"A League of Their Own Co-Creator Offers Hope for Show’s Rescue: ‘If We Have an Avenue to Do It Well, We Will Continue’"/ "‘Bumper in Berlin’ Canceled: Peacock Not Proceeding With Previously Ordered Season 2 Amid Strikes"

Aug. 23, 2023 "A League of Their Own Co-Creator Offers Hope for Show’s Rescue: ‘If We Have an Avenue to Do It Well, We Will Continue’": Today I found this article by Rebecca Iannucci on TV Line: 

A League of Their Own is down, but perhaps not entirely out just yet.

In a lengthy social media post on Wednesday, Will Graham — who co-created the series adaptation with Broad City‘s Abbi Jacobson — offered a glimmer of hope that the show could find a new home after its Season 2 renewal was reversed by Prime Video earlier this month.

“Making this show is so hard and so great,” Graham posted to X (fka Twitter). “There’s quite a bit to say about what’s been hard, but at this point that’s in the past. Of course, if we have an avenue to do it well, we will continue the show, and I love seeing the noise you’re making in support of that. The noise matters!

“And it’s hard for me to imagine that there wouldn’t be a home for a show that thanks to you was in the Nielsen Top 10 for three weeks, was the top show on Amazon for a month and in the top five for six, that was recognized by critics as something special, that’s been recognized with awards from GLAAD, [Human Rights Campaign] and a million other organizations, that was on a million year-end top 10 lists, and that has a built-in and deeply passionate audience,” he continued. 

“Amazon is pursuing different kinds of programming, but to the rest of the world this show is a hit and has huge value and even greater potential. But first things first, we have to win this strike and get a fair deal before we can explore what comes next.”

When A League of Their Own‘s previously ordered second (and final) season was officially scrapped on Aug. 18, an Amazon insider told TVLine that production delays caused by the concurrent WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes were to blame for the show’s reversed renewal. (Prime Video’s sci-fi drama The Peripheral also had its Season 2 renewal walked back that day, with the dual strikes similarly cited.

Jacobson, however, pushed back against that reasoning, writing in an Instagram post that “[t]o blame this cancellation on the strike is bulls—t and cowardly.” Like Graham, she also made allusions to “all the ways this show has been put through the [wringer]” during its lifespan at Amazon.

But Graham also wrote at length about the impact he saw A League of Their Own have on the LGBTQIA+ community, regardless of its potential return for Season 2.

“If we don’t find a good path forward, I will still know that League did what it came here to do and, in its own small way, changed the world,” he said. 

“And that’s because of all of you, and the light you continue to shine on the show — how you let it matter to you, how you let it become a mirror, how you let it change you. I’ve never experienced a response to a television show that’s as deep, personal, creative and meaningful as what the fans have done with League.

“But, in a time when all queer people are personally and politically under attack across the country and HRC has declared a ‘state of emergency,’ my biggest fear is that the many queer fans of League will take this reversal as one more invalidation, one more blow, one more effect of the general politicization of our identities,” Graham went on. “In case anyone needs to hear it: 

You are not small, niche, modest, off-putting or marginal, and neither are your stories… We are still fighting for League. But whether we win or lose this one, I’m so proud.”

https://tvline.com/news/a-league-of-their-own-cancelled-amazon-saved-season-2-1235032585/

Sept. 21, 2023 "‘Bumper in Berlin’ Canceled: Peacock Not Proceeding With Previously Ordered Season 2 Amid Strikes": Today I found this article by Nellie Andreeva on Deadline:

Like was the case of two Prime Video series whose Season 2 renewals were rescinded last month — The Peripheral and A League of Their Own — the cancellation of Bumper In Berlin stems from the length of the work stoppage due to the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, which have delayed production, creating large gaps between seasons and making shows miss their target release dates.

As Deadline reported last month, there was a real possibility that a number of series’ renewals could be rescinded if the work stoppage stretched past Labor Day, with freshman series going into Season 2 the most vulnerable. First-year shows have a harder time retaining viewers if they have to wait a long time for new episodes.

There was a similar string of un-renewals during the pandemic, with the majority of series with rescinded renewals during Covid headed to Season 2 including Netflix’s The Society and I’m Not OK With This as well as Showtime’s On Becoming a God in Central Florida and ABC’s Stumptown.

https://deadline.com/2023/09/pitch-perfect-bumper-in-berlin-canceled-peacock-no-season-2-strikes-1235553445/#comments