Among the wide array of casualties related to COVID is a batch of TV shows that, due to pandemic-related restrictions, could not get cast and crew together to shoot a new season. Several of the recently canceled shows, including Netflix’s Glow and Showtime’s On Becoming a God in Central Florida, received a renewal, but ultimately, the network decided it no longer made sense to produce a new season. 

“The pandemic has continued to challenge schedules across the board, and although we have made every effort to reunite the cast and crew for a second season, that has become untenable,” said Showtime in a statement about On Becoming a God, which debuted in August 2019. 

RELATED: Netflix's 'Away' Won't See Season Two

The spate of “un-renewals,” as Rolling Stone referred to them, includes wrestling dramedy GLOW, which was set to produce season four when the virus hit; Netflix teen show The Society, which lasted for one season; ABC’s Cobie Smulders drama Stumptown, which was poised to produce season two; and truTV’s Andrea Savage comedy I’m Sorry, which the network had renewed for a third season. 

“With all of our episodes already written and partially shot, we are all still in shock and don’t have the answers,” Savage said on Twitter in late August. 

While they had not received renewals, Netflix’s I Am Not Okay With This and Showtime’s The President Is Missing, based on a novel by Bill Clinton and James Patterson, were canceled for reasons related to COVID.

COVID has laid a significant cost upon production, between PPE equipment, testing and figuring out social distancing on set. As a result, veteran showrunner Neal Baer is not surprised to see the high number of surprise cancellations, calling it a “pure financial algorithmic decision” for the networks. “Does the show make enough money for the network in light of the cost increases?” he said. “It’s always a financial assessment at the end.”

Baer, whose credits include Law & Order: SVU and Designated Survivor, estimated that COVID costs might add 20% to a budget. Alex Kurtzman, executive producer on the Star Trek series, speaking on the podcast TV’s Top 5, said it tacked on an additional $300,000-$500,000 per episode. 

“A bubble show may have been OK in the past,” said Chris Becker, associate professor of film, television and theater at Notre Dame. “But with a 20% COVID cost, that can be a bridge too far.”

Peaked TV?

No one knows when the vaccine arrives and when shows get back to the pre-COVID way of doing business, or if they ever do. It’s likely more series that may have been on the renewal bubble get axed. “Once it seems like a trend, the stage is set for it to keep happening,” Becker said. “It is established as an excuse.”

Network executives did not want to discuss the thought processes behind cancelling the series they’d renewed. More than just a new virus, an array of factors goes into such a decision, such as the budget increases for cast with each new season of a show.  “I don’t think they just willy-nilly cancel a show,” Baer said. “The networks are in it because they want to make shows that people like and are successful under the many measures of what makes something successful.”

Time will tell what the COVID cancellations mean for the peak TV era. There are around 500 scripted shows on television, and for years, people have wondered when that number will decrease. "This is simply too much television," John Landgraf, FX Networks chairman, said back in 2015. 

RELATED: ABC Cancels Drama ‘Stumptown’

Some networks, such as Pop TV and A&E, began cutting back their scripted slates before COVID. Others are likely to follow. “For a number of years now, people have said the bubble will burst, this can’t be sustained,” said Becker. “Everyone wonders what the catalyst will be. Maybe this is the excuse — we’re going to dial back now.” 

Having a series that a producer or cast or crew member has poured their heart into get cancelled is a soul-crushing experience. Having a series canceled due to an unforeseen enemy such as COVID is even more wrenching. 

But a hardy TV veteran moves on. “It’s disappointing, but there’s a lot of disappointment in life,” Baer said. “When you engage with Hollywood, there are no guarantees.”

Kent Gibbons and Michael Malone talk about the odd fall season, shows set in Florida, new Halloween programming, and more.

As the election approaches, all eyes shift to Florida to see what sort of weirdness the state comes up with as the nation decides on its president. But anyone who watches TV these days has seen plenty of weirdness out of Florida already. The state leads the nation in bizarre people and peculiar events, making it a logical place to set an offbeat series. 

Like Claws. The TNT dramedy depicts women working in a nail salon in Manatee County, Florida, that is a front for sketchy mobsters looking to launder cash. The salon’s clients, including a woman who sells deer meat out of her trunk, are unique to say the least. 

