Carol’s Second Act Cancelled at CBS
Carol’s Second Act has flatlined: CBS has cancelled the Patricia Heaton-led medical comedy after one season, TVLine has learned.
Carol’s Second Act was one of four series axed by CBS on Wednesday. The network also did away with Pauley Perrette’s Broke, Matt LeBlanc’s Man With a Plan and Edie Falco’s Tommy, all of which join God Friended Me on the cancellation heap.
Through its 18-episode freshman rotation, Carol’s Second Act averaged a 0.63 demo rating and 5 million total viewers (in Live+Same Day numbers), down 25 and 17 percent from what CBS’ Murphy Brown revival did in the time slot the season prior. Among the eight sitcoms CBS has aired this season, it ranks a distant last in both measures.
In the show, Heaton played Carol Kenney, a former schoolteacher who pursues her dream of becoming a doctor. The Season 1 finale, which aired in March, introduced five-time Emmy winner Kelsey Grammer in a potentially recurring role as Richard Kenney, Carol’s ex-husband, who was hired as the hospital’s new chief of staff. (TVLine readers gave the series premiere an average grade of “C,” while the finale — and Season 1 overall — earned an average grade of “B+.”)[pmc_inline_gallery]
Rounding out the cast were Ito Aghayere (Instinct) as Dr. Maya Jacobs, Jean-Luc Bilodeau (Baby Daddy) as Daniel, Sabrina Jalees (Baroness Von Sketch Show) as Lexie, Lucas Neff (Raising Hope) as Caleb, Cedric Yarbrough (Speechless) as Nurse Dennis, Ashley Tisdale (High School Musical) as Jenny and Kyle MacLachlan (Twin Peaks) as Dr. Stephen Frost.
Word of cancellation comes on the heels of CBS announcing a mass renewal of 18 shows: 48 Hours, 60 Minutes, All Rise, Blue Bloods, Bob Hearts Abishola, Bull, FBI, FBI: Most Wanted, MacGyver, Magnum P.I., NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles, NCIS: New Orleans, The Neighborhood, SEAL Team, S.W.A.T., Undercover Boss and The Unicorn. That lucky bunch join the previously announced renewals of The Amazing Race, Evil, Mom, Survivor and Young Sheldon.
TVLine’s Broadcast Renewal Scorecard has been updated to reflect Carol’s Second Act‘s demise. Will you miss it?
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Bummed, I enjoyed it
Yeah I can’t believe Bob ❤️ Abishola made it and this one didn’t
Don’t worry – it will follow next year. It only survived because it had slight better ratings
Clearly you’ve not watched BHA… there’s no comparison between the two. BHA is effortlessly funny, has a lot of heart and has great characters. Carol’s SA on the other hand would have been a better show without PH. Her character was just ott annoying.
I hope there are more episodes and fewer repeats of BHA next season. It’s a charmer!
Very well said! I agree totally.
They both were horribly from the beginning. Nothing was funny about them. I watch the whole season with my mother.
We both were hoping they got better, but they flatlined the first episode and they just got worse.
Terrible story lines. Patricia Heaton, I think is gifted, but they set her up to fail.
I love Patricia as an actress in Raymond and the Middle. Patricia had wonderful people who really could act in both shows which made a huge difference. Now Carol’s Second Act was horrible. Horrible casting and did not like Patricia’s part. I’ll be waiting for her to get a new show with a way better supporting cast.
Show was good better than garbage show broke. Thursday night TV use to be a night to look forward to. Dump Tommy and bring back Carols 2nd Act. Guess I’ll start to watch Netflix.
i agree
yes, I was wondering the same thing. This was such a fun how.
I also enjoyed it, but this was an expensive cast, meaning the production costs were very high. Heaton and Kyle M. alone would have been very expensive, (relatively) big name stars. The two younger male leads, and Tisdale, are successful enough that they were more expensive than unknown actors. Ditto Yarborough, who is very highly sought after for supporting roles (he could basically work uninterrupted year round doing supporting roles, be it one off, longer arcs, or recurring on TV, with a ton of movie work thrown in). So, this was expensive to make. It was built to be an out of the box hit, ideally to replace Mom in 2 years. But it never really took off.
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Further, some non-ratings things hurt. One was the allegations of misconduct behind the scenes. Google it. Nothing too horrendous, but it was kind of a headache, and one that no one really cares to deal with from a show that isn’t a monster hit.
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Finally, there is Covid-19. I don’t think we will be seeing any comedies set in hospitals for the better part of the 20s. Individual eps of a comedy that take place in a hospital, sure. Dramas set in hospitals, fine. But comedies? I don’t think there is much appetite for that going forward, given the current situation. Had this been a big hit, sure. But it wasn’t a big hit, it was expensive, and there were just too many negatives.
Patricia Heaton’s big mouth condemning Democrats didn’t help either.
This cracked me up. As many celebrities that bash republicans…too funny.
Actually, I loved that part as it was generally the TRUTH!
Don’t worry about a jack everyone in Hollywood slams Republicans and continues to work unfettered so Patricia will get another roll soon soon
I don’t know – the best “dramedy” ever was MASH and it had 11 very successful seasons while the Vietnam War was going on.
So true
Awww
Sad, but not surprised. I really did like this show. The cast was great.
