NBC Cancels ‘Bluff City Law’ After Just One Season

NBC has pulled the plug on Bluff City Law. As Variety noted on Monday, the fate of the short-lived legal drama didn’t come as much of a surprise, given the show never received a full-season order from the network. In fact, the show had been rumored to be on the chopping block for months.

Bluff City Law starred Caitlin McGee as Sydney Strait, an attorney who used to work at her father’s revered Civil Rights law firm. Her relationship with her father, Jimmy Smits‘ Elijah, ended up fractured after a falling out. However, Sydney ends up back into the family fold after her philanthropist mother dies unexpectedly. As the two mourn her loss, Elijah asks Caitlin to return back to his law firm. The show premiered on September 23, 2019, with the last of its 10-episode run airing on November 25.

The first episode ended up pulling in over 7.5 million total viewers, counting after-airing audiences on DVR and Hulu. That audience ended up shrinking with each consecutive airing, with just over 5.5 million watching the final installment. Back in October, there was some hope that the show would catch on with streaming audiences, although that same month the network opted out of ordering more episodes. As is the norm these days, the show’s fans tried to rally online to save the series, although it’s clear that if it does have a future, it won’t be on NBC.

Filmed on location in Memphis, Bluff City Law ended up being a rare Monday night misfire for NBC, which had aired the show after the mega-popular reality competition series The Voice. The now-defunct legal drama also starred Barry Sloane as Jake Reilly, Michael Luwoye as Anthony Little, Stony Blyden as Emerson, Jayne Atkinson as Della Bedford, MaameYaa Boafo as Briana Logan, and Mo Gallini as Edgar Soriano.

Bluff City Law wasn’t the only one-and-done series to be canceled by NBC on Monday. Both Sunnyside and Indebted were also canceled after a single season. The former starred Kal Penn as a disgraced former New York City Council, which was pulled from the schedule after only a few episodes. Indebted starred Adam Pally and Abby Elliot as Dave and Rebecca Klein, a married couple whose lives are disrupted when Daves’s parents, played by Steven Weber and Fran Drescher, show up needing a place to live. The last episode aired back in April.