Claws creator Eliot Laurence said he always had Florida in mind for the setting. “There’s insanity everywhere, but there’s something about the Floridian version,”
he said. Claws is set in Florida due to “my love of weirdness and my attraction to the state of Florida being the weirdest place,”
he added. 

Is that a fair assessment of the Sunshine State? Most definitely, said Craig Pittman, author of Oh, Florida! How America’s Weirdest State Influences the Rest of the Country. “Oh my gosh, we’re the weirdest state by far,” said Pittman, who hosts the podcast Welcome to Florida. “More happens in Florida day by day, and the weird stuff just happens to be weirder.”

Wide Range of Sunny Settings 

Shows that have trafficked in Florida’s weirdness include Claws, Showtime’s On Becoming a God in Central Florida, Pop TV’s Florida Girls and MTV’s unscripted Floribama Shore and Siesta Key. Shows have long been set in Florida, including, of course, Miami Vice, along with FX’s Nip/Tuck, the Ryan Murphy drama about plastic surgeons in Miami; USA Network’s Burn Notice, about a cast-off CIA agent solving crimes in Miami; A&E drama The Glades, about a detective in the Everglades; Netflix’s Bloodline, about a family in the Florida Keys with dark secrets; HBO’s Ballers, about a former NFL player managing current players; and Showtime’s Dexter, about a Miami forensics tech who kills the murderers who law enforcement could not catch. (Showtime just last week announced it is rebooting Dexter.) 

The state offers a wide variety of settings, including beaches, cities and rural areas. “What sets Florida apart from other states and countries is that within our state, you can find just about any location type,” said John Lux, executive director of trade association Film Florida. “With warm temperatures year round, countless number of diverse neighborhoods and locations, Florida has long been considered the perfect location for ‘Anywhere USA.’ ”

Alas, the state does not offer an incentive program for producers to shoot in Florida. Lux said that ended in 2016. That means several shows based in Florida shoot elsewhere. Claws, for one, films in New Orleans, as did On Becoming a God in Central Florida. “Florida is just cost-prohibitive,” said Laurence, who said the production does set up in Florida to shoot for short spells each season. “We get a lot of great stuff in a week or two.”

Some Florida residents believe viewers don’t see their true state when that happens. Eric Deggans, National Public Radio’s TV critic and a St. Petersburg resident, said there’s a unique tone to the water and the sand that may not come through on television. “Viewers are shown much less-impressive places and told, that’s Florida,” he said. “You rarely see TV shows and films that capture what is subtle and what is compelling about Florida.”

One and Done 

A couple of well-received Florida rookies have, like a luckless Florida man, met an untimely demise. Pop TV’s Florida Girls, a Laura Chinn comedy about four women in a trailer park trying to better their lives, was well-reviewed in season one, and Pop signed up for season two, only to cancel the show months later. On Becoming a God, about a woman, played by Kirsten Dunst, who works at a water park in an “Orlando-adjacent” locale and is making her way up a pyramid scheme, was set to shoot season two. Showtime said earlier this month that reuniting the cast and crew amidst the pandemic had become “untenable” and the show would not continue. 

The allure of Florida weirdness is hardly limited to scripted shows. MTV’s Floribama Shore, about pals Jeremiah, Codi, Kortni, Aimee and others partying, hooking up and fighting on the Gulf Coast, has had three seasons. So has MTV’s Siesta Key, about young adults figuring out friendships, relationships and careers in the islands off Sarasota. 

“Our show is about a group of friends who come together every year to leave the real world behind for a few weeks, get a house near the beach, and
have some fun,” said Jackie French, executive producer of Floribama Shore, which has had two seasons in Panama City Beach and one in St. Pete Beach. “And for as long as I can remember, Florida has been about exactly that — escapism.”

Why So Weird?

What makes Florida so peculiar? Residents have an array of suggestions. One is the extraordinary population growth, which saw Florida climb into third place, ahead of New York and behind California and Texas. The state population was just under 16 million in 2000, according to the Florida Legislature Office of Economic and Demographic Research. Today, it’s 21.5 million. 

“It’s people right up against each other who have nothing to do with each other,” Laurence said. 

Pittman said Florida comes in at No. 49 in the U.S. in terms of mental health spending. He called Florida “a frontier state” with a cowboy mentality. Add to the mix tons of tourists drawn to Walt Disney World and the beaches who are largely left alone by the police, and it may come as no surprise that people end up chasing each other with chainsaws. “Let the tourists do what they want and look the other way,” Pittman said of the ethos. “Everybody’s happy.”

