7 cancellations and a renewal.

by Thinus Ferreira

While American TV is producing more scripted series than ever before, the cancellation bear keeps stalking 2023's television woods with shows that keep getting axed as companies are consolidating their linear and streaming businesses into one. 

Here's the latest batch of your American shows which will be no more - and one deserving renewal.

NCIS: Los Angeles

One of the longest-running American procedural shows, NCIS: Los Angeles with LL Cool J, Chris O'Donnell and Linda Hunt is ending after 322 episodes at the end of its current 14th season which will be its last.

NCIS: LA, seen on M-Net (DStv 101) and Universal TV (DStv 117) was produced by CBS Studios and seen in more than 200 countries.

"Our crew has grown to be a true family and their hard work and dedication has been fundamental to our success year after year," says Scott R Gemmill, NCIS: Los Angeles showrunner in a statement.

"My deepest gratitude to the cast members, who have brought our characters to life with their impassioned performances – thank you for your talent, professionalism and continuous enthusiasm. And to our loyal viewers who loved our characters and followed their journeys, thank you. We look forward to delivering an end to the series that is both satisfying and does justice to these beloved characters."

Gossip Girl

HBO Max's reboot of Gossip Girl got the axe after two seasons.

Seen on M-Net (DStv 101) and Showmax, the series is the victim of Warner Bros. Discovery's content cost-cutting for its streaming service.

"We are very grateful to showrunner and executive producer Joshua Safran, and executive producers Stephanie Savage and Josh Schwartz for bringing us back to the Upper East Side and all the scandals at Constance Billard," says HBO Max in a statement. 

"Although we are not moving forward with a third season of Gossip Girl, we thank them for the enticing love triangles, calculated backstabbing and impeccable fashion this series brought to a new audience."

Doom Patrol and Titans

HBO also pulled the plug on the offbeat superheroes series Doom Patrol seen on M-Net (DStv 101) after four seasons, as well as Titans after four seasons, for the same reason as Gossip Girl - cutting back on streamer content.

"While these will be the final seasons of Titans and Doom Patrol, we are very proud of these series and excited for fans to see their climactic endings," HBO Max says in a statement.

American Gigolo

The Showtime series set in Los Angeles' modern-day sex industry with Jon Bernthal as Julian Kaye and seen on M-Net (DStv 101) and Showmax has just been cancelled after one season.

The reason? Paramount Global is consolidating the content across its Paramount+ and Showtime streaming services.

"We can confirm that American Gigolo will not move forward with a second season on Showtime. We are grateful to our partners at Paramount Television Studios, the producing team, cast and crew for their tremendous efforts to bring this series to life," Showtime says in a statement.

Let the Right One In

The vampire series Let The Right One In which will be on Showmax from 27 Ferbuary and is inspired by John Ajvide Lindqvist's novel that has been previously adapted into two acclaimed films, also got the axe after just one season.

Showtime can confirm that Let the Right One In will not move forward with a second season. We are extremely proud of this series and of the outstanding work by Demián Bichir, Madison Taylor Baez, Anika Noni Rose, our showrunner Andrew Hinderaker and his fellow executive producers, and the entire cast and crew," Showtime says in a statement. 

"We would like to thank all of them and our partners at Tomorrow Studios, and we wish everyone the best going forward."

Reboot

Steve Levitan's first TV project after the hugely successful Modern Family was this comedy series available on Disney+ which has been cancelled after one season.

Acapulco

And lastly, a renewal: The hilarious comedy series set during the 1980s and available on AppleTV+ has been renewed for a 10-episode third season.

"We have always believed that the stories we tell about our communities and cultures can resonate with global audiences, so crank up the AC, it’s about to get a lot hotter at Las Colinas Resort," says executive producer Eugenio Derbez who also stars in the show, in a statement.

RETURN OF THE MAC. Catherine Bell to join David James Elliott reprising their iconic JAG roles on the current 10th season of NCIS: Los Angeles seen on M-Net.

Mac and Harm are together again! Catherine Bell will now join David James Elliott as she too will be reprising her iconic JAG character of Lieutenant Colonel Sarah "Mac" MacKenzie alongside Captain Harmon Rabb when they both make an appearance on NCIS: Los Angeles in a multi-episode story arc during its current 10th season.