NO!!! I liked this series and its cast. :(
Me toooooo
Shame but not surprising – luckily the finale was decent enough.
I don’t understand how this show stayed on past the second episode – it was SO BAD.
Agreed !! Patricia Heaton deserves better
I agree, she was just plain bad. Patricia Heaton is better than that character was. Bad writing.
Yes, bad writing, but bad directing, too. Heaton over-acted hugely, and I’d like to believe it wasn’t her choice.
I agree, this show is pretty bad. I’m a Patricia Heaton fan but this show is pretty bad. I watched the trailer and I said, “this show will not last.”
I won’t miss Carol’s Second Coming. It never managed to move or engage me. I much prefer The Neighborhood, Bob “hearts” Abishola and Yuong Sheldon. What will really bum me out is if CBS doesn’t renew Tommy.
The prior article confirmed they axed Tommy. Sorry
I totally agree, & Tommy was cut. I think there are just too many ‘cop’ type shows on right now. Saturation.
So sad to hear of ANOTHER SHOW I liked- it was a really cute show! It has to be all about money, because there’s not much other sense that they wouldn’t give it a chance!
Awww, that’s 2 in a row canceled for Lucas Neff (CSA and American Princess, before that, which I really liked). Hope Lucas gets something good – he’s much better than CSA allowed him to be, IMHO.
I feel the same way about Cedric Yarbrough. Speechless was fantastic, but cancelled last season. I’m sure he’ll move on to something great, but I’m sure this is disappointing.
Not surprising. It was awful. Patricia Heaton deserved better.
I am surprised Unicorn was renewed. It and Tommy would actually work better for CBS AllAccess than CBS linear. They could be edgier on a streaming platform.
You and I are probably the only two people who don’t like Unicorn.
CBS will regret this. Patricia is one of the nicest people to work with. they WILL regret this eventually
Lots of nice people lose their jobs because the business isn’t making money. And two female writers quit the show in November after accusing her husband of sexual harassment. She’s a huge Rush Limbaugh fan and anti-choice. Not a lot of work for her in Hollywood.
I officially rescind my support for Heaton. This is why I don’t want to know anything about my favorite actors’ personal lives.
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She’s now dead to me.
Tim Allen is a huge Republican Trump supporter who has his views written into his character on Last Man Standing. That hasn’t hurt his career too much. I wouldn’t use personal beliefs as an excuse for a show doing poorly.
Good!
So bummed about this! I loved this show!!!
Carol’s second was funny until her husband showed up. I wanted to see how new doctors helped each other. Nurse Dennis was great. He had a great sense of timing.
I would like to see Man with a Plan full season. The adults are all funny!!
Her husband didn’t show up until the last episode and for only 5 minutes at the end
That sucks. This was a fun show, great cast. Really enjoyed watching every episode every week.
I LOVED IT TILL Kelsey Grammer then it was no longer Carol it was HIM!
Kelsey was on for maybe 5 minutes
I really liked this show I’m sad about this news
I’m so bummed. I really loved that show. It was actually funny!
It was silly but comradely and fun. I actually sat through The Unicorn after Young Sheldon (my favorite current comedy) waiting for Carol and her colleagues to make their plays (I did the dishes during Mom).
Once Carol was taken down it greatly simplified my Thursday nights: Young Sheldon it is!
Watched the first few episodes but gave up. Aside from Patrica’s character, none of the characters were likeable. And her getting the short end of the stick at the start of episodes got old fast.
Too bad, it had some potential. I thought it was a great vehicle for Patricia Heaton and Cedric Yarbrough, and while they did need to work on developing th supporting cast, they still made me laugh I never missed an episode.
Watched one episode because a favorite comedian was doing a guest spot. It was awful! We didn’t even finish
I said it before and I’ll say it again: Patricia Heaton is free again, time for The Middle reboot!! ABC has a gaping hole in the scedule from Modern Family. The actors are all available, the writers said they had years worth of stories. The ratings were still good (way better than most current ABC “comedies” Get.It.Done. :P
I’m with you! Would love to see a reboot of The Middle. There’s been enough time since the finale- the fans are ready!
I agree!!!! A THE MIDDLE REBOOT would be AWESOME!!!!
PLEASE BRING IT BACK,!!!!!
BTW….there are alot of us out here..the pro-life….Rush Limbaugh fans…that really want America to be free of more socialism as long as possible!!
So while you are bashing PH and dissing her views on Dems… just remember that there are millions of us out here …millions ….
Just sayin’
My husband and I think shows like Big Bang, Goldbergs and The Middle, ETC should do more taping while the actors are still young. This way it would be easier to watch when the characters are still the right age. Goldbergs is a good show but the kids look like full grown adults now. Makes the shows hard to watch. Just saying.
I am sad to hnear carols second act has been canceled. I really enjoyed this show and i thought it was done very well.
İ was watching for Jean-Luc Bilodeau and Asley Tisdale and i enjoyed watch them as a couple. I’m bummed.
I kept watching this show because I’m a fan of some of the actors, but it was poorly written imo. I wanted it to be better than it was, and it just never got there. I’m not surprised they canceled it.
Really I read that this show was renewed, Kyle MacLachlan was great doing a comedy series, plus the cast was OK. I guess it was poor writing