Nellie Andreeva at Deadline.com is reporting that sophomore drama Fairly Legal has been canceled by USA and will not return for a third season.
Here's what our very own Robert Seidman had to say about Fairly Legal's chances back in June:
I won’t be very surprised if it gets canceled, but I’d probably be slightly more surprised by cancellation than renewal. It hasn’t been in USA’s DNA to cancel shows without giving fans time to grieve, so based on past history I’d lean towards guessing USA will announce a third and final season, perhaps with fewer episodes.
Damn! I love that show!
I had a feeling it was going to be cancelled.
My Personal Take: “Made in Jersey” copied “Fairly Legal”!
Well this is good news. This show along with Necessary Roughness and Common Law were the 3 worst shows from USA in recent memory.
I expect Necessary Roughness to be cancelled after its winter run as well. Unless it has a miraculous jump in ratings which is very unlikely to happen
I like these USA decisions lately.
Tomorrow USA announcement the final season of Burn Notice!
I’m not sure why, but since Common Law was canned I’m glad this one was too…
‘Meanwhile, I hear USA is finalizing a deal for a 13-episode seventh-season pickup of veteran Burn Notice.’
http://www.deadline.com/2012/11/fairly-legal-cancelled-usa-network-burn-notice-pickup-near/
I enjoyed season 1, but at the start of season 2, they blew up Kate’s boat, and brought in the Ben Grogan character. Couldn’t stand that character for a second, and stopped watching almost immediately. I’d be happy to see Sarah Shahi in a different role.
@John A:
“bad righting”
Ah, the irony!
Thank goodness. Put it out of its misery before the second season sucks even harder than the first.
I meant before the third is worse than the second. Pardon my mistake.
I thought in the first season that it had some promise, but the ratings just weren’t happening, and most episodes just didn’t click. The cast chemistry was there, and I hoped they’d improve in the second season.
In the second season, obviously spooked by the ratings, they threw the baby out with the bathwater–it stopped being a show about a mediator, and became a show about a law firm. They minimized appealing characters like Leo, introduced loudmouth jerk Ben as the love interest, and basically abandoned everything that made the show a little different. Total fail, and the ratings went even lower.
Of course it’s canceled. Wish they’d canceled it after the first season. That would have been a much better ending. Best possible ending, of course, would be Kate standing over Ben’s dead body with a gun in her hand.
They can’t just make boring shows and guarantee a hit. USA possibly getting complacent after dominating cable drama.
RIP Fairly Dull.
Told my wife about Fairly Legal’s demise and her reaction –
Ah ha! Not surprised! Actually, that it lasted more than the first season was a total surprise for me. Just poor writing. The only character that I really enjoyed was the black assistant…good actor, and the character was “real.” The other actors suffered from poor scripts and their acting was junior high school play quality.
Oh, bring back LUCK! Now those were characters you could sink your teeth into!
Luck was certainly far better than Fairly Legal, but of course Fairly Legal wasn’t running out-of-shape thoroughbreds to death. And both shows were flops. Anyway, how does USA canceling a show make HBO bring back a show?
USA has been dumb about development the last two years, but they’re being smart about getting rid of the dead wood. You can’t make shows that work if you don’t cancel the shows that don’t first.
I do not like show being cancelled, the lead character was the most annoying person from day one. I am surprised it lasted this long.
I was a big fan of Life and was looking forward to seeing Sarah Shahi again, but I could never get past a few episodes of Fairly Legal. Same with Necessary Roughness. I did watch Common Law, but it was very flawed.
I thought the second season was better. Sure the new character was annoying, but no more than the others. It helped that this season had a real sub plot (two actually.) But it was never worth more than “filler” TV for when nothing else was on or recorded.
This was posted on Sarah Shahi Facebook page.
Sarah Shahi
Thanks for all the well wishes!! I’ve been working on something else for quite some time now and it’s coming together soon. Don’t worry… I’ll be back.. In something even juicer;). Love u guys
I hope it works out for her. Honestly, she was the main reason I watched, but they ruined her character completely in S2, and let Ben overshadow her, and then they made her fall for him, when they had zero chemistry.
There were some nice moments in the first season, and it was a neat idea, but they lost confidence in what they had to work with.
I see the same thing happening now on Royal Pains, which was a big hit for USA, but is now increasingly an embarrassment.