‘A.P. Bio’ Star Paula Pell Rips NBC Over Cancellation

A.P. Bio star Paula Pell joined the chorus of fans blasting NBC for cancelling the school-set sitcom starring Glenn Howerton and Patton Oswalt.

“I’ve had many head scratching losses coming from the Decisions Dept. in show biz, but this one HURTS,” Pell, who started as Principal Durbin’s secretary Helen Henry Demarcus, wrote on Twtter early Saturday. “[A.P. Bio] was a true gift dropped in my lap. I adored playing Helen and spending my days with this glorious cast, head to toe. You made me laugh even on days I didn’t want to.”

In a second tweet, she joked, “Apparently NBC is replacing [A.P. Bio] with a new show that’s generating a lot of buzz. Military meets comedy. Major Diarrhea premiering this fall.”

A.P. Bio was created by Mike O’Brien (Saturday Night Live) and starred Howerton as Dr. Jack Griffin, a disgraced Harvard philosophy professor who gets stuck teaching an A.P. biology course at a Toledo, Ohio high school. Rather than doing any teaching, he spent Season 1 trying to use his students to seek revenge on his rival Miles Leonard (Tom Bennett). In Season 2, Jack decided to learn more about the people of Toledo for a book. Oswalt played the school’s Principal Durbin.

Other members of the cast included Lyric Lewis, Mary Sohn and Jean Villepique. Guest stars included Niecy Nash, Taran Killam and Christopher Lloyd.

A.P. Bio was a consistently low-rated sitcom for NBC, but it found an ardent following and was praised by critics. The peacock network officially cancelled the show on Friday night.

“I’m intensely sad to announce that AP Bio will be ending after this season. This has been my favorite project of my life and that’s because of the amazing writers, cast and crew,” O’Brien tweeted. “As most canceled shows probably feel, I think we were just hitting our stride and everyone was still loving the work, so this is very hard. We have 4 left to air and they’re 4 of my favorites. Plus 22 others are on Hulu (for now) and https://nbc.com. Please check them out and tell a friend about the show and tell the people who worked on it that they did a good job!”

Since the show was cancelled, #SaveAPBio started trending on Twitter, thanks in part to Oswalt retweeting dozens of fans.

“This has…not been a great day. Please read this thread and know everyone on [A.P. Bio] had the most fun making that show and we’re sad that none of us get to see where it was gonna go,” Oswalt wrote. “But we’re glad for the trip we got to take. Thank you [Mike O’Brien].”

Pell has also starred in episodes of Documentary Now!, Love, The Awesomes, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and SMILF, and voiced the Dream Director in Inside Out. She also served as a writer on Saturday Night Live from 1995 to 2016, winning an Emmy in 2002.

Photo credit: NBC