The state is home to its fair share of nudists and Wiccans and mobsters and drug dealers. “A lot about Florida is deeply weird and unconventional,” Deggans said. “A lot of people are drawn to the state for exactly that reason, to let their freak flag fly.”

In 2013, The New Yorker cited a new genre of crime fiction, which it called “Florida
glare,” with authors such as Carl Hiaasen spinning stories about the local depravity. “South Florida wackos — all heavily armed, all loquacious, all barely aware of one another’s existence — blunder through petty crime, discover themselves engaged in actual murder, and then move in unconscious unison toward the black comedy of a violent climax,” wrote Adam Gopnik.

And who can forget the Florida Man meme, which saw users google Florida Man and their birthday to uncover yet
another oddball crime. (This reporter’s birthday offered up “Florida man charged with battery for giving girlfriend ‘Wet Willy.’ ”)

Pittman said it all fits the state profile. “Every day, you open a paper here, and it’s, ‘Wow, a guy punched a swan,’ ” he said. 

More Sober Shows 

Not every show set in Florida celebrates the state’s weirdness. OWN’s David Makes Man is a heartfelt drama about a Black teen living in an undesirable project in Homestead, Florida, outside of Miami, and making his way each day to an elite magnet school. Season two starts production in Orlando next week. 

Line producer Wayne Morris said Florida provides “a unique tableau that really is a character in the show,” including the glittering city beyond David’s project, the public bus he takes to school and the overwhelming humidity that makes the show’s many sticky situations even stickier. “The location is uniquely Florida, and you can’t recreate that shooting somewhere else.”

Astronaut drama The Right Stuff, a series based on the Tom Wolfe book of the same name, premiered on Disney Plus Oct. 9. Every exterior shot in the first season was shot in Florida, from Cape Canaveral to Cocoa Beach. “Florida plays a huge role in The Right Stuff — you could even say it’s a character,” executive producer Jennifer Davisson said. “It was very important to us to get the authenticity and spirit of Florida as a location in this particular time in history.”

The producers of David Makes Man and The Right Stuff didn’t give much thought to shooting in a state with more attractive incentives. “It was really important to the creative team that we were as authentic as possible,” Davisson said. “We were telling the story of a specific place and a specific movement in time, so we were determined to shoot in as many real locations as we could.” 

Some producers said there might be more demand for Florida’s rich scenery amidst these stuck-at-home times. Daniel Blau Rogge, executive producer of Siesta Key, mentioned the “stunning visual aesthetic” offered up on the show. “The beautiful scenery is exactly what viewers need right now, as we live through unprecedented times that limit our ability to travel,” he said. 

Other States’ Starring Roles

Florida is hardly the only location that emerges as a character in a show that’s set there. NBC has Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D. and Chicago Med, which return Nov. 11 and offer a peek at life for first responders in the Windy City. ABC premieres Big Sky Nov. 17, with Montana playing a key role in that crime drama. “The visuals of this show and the vistas of the show and C.J. Box’s novels [Big Sky is adapted from a Box novel] are so landscape-dependent that they are going to be breathtaking to watch,” said cast member John Carroll Lynch. 

But few, if any, states offer the sun, fun and zany drama of Florida. The unexpected cancellation of Florida Girls and On Becoming a God on the cusp of their sophomore seasons was disheartening for fans of Florida-set shows, but there will surely be others. 

Would Claws creator Laurence set another show in the Sunshine State? Absolutely. 

“I’m endlessly fascinated by the place,” he said. “I have great affection for Florida.” 

Quirky drama On Becoming a God in Central Florida will not see a second season on Showtime, despite getting a renewal last year. Kirsten Dunst was the star. 

“Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, we were unable to move forward with production on the new season,” said Showtime. “The pandemic has continued to challenge schedules across the board, and although we have made every effort to reunite the cast and crew for a second season, that has become untenable. It is with great regret that we are acknowledging On Becoming a God will not return.”

Set in “Orlando-Adjacent” Florida in 1992, On Becoming a God has Dunst’s Krystal working at a water park and moving up the ranks of a pyramid scheme. 

Robert Funke and Matt Lusky created the show and Esta Spalding was showrunner. They executive produced along with Dunst, George Clooney, Grant Heslov and Charlie McDowell. 

