The Purge, Treadstone canceled at USA; no season 3, season 2

USA Network is clearly going to be changing course when it comes to their programming over the next couple of years. After all, they’ve chosen to do away with even more of their scripted programming.

Today, Deadline first confirmed that both The Purge and Treadstone have each been canceled, meaning that you’re not going to have a chance to see either one of these shows moving forward. It’s possible in theory that they could come back elsewhere … but we don’t want to guarantee anything at the moment.

So why get rid of both of these shows, to go along with other recently-canceled series like Dare Me and then Pearson last year? A lot of it seems to have to do with the network starting to shift some of its programming strategy. Remember when this was very much the era of “Characters Welcome”? This used to be one of the most dominant homes for scripted content out there, but it’s no longer the case anymore. With competition like Netflix and other streaming shows out there, it’s harder for cable networks to generate the live viewership necessary to keep series on the air in the long-term. This remains a big problem with some of these shows, as they need to come up with some sort of viable plan to reach out to viewers sho wouldn’t see the shows otherwise.

In the end, we think a lot of this just comes down to cost. It is far from cheap to put a lot of scripted shows on the air, especially ones with large casts or various special effects. Unscripted fare, meanwhile, is so much easier to execute and often generates similar viewership. We’re not saying that USA is abandoning scripted content at all (they do still have some shows), but they certainly are weaning themselves off of carrying the huge scripted roster they used to.

What do you think about The Purge and Treadstone being canceled at USA?

Be sure to share right now in the comments! Meanwhile, be sure to stick around in the event you want some other news when it comes to the series. (Photo: USA.)