ABC Cancels ‘United We Fall’ After Just 1 Season

United We Fall will not be returning for a second season. ABC on Tuesday officially canceled the multi-camera family sitcom after just one season as the network continues to square up its TV slate.

According to Variety, the Tuesday cancellation comes just three weeks after the series aired its Season 1 finale, which will now act as a series finale. Its eight-episode first and only season ran between July and August, with the finale airing on Aug. 26. Despite its short run and quick cancellation, United We Fall had proven to perform relatively well with ratings. Its July series premiere became broadcast TV’s most-watched summer launch in more than a year, according to TVLine, debuting to 4.2 million total viewers and grabbing a 0.6 demo rating. Those numbers fell slightly throughout its eight-episode run, the series averaging a 0.5 rating in adults 18-49 and 3.4 million viewers per episode in Live+Same Day. That was still enough for the series to outrate other series on ABC’s summer lineup, including Genetic Detective, Bachelor GOAT, and Agents of SHIELD.

Despite those numbers, however, the series was not met with critical acclaim. On Rotten Tomatoes, the series only managed a 40% rating among critics. Among the audience, meanwhile, that rating was even lower at just 33%. In its review, Decider wrote that “despite the fine cast and writing staff, United We Fall just can’t overcome a premise we’ve seen so many times that we can predict the jokes before they happen.”

United We Fall had first been picked up as a part of ABC’s primetime schedule back in May of 2019, the comedy being the only multicam to score a series pickup at the time, before making its debut in July of this year. Described during development as a “profoundly realistic family sitcom,” the series followed husband and wife Bill and Jo, “parents of two young kids, as they try to make it day-to-day as a functioning family.”

United We Fall starred Will Sasso, Christina Vidal-Mitchell, Jane Curtin, Guillermo Diaz, and Ella Grace Helton. It was written and executive produced by Julius “Goldy” Sharpe, with Seth Gordon and Julia Gunn also serving as executive producers. Mark Cendrowski, meanwhile, directed the pilot, which was produced by Sony Pictures Television, Exhibit A Film, Julius Sharpe International Petroleum & Writing Inc. and ABC Signature.

Of the network’s 2019-20 freshman class, The Hollywood Reporter reports that only Mixed-ish and dramas For Life and Stumptown are returning. Amid the pandemic, ABC is keeping most of its scripted series off the air, though the network has announced that the comedies The Goldbergs, The Conners, and Black-ish will return with new episodes on Oct. 21.