Why was For the People cancelled on ABC?

Just as the Season 2 penultimate episode of For the People was airing on ABC, the network announced it is pulling the plug on the court drama. Why?

Spoiler Alert! Spoilers ahead if you are not caught up on For the People.

This week’s For the People focused on the moment we have all been waiting for: Kate vs. Sandra. The penultimate episode for Season 2 set things up nicely for what is sure to be an intense season finale – or rather, series finale? Knowing For the People has been canceled very much ruins whatever is ahead for viewers.

Unless the cast and crew anticipated a cancellation before shooting, we are all expecting for the Season 2 finale to leave many questions unanswered and the feeling that a third season needs to follow. What do we all have to say about the cancellation? Objection!

Before we get into how the series can be saved, let’s try to figure out why the Shondaland series was even axed in the first place.

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The answer is actually pretty simple. TV Line reports that For the People is the network’s second lowest-rated drama. According to their numbers, the series is “down 18.65 percent from its freshman season, its average demo rating was a measly 0.51.” Yikes, those numbers are definitely reason to cancel. If you ask me, For the People is underrated.

Is it too late for it to be saved? Not exactly, and it’s also not impossible. Before, once your network cut you out, you were done and that’s that! But now, we see more and more shows get saved by other networks as well as the streaming giant, Netflix.

Just to name a few shows that have been cancelled and picked up: Lucifer, You, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. There’s currently a petition for Netflix to save The Imposters. With For the People having such low ratings, though, the chances of a resurrection aren’t looking good.

The series starred Britt Robertson, Susannah Flood, Jasmin Savoy Brown, and Rege-Jean Page among others. Are you disappointed by the news? Will you fight for the series to be saved? Let us know in the comments!

For the People airs its now series finale next Thursday, May 16 at 10/9c only on ABC.