Schooled cancelled

[IllinoisTVFan]

Very sad about this, it was so funny. I will say though ABC made a mistake green lighting it so late in the game. If it had been greenlit when it was considered (around seasons 3-4 of the Goldbergs)it would have done better.

[AB]

Yes it was a cute show, hate to see it ending.

"Schooled is out forever: ABC has cancelled the Goldbergs spinoff after two seasons, TVLine has confirmed. The Season 2 finale, which will now serve as the series finale, aired on May 13."

[IllinoisTVFan]

Originally Posted by AB

Yes it was a cute show, hate to see it ending.

"Schooled is out forever: ABC has cancelled the Goldbergs spinoff after two seasons, TVLine has confirmed. The Season 2 finale, which will now serve as the series finale, aired on May 13."

What's even weirder is it's actually one of ABC's highest rated sitcoms but they are cancelling many this year.

[AB]

I'll never understand how the networks can cancel some of the higher rated shows. I just don't get their reasoning. They had a pretty good Wednesday night line-up, in my opinion.

[IllinoisTVFan]

Originally Posted by AB

I'll never understand how the networks can cancel some of the higher rated shows. I just don't get their reasoning. They had a pretty good Wednesday night line-up, in my opinion.

I don't get it either. They renewed several shows way below Schooled's ratings like Blackish, Mixedish, American Housewife and Stumptown (which is ABC's lowest rated show). Not to mention it's a Goldberg spinoff.

[TMC]

ABC Waited WAYYYYYY too long to spin Schooled out of The Goldbergs. If they would have done this during the 4th or 5th season, both shows would likely remain today.

Schooled's untimely ending is bittersweet. It not only updated ABC's tired family brand of sitcoms, but also creatively surpassed its parent series, The Goldberg's fading quality in later seasons. Starring former Goldbergs cast member AJ Michalka, the series focused on Lainey Lewis (now a teacher in the 90's) navigating students and the politics of a workplace. The premise was indeed valid and updated ABC's recycled family sitcom formula featuring a crazy mother, loopy father and a house full of children. The trouble was Schooled was outsourced from Sony, raising production cost compared to sitcoms in-house with ABC studios. Low ratings also played a factor as Schooled often only retained 75% of its ultra-compatible lead-in, The Goldbergs.

As examined by this site's series, Spinoff Stories, shows have a critical window of opportunity to generate a spinoff along with other factors. Shows which generate a spinoff when they have 3-4 seasons completed stand the highest odds of success: Private Practice enjoyed 6 seasons after being launched during Grey's Anatomy's 4th season, Empty Nest enjoyed 7 seasons after being launched out of The Golden Girls at that same age (read about that HERE), and Melrose Place successfully built its own brand during Beverly Hills, 90210's 3rd season (read about that HERE). Spinoffs which occur at the conclusion of a series also hold decent odds, as Frasier succeeded for 11 seasons following Cheers' ending. In the case of Schooled, ABC waited too long and launched during The Goldbergs' 6th season.

Other factors which add to success are tie-ins and recognizable cast members migrating over to the spinoff and crossovers from existing cast members. Schooled had all these elements with recurring Goldbergs cast members Tim Meadows and Bryan Callen being upped to contract status after sturdy exposure on The Goldbergs. And mainstays Troy Gentile, Hayley Orrantia and Wendi McLendon-Covey all sprinkled appearances. The feel was the same with the narrative, and the 90's remained the bubbled timeframe. By spring 2019 though, The Goldbergs began to age as plotting lacked innovation, viewers were forced to suspend disbelief and ratings were also tunneling lower.

A ratings powerhouse from 2014-18, The Goldbergs began hovering around the 1.0-1.3 range by 2019. A far cry from it's landmark 2.18 18-49 demo achieved from 2014-15. Showrunners examined a spinoff in the 2016-17 season when the series averaged a 1.72 rating and remained a sturdy launchpad at 8:00 and Modern Family the same at 9:00 with a 2.23 rating. By the time Schooled came into prominence, both sturdy shows faced massive declines as they aged and no longer possessed that launch power. Speechless debuted in the coveted space in 2016 and enjoyed a successful first season, debuting with a healthy 1.8 out of The Goldbergs' 2.0. Had a spinoff been in place at this time, it would have been a surefire hit if as well-constructed as Schooled. The following season also presented a ripe opportunity as The Goldbergs and Modern Family still held some launch power.

Schooled failed not because of writing and production but rather timing. A shame because had it launched in 2016 or 2017, it would be justifiable to keep handy in today's low-rated frontier as ABC needs as many players on deck as they can get their hands on. ABC passed on the original script for a spinoff in 2017, which would have been an opportune time. AJ Michalka was being phased out of the primary series due to storyline dictation and demonstrated she was capable of carrying an ensemble. The original spinoff centered on newly-introduced Nia Long, and was met with lukewarm results as a backdoor pilot in Season 5. Had Michalka been selected to carry the spinoff, Schooled could have been on the air for the 2017-18 season when The Goldbergs was still fresh.

Despite today's painful announcement, Schooled enjoyed 34 episodes and delivered quality television. Television is a business, and unfortunately Schooled came out on the losing end as its surrounding shows fell and faded. Thankfully, everything is streamed online and future viewers can enjoy the small taste of the magic that was Schooled.

[IllinoisTVFan]

Originally Posted by TMC

ABC Waited WAYYYYYY too long to spin Schooled out of The Goldbergs. If they would have done this during the 4th or 5th season, both shows would likely remain today.

