NBC has canceled its second-year comedy American Auto.
The series, set at a struggling car company, wrapped its second season in April. It was the last scripted show on NBC’s 2022-23 schedule still in limbo; American Auto’s cancellation follows those of Young Rock and Grand Crew a week ago.
NBC has also opted not to go ahead with its lone remaining comedy pilot, Non-Evil Twin, from Amber Ruffin (who also stars) and former Black-ish showrunner Kenny Smith.
Created by Justin Spitzer (Superstore), American Auto follows a group of executives at an automaker who are trying to re-establish the company’s identity in a changing marketplace. Ana Gasteyer, Harriet Dyer, Jon Barinholtz, Humphrey Ker, Michael B. Washington, Tye White and X Mayo star.
The series averaged 2.32 million viewers and a 0.35 rating among adults 18-49 over seven days of viewing (not including streaming) in 2022-23. Those figures were down 15 percent and 30 percent from its first season.
NBC will stay in business with Spitzer next season: The network has given a series order to St. Denis Medical, a mockumentary set in a struggling hospital. Spitzer and Eric Ledgin, who worked together on Superstore and American Auto, co-created the show, which stars Wendi McLendon-Covey, David Alan Grier, Allison Tolman, Josh Lawson, Mekki Leeper and Kahyun Kim.
St. Denis Medical will join returnees Night Court and Lopez vs. Lopez and new comedy Extended Family, starring Jon Cryer, on NBC’s slate for 2023-24. Night Court stayed in production after wrapping its season earlier this year, and Extended Family filmed its season off-cycle, so both will have original episodes in the fall regardless of the state of labor actions by industry unions.
As for Non-Evil Twin, it was set to star Ruffin as a woman forced to step into her twin sister’s role as head of a Fortune 500 company, despite knowing nothing about business or her sibling’s management style. Ruffin and Smith wrote the pilot and executive produced with Ruffin’s fellow Late Night With Seth Meyers writer Jenny Hagel.
The network still has two drama pilots under consideration — medical drama Wolf, starring Zachary Quinto, and a murder mystery (formerly titled Murder by the Book) led by Good Girls and Parks and Recreation alum Retta.
Deadline first reported the news.
Source: Hollywood
