Disappointing news out of CBS today, as the network announced that it’s canceling both its legal drama All Rise, and the increasingly satisfying second-season comedy The Unicorn. Reported by Variety, the cancellations were handed down, like ABC’s were yesterday, as the network is gearing up to finalize its schedule before this month’s upfronts presentations, where it’ll have to show off its future slate of shows to potential advertisers.
As far as All Rise is concerned, it’s not completely shocking to see it get the axe, despite putting up mild-but-not-horror-show-low ratings numbers on Monday nights. The series has been the subject of quite a bit of controversy over the last year, after the behavior of now-fired showrunner Greg Spottiswood led large swathes of its writing staff to depart in its first season, and writer Dee Harris-Lawrence to be installed as a new co-showrunner. After Spottiswood was fired earlier this year, and Harris-Lawrence installed as full showrunner, there was some hope that the legal series—which saw Simone Missick playing a rookie judge navigating court cases that touched on everything from ICE to Black Lives Matter—might be able to get back on track. But, nope: The show will run its final episode later this month.
As for The Unicorn, the cancellation news is just kind of a bummer, as the comedy—which starred Walton Goggins as a widower dipping his toe back into the dating scene—really managed to come into its own in its second year on the air. Created by Bill Martin, Mike Schiff, and Grady Cooper, and co-starring Rob Cordry, Omar Miller, Maya Lynne Robinson, and Michaela Watkins, the series was funny, thoughtful, and sweet. And now, it’s dead.
Meanwhile, it continues to never pay to bet against Chuck Lorre; the mega-producer pulled down two more renewal notices, for B Positive and United States Of Al, at the same time that the kill orders for All Rise and The Unicorn were being handed down.