‘Pretty Little Liars’ spin-off ‘Ravenswood’ canceled after one season

Here is some big news that is sure to surprise at least a few “Pretty Little Liars” fans: The “Ravenswood” experiment is already over. After attempting to launch a supernatural-themed spin-off of the ABC Family titan last fall, the network announced late Friday that it has been canceled after only ten episodes.

What’s the reason for the cancellation? Think along the lines of the same reason that almost any show is canceled these days: Low ratings. The expectation was that “Ravenswood” was going to be able to deliver some sort of at similar ratings to some of the other series on the network, even if it didn’t match “Pretty Little Liars”; however, it just couldn’t find an audience. Even trying to pair it with the show really did not help all that much.

In case you are wondering what is with the timing of the cancellation, think of it this way: In making the news official late Friday night, ABC Family avoids a ton of news coverage on the story, and in turn backlash from the fans. Not only that, but with it being Valentine’s Day, they assume that many people are out doing other things. (For those sitting at home who love the show, this is probably just making their day even worse.)

As for whether or not the network should regret giving this show a shot, we really don’t feel like they should. This was a risk worth taking, given that you had something that clearly was working for you, and there was even a star in Tyler Blackburn who came over from the flagship series. The only misstep that we can really cling onto was that “Pretty Little Liars” is at least rooted in a certain amount of realism, and in doing something more in this town, you were almost stretching the imagination too far. Not only was this a problem, but it was just asking the fanbase to do too much to watch two hours of a show a week this spring, and constant episodes of one of the two shows in the summer / fall.

Surprised or bummed by the cancellation? Share below.