ABC Cancels ‘Downward Dog’

ABC has cancelled comedy Downward Dog. It will air the final two episodes Tuesday, June 27. Creators Michael Killen and Samm Hodges said ABC “loved it creatively and really wanted to make more, but couldn’t find a financial path to do so.”

Hodges voiced the dog, Martin, that starred alongside Allison Tolman. Lucas Neff played her ex-boyfriend.

The show, which debuted May 17, was spun from a web series. It premiered to a 1.1 in viewers 18-49 and settled at around a 0.7.   

Channing Dungey, ABC entertainment president, conceded at the network’s 2016 upfront presentation that shows featuring dogs don’t usually work. “If you don’t want your phone call returned,” she joked, “pitch a show about a dog.”

Killen and Hodges said they’d try to find a new network to take on Downward Dog. “Obviously this is a hard moment, but we’re not done,” the pair said in a statement. “The crazy amazing love you fans have shown for DD combined with the critical response make us confident that there is a future and we are committed to finding a new home.”

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.