‘Mistresses’ canceled by ABC; season 5 hopes dead

While this is hardly surprising news, we’re certainly shocked that it came about so soon: There will be no more “Mistresses” on ABC.

Tonight, the network decided officially to cancel the soapy drama series, which at one point was a noted guilty pleasure of ours on the site. There are a number of reasons why this happened, but the biggest reason simply seems to be the low ratings, which declined substantially this year even with a good timeslot after “The Bachelorette” and then “Bachelor in Paradise.” Shows still need live viewership to survive, and this one wasn’t getting that.

Another big issue the series may have faced here was simply a creative one, being that season 4 was a harsh detour away from what made the show at one point such a little gem: The fun. There weren’t really many actual mistresses, and so many stories become melodramatic and lost that sort of fun, breezy feel. This culminated in a controversial season (and now series) finale that killed off the character of Karen Kim, or at least the version we came to know.

As for whether or not we foresee a new home turning up for the show somewhere else, at the moment we’re rather doubtful given the fact that the ratings were so low and the fan reaction to the finale so harsh. The best thing that we can hope for right now is that the cast and writers do land some other projects soon where they can show off their talent. We never root for a show to be over, but this one felt like it was a sitting duck since the season ended.