‘Masters of Sex’ canceled at Showtime; no season 5 for Lizzy Caplan – Michael Sheen series

Consider this to be the biggest surprise that we’ve seen so far today: Showtime officially decided that the doctor will no longer be in when it comes to “Masters of Sex.”

According to a new report coming in via Deadline, the network officially decided against renewing the series, starring Michael Sheen and Lizzy Captain as Bill Masters and Virginia Johnson, for a fifth season. It’s a little bit of a surprise given that most premium cable series do tend to get a full run on their original network (with some exceptions), and we never received any inclination that season 4 was going to be the last.

Still, there were perhaps some signs that the series could be going in this direction given that the ratings for season 4 were far from stellar, and the story ended with Bill and Virginia finally getting married. While it was far from the end of their respective journeys in life, it may have felt like a fitting enough end for this series to ride off into the metaphorical sunset on.

We’re going to go in-depth fairly soon on if there is a potential home for the series elsewhere, but it’s going to be an uphill battle given the ratings. The biggest problem for the show is probably just that the third season was extremely polarizing, and it failed to get much awards consideration following that. The first season was considered more of a commercial darling, but in the time that passed since the producers have dealt with a wide array of challenges, whether it be adapting the source material to dealing with real-life pressure from people associated with the key players in real life.

For now, what’s your reaction to the end of “Masters of Sex”? Be sure to share in the comments below.