Their joint re-appearance - and the first on the NCIS franchise which was a spin-off from JAG - is fuelling that a reboot of the hugely successful JAG series could be on the cards.

NCIS: Los Angeles is currently on its 2nd season on e.tv, with its 7th season on Universal TV (DStv 117) at the moment, and M-Net (DStv 101) showing the 10th season.

Now viewers will get the chance to catch up with what exactly happened with Harm and Mac since the end of JAG as they once again portray the character that made them famous.

In the upcoming episode "The Guardian" Harmon Rabb will appearance over 4 episodes as the NCIS team uncovers ISIS sympathizers who are planning an attack on United States aircraft carriers.

The looming threat leads to Callen (Chris O’Donnell) and Sam (LL Cool J) working directly with Rabb (David James Elliott) who is now the executive officer (XO) and second-in-command on the USS Intrepid.

Mac will appear in the NCIS: Los Angeles season finale when Hetty (Linda Hunt) has to call in a favour to an old friend, Sarah "Mac" MacKenzie, to help get access to an elusive Russian diplomat.

David James Elliott and Catherine Bell's re-appearance reunite them with R. Scott Gemmill who is now the executive producer and showrunner of NCIS: Los Angeles and who used to be a writer and producer on JAG.

"Catherine's "Mac" was a strong, smart woman who held her own, and then some, in a male-dominated world," says R. Scott Gemmill in a statement.

"Her character paved the way for other strong female leads. Not only is it great to be working together again as friends, but to be able to write for Catherine and have her same character interact with our NCIS: Los Angeles characters now - that's wonderfully surreal. It feels like everything has come full circle."

About working with David James Elliott again, he says "I was really excited to get a chance to work with David again. I did the first 4 seasons of JAG with him so to be able to work together again in and of itself is great - but to do so with the same character on our show this many years later - that's pretty damn amazing."

NCIS: LOS ANGELES STEPPING INTO HARM's WAY: David James Elliott coming to NCIS: LA reprising his JAG role as Captain Harmon Rabb Jr. in a multi-episode guest-role.

David James Elliott will reprise his iconic JAG role as Captain Harmon Rabb Jr. when the actor makes an appearance on NCIS: Los Angeles in a multi-episode story-arc during its current 10th season.

NCIS: Los Angeles is currently on its 2nd season on e.tv, with its 7th season on Universal TV (DStv 117) at the moment, and M-Net (DStv 101) showing the 10th season.

It was JAG that ran for a decade that led to NCIS as a spin-off and that started further spin-off series like NCIS: LA.

Now David James Elliott will make his first appearance on an NCIS series, once again playing the character that made him famous and with viewers who will get a chance to catch up with what has happened to him since the end of JAG.

In the upcoming episode "The Guardian" Harmon Rabb Jr. will make his first appearance stretching over several episodes as the NCIS team uncovers ISIS sympathizers who are planning an attack on United States aircraft carriers.

The looming threat leads to Callen (Chris O’Donnell) and Sam (LL Cool J) working directly with Rabb (David James Elliott) who is now the executive officer (XO) and second-in-command on the USS Intrepid.

David James Elliott in his NCIS appearance is also reuniting with R. Scott Gemmill who is now the executive producer and showrunner of NCIS: Los Angeles who used to be a writer and producer on JAG.

"I was really excited to get a chance to work with David again," says R. Scott Gemmill in a statement. "I did the first 4 seasons of JAG with him so to be able to work together again in and of itself is great - but to do so with the same character on our show this many years later - that's pretty damn amazing."

"Bringing Harmon Rabb to work with NCIS: Los Angeles makes for a formidable coalition, and both entities are going to need all the help they can get when confronted with the greatest challenge of their careers."

9 American series renewed for further seasons: Bull, Madam Secretary, Hawaii Five-O, MacGuyver, The Amazing Race, Survivor, Blue Bloods, and NCIS: Los Angeles and NCIS: New Orleans.

The American TV network CBS on Wednesday renewed 9 TV series seen in South African and Africa for further seasons, most of which are broadcast on M-Net (DStv 101).

Further season pick-ups went to Bull that got a 3rd season (M-Net), Madam Secretary got a 5th season (M-Net), NCIS: Los Angeles got a 10th season (M-Net), NCIS: New Orleans got a 5th season, Hawaii Five-O got a 9th season (M-Net), MacGuyver got a 3rd season (M-Net) and Blue Bloods got a 9th season (M-Net).

