response to the cancellation of their series Grandfathered, the stars of the show have made a few statements on twitter. According to ET Online, star of the series John Stamos instagrammed a picture of himself at Disneyland with the caption, “Hey John Stamos! Fox just cancelled your television show, what are you going to do next…?”. Stamos then took to twitter to say, “Proud of Grandfathered. A show that makes you feel good and brings the entire family together. The kind of TV I love and will continue to create”. Stamos also used the platform to take a shot at the network, tweeting, “And now, let us take a moment of silence for Network Television.”
Stamos was joined in leaving farewell remarks to fans by series co-stars Josh Peck and Paget Brewster. Peck tweeted out, “Thank you for watching and supporting Grandfathered. I’m sorry it’s over, but I feel lucky to have been a part of it!”, and Brewster tweeted, “Makes me sad too. Thanks for the support everybody. I’m gonna get stinko and sear some scallops. I’m still a citizen of #BachelorNation!”
In response to the cancellation of his show, The Grinder, Rob Lowe tweeted out a picture of the cast and crew along with his thanks saying, “Thanks to the best cast and crew I could’ve hoped for. #TheGrinder will live on…”
The Grinder, starring Rob Lowe, Fred Savage and Mary Elizabeth Ellis, focused on former big-shot, TV actor Dean Sanderson (Lowe) as he comes back to his small hometown of Boise, Idaho to try and run his family’s law firm after having played one on TV for years.
Grandfathered, starring John Stamos, Paget Brewster and Josh Peck, centered on bachelor Jimmy Martino (Stamos) learning to accept the fact that he is now a grandfather when his son (Peck) shows up out of the blue with a daughter.