Showtime Comedy Series Canceled After 2 Seasons
Showtime canceled the critically praised comedy Flatbush Misdemeanors, starring Kevin Iso and Dan Perlman. The series ran for two seasons and was inspired by their 2017 digital series. Showtime has not made a decision yet on the future of Vanessa Bayer's I Love That For You, which served as the lead-in for Flatbush Misdemeanors.
The comedy was created by Iso and Perlman, who play characters struggling to make it in Flatbush, Brooklyn. Kevin is a broke painter from the South, while Dan is a fish-out-of-water public school teacher who uses Zanax and struggles with depression. Kristen Dodson, Kareem Green, and Hassan Johnson also starred. Comedian Maria Bamford had a recurring role as Dan's weird mother. Flatbush Misdemeanors earned a 100% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
"Flatbush Misdemeanors will not be moving forward with a third season," Showtime said in a statement to Deadline. "We would like to thank the creators, executive producers, and stars Kevin Iso and Dan Perlman, along with fellow executive producer Keith Heisler, our partners at Avalon, as well as our scene-stealing supporting cast of Kristin Dodson, Hassan Johnson, and Kareem Green. We're very proud to have taken Kevin and Dan's distinctive shorts and expanded it into two seasons of excellent television. Those two funny and inventive seasons will live on our site for audiences to continue to discover and enjoy."
Perlman confirmed the news on social media, where he thanked fans for their support and his colleagues for their dedication to the series. "This reads like an Emmy speech, not a 'we're canceled' caption, but yeah, I'm just very grateful," Perlman wrote. "Excited to try to make other cool stuff in the future. And I hope you guys can still find the show and watch the two seasons we were lucky enough to make."
This is the latest cancelation from Showtime. In early August, the network pulled the plug on The First Lady, which didn't quite take off as well as hoped. The series was planned as an anthology show with each season focusing on different First Ladies. The first and only season focused on Michelle Obama (Viola Davis), Betty Ford (Michelle Pfieffer), and Eleanor Roosevelt (Gillian Anderson). In July, Showtime canceled the popular late-night series Desus & Mero after the stars, Desus Nice and The Kid Mero, ended their creative partnership. Meanwhile, Paramount Global has begun merging Paramount+ and Showtime into a single subscription, although they will still operate individual streaming apps.