The Amazing Race seen on The Sony Channel (DStv 127) and SABC3 got a 31th season, and Survivor (SABC3) got picked up for its 37th and 38th seasons.

These shows joins the already renewed Young Sheldon (M-Net), The Big Bang Theory (M-Net and SABC3), Mom (M-Net), NCIS (M-Net and The Universal Channel), SEAL Team (M-Net and S.W.A.T (M-Net).

Still waiting for possible renewal news are Elementary (M-Net), Criminal Minds (M-Net City), Scorpion (M-Net), Code Black (M-Net), Kevin Can Wait (M-Net) - with one or more or all that could be cancelled due to low and falling ratings.

BREAKING Programming note: An M-Net miracle (with one mistake) starts tonight in the rarest of crossover TV events for South Africa.

You're reading it here first. 

The rarest of rare is happening on South African television starting tonight on M-Net - and like Haley's Comet which only passes by once in a generation every 76 years, the pure coincidental luck (and statistical odds of it happening utterly unplanned) is truly ... astronomical - a crossover between Hawaii Five-0 and NCIS: Los Angeles on the same TV channel (with just one very small "mistake").

In South African's 37 year TV history it's never happened before, never will again and never before came this close - since there's so many completely random and uncontrollable factors playing a role to make it a statistical impossibility. Yet, viewers who tune in to M-Net tonight will start to see something ... amazing.

M-Net came close with Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice in the past (both ABC shows; both on M-Net, but shown out of alignment) who also did crossover episodes. But that never worked out on M-Net as intended and how those episodes were shown in America. However now M-Net also has the new second season of Hawaii Five-0 and the new third season of NCIS: Los Angeles.

The first rare secret ingredient to the formulae to make this work: Both TV shows which are on one TV channel in America need to be on one TV channel elsewhere in the world. Very difficult, but not impossible. Both NCIS: Los Angeles and Hawaii Five-0 are on CBS in America. Luckily M-Net picked up both shows from the same distributor and placed them both on the M-Net (DStv 101) channel.

The second rare ingredient to the formulae to make this work: Both relevant seasons of both shows needs to be on at roughly the same time on the same TV channel. This is supremely difficult to schedule and make happen. By sheer coincidence both relevant new seasons did start at roughly the same time on M-Net.

What's more: Hawaii Five-0 II is on M-Net on Thursday nights at 20:30
NCIS: Los Angeles is on M-Net on Thursday nights at 20:30.
(And Hawaii Five-0 is repeated at 17:00 on Fridays on M-Net (placing both shows in a weirdly wonderful way even on the same day on M-Net in South Africa).

Now the little M-Net miracle: In tonight's episode of Hawaii Five-0 on M-Net at 20:30 viewers will see agent Kensi Blaye from NCIS: Los Angeles pop up.

In next Friday's episode of NCIS: Los Angeles on M-Net at 20:30 viewers will see detectives Danny and Chin Ho from Hawaii Five-0 pop up in that show's episode. And in November on Hawaii Five-0 viewers will see even more NCIS: Los Angeles faces in their show.

Now the caveat (and the only "mistake" M-Net made - which shows that nobody at the pay-TV broadcaster actually knew about this or planned this): The episode of Hawaii Five-0 coming in November - the 21st episode of the 2nd season - is actually the first part of the crossover story, to fit with the continuation and part two of the story carrying on in the NCIS: Los Angeles episode.

Australia's Ten Network actually knew about it and got it perfectly right, showing the two relevant correct episodes right after each other on the same night.

So basically in South Africa on M-Net viewers are going to see the second half and conclusion of the (Dracul(a) evil doctor!) story first on NCIS: Los Angeles, and then in November the first part of the crossover two part story on Hawaii Five-0. Of course NCIS: Los Angeles also appears tonight in Hawaii Five-0. All in all not bad.

It's the closest a local  broadcaster in South Africa has ever come to getting this right and making it align. If M-Net started Hawaii Five-0 14 weeks earlier so that its 21st episode went out in the same week as the 21st episode of NCIS: Los Angeles it would have been perfect. But maybe one day in another 76 years.