Sony Pictures Television produced On Becoming a God. 

Good Eats: The return restarts on Food Network Sunday, Aug. 25. Alton Brown hosts the show, which ran for 14 seasons until 2012. Good Eats 2019 is better, in Brown’s view, thanks to enhanced technology, including viewers being able to access ingredients with a few taps on their phone.

“We can sew better tapestries than we could back then,” he said.

Each episode is essentially a half-hour documentary about a particular food, including chicken parm getting its close-up in the premiere. Brown posited that the dish was hatched in New York City, not Italy, by “people shoved together in tenements.”

Brown calls the new show “a continuation, not a reboot.”

Down in “Orlando-Adjacent,” Florida, On Becoming a God in Central Florida begins on Showtime Aug. 25 as well. Kirsten Dunst plays Krystal, a water park employee who gets way involved with a pyramid scheme. George Clooney exec produces alongside Dunst.

Set in 1992, On Becoming a God has cassette tapes, goatees and high-fives.

Co-creators Robert Funke and Matt Lutsky penned the pilot in 2014, and have watched their tale of people chasing the American Dream get more and more relevant: The gig economy, independent contractors struggling for health benefits, our secretary of education with connections to a massive “multi-level marketing association,” said Funke.

“It really is everywhere,” he added.

As Funke researched pyramid schemes, he recognized some company names. “It was, my cousin worked there, my neighbor worked there, my dentist tried to sell me that,” he said. “I got back in touch and asked, ‘How did that go? Where did that end up?’ ”

The show is rich in “suburban surrealism,” Funke said. He’s a bit nervous as On Becoming a God launches, but feels good about the show America will see. “I set out to make my favorite show and I really did,” he said.

And The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance begins on Netflix Friday, Aug. 30. Jim Henson’s Dark Crystal fantasy flick came out in 1982, and made its mark.

“The movie scared me very much,” co-executive producer Will Matthews said.

The series producers said Dark Crystal, about the battle between the good Mystics and evil Skeksis, works well in 2019. “The themes are timeless,” said co-exec producer Jeffrey Addiss. “The show is about finding hope even in the darkest times.”

The prequel project has been some four years in the making. Co-EP Javier Grillo-Marxuach said a framed photo of film principals Frank Oz, Jim Henson and Gary Kurtz hung in the writers’ room and reminded all involved in the series not to take it lightly.

Netflix is on board for 10 episodes. “We have longer and more stories to tell,” Addis said. “We hope it gets to come back.”

A number of scripted series will make their return with new episodes this week as the summer television season winds down.

Starz’ Power will debut Aug. 25 with its sixth and final season, while on the same day Showtime’s The Affair premieres its fifth and last season. HBO’s Ballers will also bow its fifth season on Aug. 25 along with the fourth season of Hallmark Channel’s drama series Chesapeake Shores.

Also returning this week for its final season is Netflix's controversial drama series 13 Reasons Why, premiering Aug. 23.

Below are video trailers and premiere dates for several shows debuting this week on cable networks and streaming services:

Aug. 21 -- American Factory (documentary) -- Netflix

Aug. 21 -- Ghost Hunters (reality) -- A&E

Aug. 23 -- Jawline (documentary) -- Hulu

Aug. 24-- Hitsville: The Making Of Motown (documentary series) -- Showtime

Aug. 25 -- On Becoming a God In Central Florida (comedy series) -- Showtime

Showtime has released a first look trailer for its new dark comedy On Becoming A God In Central Florida, which debuts Aug. 25. 

The 10-episode series stars Kirsten Dunst as a minimum-wage water park employee who lies, schemes and cons her way up the ranks of Founders American Merchandise (FAM) — a cultish, flag-waving, multibillion-dollar pyramid scheme that drove her to ruin in the first place, run by the powerful Obie Garbeau II, played by Ted Levine (The Silence of the Lambs), Showtime said. The series also stars Théodore Pellerin (Genesis), Mel Rodriguez (The Last Man on Earth), and Beth Ditto (Nocturnal Animals).

On Becoming a God in Central Florida is created and executive produced by Robert Funke and Matt Lutsky and produced by Sony’s TriStar Television. Also serving as executive producers are Dunst, George Clooney (Catch-22),Grant Heslov (Catch-22), Charlie McDowell (The One I Love), Esta Spalding (Masters of Sex), and Sarah Shepard, said Showtime.