ABC Cancels Freshman Sitcom, Main Star Posts Spirited Note to Fans

Kyra Sedgwick's latest television project did not have the same legs as The Closer. ABC canceled [...]

By Daniel S. Levine

Kyra Sedgwick's latest television project did not have the same legs as The Closer. ABC canceled her new sitcom, Call Your Mother, on Friday. This means the Season 1 finale airing on Wednesday, May 19 at 9:30 p.m. ET will really be the series finale, Sedgwick confirmed on Twitter.

"Before it goes out there in the world I want my fans to be the first to know that next Wednesday will be the last episode of Call Your Mother," Sedgwick wrote. "You guys have been so wonderful to tune in every week, or every other week or every two weeks! The rollout was nuts!" Sedgwick's tweet referred to the sporadic airing of the show as its first season went on. The first seven episodes aired regularly between Jan. 13 and March 3, but then the show was off the air until March 24, when it returned to finish up its 13-episode run.

Call Your Mother was created by Kari Lizer, who also created The New Adventures of Old Christine. Sedgwick starred as Jean Raines, a retired teacher who moves from Iowa to Los Angeles to re-enter her children's lives. Joey Bragg played her son, while Rachel Sennott starred as her daughter. Austin Crute, Emma Caymates, Patrick Brammall, Sherri Shepherd, and Jackie Seiden also starred.

Sedgwick remains best known to TV viewers as Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson on TNT's The Closer, which ran from 2005 to 2012. The show earned Sedgwick an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama in 2010 and a Golden Globe in 2007. Since then, Sedgwick starred on NBC's Brooklyn Nine-Nine and lead the short-lived Ten Days in the Valley for ABC.

Call Your Mother was not the only ABC show to end on Friday. The network also canceled American Housewife, For Life, Mixed-ish, and Rebel. Like Call Your Mother, Rebel featured a well-known lead, Katey Sagal. The former Sons of Anarchy star played a legal advocate inspired by Erin Brockovich. The series did not do well in the ratings, even though Grey's Anatomy served as its lead-in, notes Deadline.

Although Mixed-ish was canceled, Black-ish was renewed for an eighth season, which will be its last. Series creator Kenya Barris shared the news with enthusiasm on Instagram. "None of this would have been possible without our audience and supporters, who have championed the show every step of the journey, allowing us to change not just the narrative of Black Families, but of Family, Culture, and the World in general," he wrote. "All the while allowing us to talk about things that people were not supposed to talk about period and especially on a network television comedy."

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