American Housewife canceled; season 6 not happening at ABC

Consider this to be one of the bigger cancellation surprises of the season: American Housewife season 6 is not happening.

Today, ABC made the rather-shocking move to end the family comedy, one we felt was a fairly safe bet to come back for another season. So with that in mind, why do this? Why anger a number of fans? It’s hard to figure out the sole reason, especially when you consider that the ratings were mostly steady compared with the year before, especially in comparison to how many huge declines there were for other shows across the board.

Another surprise with the cancellation here is that American Housewife had a number of studio ties within ABC — therefore, it had a chance to profit significantly from the show in a way that they don’t from programs from outside studios.

If there is one reason why this decision was made, it may have ultimately been “lack of upside.” The ratings may have been steady, but they still weren’t fantastic. Meanwhile, American Housewife is one of those shows that doesn’t generate a lot of press for itself. ABC may not have seen many opportunities for growth here, or they may be deciding to cut down on the number of comedy hours that they have in general. The only other possibility here is that the show wasn’t performing in DVR/streaming as well as they would have like, which means that it didn’t have some of the same revenue opportunities that some programs did elsewhere.

In the end, we’ll have to wait and see if another network or outlet chooses to jump on board American Housewife. For now, it feels wrong to suggest that anything is guaranteed or even close to it.

What do you think about American Housewife being canceled at ABC?

Are you sad that a season 6 is not going to happen? Be sure to share your thoughts in the comments! After you do that, come back around for some other updates.