Chad, which was supposed to start today, is the latest show to fall victim to Warner Bros. Discovery’s war against scripted TV on TBS and TNT.
Chad, one of the last scripted shows on TBS, has finally reached the end of its run. The network, which said in April that it would stop writing shows before making them because it was too expensive, canceled Nasim Pedrad’s awkward teen comedy right before the start of its second season on July 11. Hey, that’s the present! Way to go, TBS.
The finished second season of Chad is looking for a new home. It is like the main character, who is standing against a wall and hoping that a lonely streamer who is just as desperate as he is will ask him to dance. Maybe a FreeVee, a Pluto, or even a Tubi will come if you hang a sign around its neck that says “Full season of TV ready for ad placement.” On the other hand, Netflix might want to bring back the old idea of buying a show from another network and calling it “an original Netflix show.”
TBS, on the other hand, gave no reason or explanation for the sudden cancellation. But TBS’s statement does say that canceling Chad before people could see it is just part of Warner Bros. Discovery’s plan to “evaluate the content and put in place a new strategy for our network.” They probably came to the decision to cancel the show on the first day of its second season by carefully planning and evaluating the content. Say what you want about the corporate, money-saving logic that kills honest creativity in favor of yet another 90 Day spin-off, but it is soulless, heartless, and cruel, especially to the people who made the show and the people who wanted to watch it.
Thanks to the statement, Chad-heads know that they are “actively exploring different options to find the right home for it,” because Warner Bros. Discovery isn’t it. Still, despite what you might think based on the network’s actions, it does “celebrate and thank Nasim Pedrad” and her “bold, unexpected coming-of-age story” that has nothing to do with TBS. Nothing says “we appreciate and celebrate our creators” like throwing their hard work in the trash without a ceremony and asking on Deadline, “Does anyone else want this trash?”
In a statement to Deadline, Pedrad was much more gracious after a setback at work (read: some complete and utter bullshit). She says:
I know that things are changing so quickly in our industry. Did I think that my show would get caught up in a corporate reorganization and merger? No. I spent the last year making a season of TV that I’m very happy with. From writing to production to editing, a group of very talented and dedicated people worked together to tell a story we believe in. A hard comedy that shows people from the Middle East empathy and kindness. I think it’s great that Chad has such devoted fans. I’m sure they’ll love this season, and I can’t wait for the show to move.
This is the latest time Warner Bros. Discovery has canceled a scripted show, which is not a good sign. After the huge merger between Warner Bros. and Discovery this year, the company said it would no longer make scripted shows for the TNets (the horrible internal nickname for the formerly Turner-owned stations TBS, TNT, and TruTV). With this change, Big Bang Theory reruns no longer have to try to get people to watch Animal Kingdom. Since the announcement, TBS canceled The Last O.G. in April, and TNT said it would get rid of Snowpiercer, its last scripted show, after its fourth season.
The American Dad rerun that gets Chad’s time slot should do well.