Great article and parallels something I said upthread, which is they waited too long or should have waited after the Goldbergs.The fact is the Goldbergs has been one of the biggest hits of the last 10 years but at this point it's declining and only has 1-2 seasons left probably. Reminds me a lot of what happened to Happy Days. Days spun off two massive hits during the earlier times in Laverne and Shirley and Mork and Mindy. Towards the end they did Joanie Loves Chachi which flopped. Schooled though was much better than Joanie Loves Chachi but will be remembered in that category sadly.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by IllinoisTVFan

Great article and parallels something I said upthread, which is they waited too long or should have waited after the Goldbergs.The fact is the Goldbergs has been one of the biggest hits of the last 10 years but at this point it's declining and only has 1-2 seasons left probably. Reminds me a lot of what happened to Happy Days. Days spun off two massive hits during the earlier times in Laverne and Shirley and Mork and Mindy. Towards the end they did Joanie Loves Chachi which flopped. Schooled though was much better than Joanie Loves Chachi but will be remembered in that category sadly.

I was reading a bit on the subreddit for The Goldbergs. And what really caught my eye is that maybe Schooled shouldn't have existed in the first place. If they were going to make a spin-off about Lainey then maybe they should've focused on her and Erica's adventures in college together.

The timeline as it was set up for Schooled doesn't exactly make sense. For one thing, we don't exactly find out why Lainey failed as a rock star beyond "stuff happens". But more importantly, Schooled you can easily argue, takes place in an alternate future timeline from The Goldbergs. It was jarring to have Barry appear all the while Lainey was being clueless about CB or being close to realizing something. Basically at the end of the day, neither Lainey's relationships with CB or Barry on Schooled got any significant development.

Another problem that you can take into consideration for Schooled is that even though it was set in a high school, the kids on the show weren't as distinctive or memorable as the ones on The Goldbergs. I'm assuming that Felicia, Mr. Glascott's niece was the de facto "main kid" like in the original "1990-something" pilot, but they didn't want to go 100% with that. It didn't help that the A and B plots didn't crossover too much. You can argue that this has been a problem that The Goldbergs has been encountering lately.

[IllinoisTVFan]

Originally Posted by TMC

I was reading a bit on the subreddit for The Goldbergs. And what really caught my eye is that maybe Schooled shouldn't have existed in the first place. If they were going to make a spin-off about Lainey then maybe they should've focused on her an Erica's adventures in college together.

The timeline as it was set up for Schooled doesn't exactly make sense. For one thing, we don't exactly find out why Lainey failed as a rock star beyond "stuff happens". But more importantly, Schooled you can easily argue, takes place in an alternate future timeline from The Goldbergs. It was jarring to have Barry appear all the while Lainey was being clueless about CB or being close to realizing something. Basically at the end of the day, neither Lainey's relationships with CB or Barry on Schooled got any significant development.

Another problem that you can take into consideration for Schooled is that even though it was set in a high school, the kids on the show weren't as distinctive or memorable as the ones on The Goldbergs. I'm assuming that Felicia, Mr. Glascott's niece was the de facto "main kid" like in the original "1990-something" pilot, but they didn't want to go 100% with that. It didn't help that A and B plots didn't crossover too much, with you can argue has been a problem that The Goldbergs has been encountering lately.

Top 5 best Schooled episodes:


Top 5 worst episodes:

You must be on Reddit? I am too and yeah there are a few things they could have done. I get them spinning off the Goldbergs, it was a huge hit when they were discussing doing so (and still is a hit though the ratings), but they waited too long, or should have waited after Goldbergs ended. As much as I liked Schooled, there were things that never made sense, such as what happened before she returned to teach? Also, like you mentioned most of the kids aren't important. The only kid we saw more than once probably is his niece.

[D-Dey]

Originally Posted by IllinoisTVFan

I don't get it either. They renewed several shows way below Schooled's ratings like Blackish, Mixedish, American Housewife and Stumptown (which is ABC's lowest rated show). Not to mention it's a Goldberg spinoff.

And The Goldbergs will actually get an 8th Season.

[JamesG]

Interesting that the original idea never happened (remember that it wasn't picked up right away and they then decided to do Schooled later on).

I think it was originally going to be about Glascott (Tim Meadows) and his sister and her two daughters. Nia Long was going to be Glascott's sister.

Meadows was second to AJ Michalka in the final version.

[IllinoisTVFan]

Originally Posted by D-Dey

And The Goldbergs will actually get an 8th Season.

No surprise in that situation, the Goldbergs is one of the best shows of the last 10 years.

[tenter]

I can't believe why Schooled aren't getting season 3... disappointed

[IllinoisTVFan]

Originally Posted by tenter

I can't believe why Schooled aren't getting season 3... disappointed

What's even stranger is it's their fourth highest rated sitcom.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by JamesG

Interesting that the original idea never happened (remember that it wasn't picked up right away and they then decided to do Schooled later on).

I think it was originally going to be about Glascott (Tim Meadows) and his sister and her two daughters. Nia Long was going to be Glascott's sister.

Meadows was second to AJ Michalka in the final version.

I wonder if in hindsight, it was a mistake trying to make Lainey a focal point in her own show? I also wonder if Lainey was truly that popular of a character that she warranted a spin-off about her. I guess that it would kind of like if the powers that be thought we would be interested in seeing a show about Adam's on-again-off-again love interest, Dana and her family in Seattle. Or more directly, imagine if the network tried to build a show around Adam's "platonic" girlfriend Emmy. My point is that Lainey kind of functioned best as Erica's sidekick (which they're now trying to replicate with Ren in Lainey's absence).

It seemed like the makers of Schooled and the network brought in Lainey as a desperation move because the they were worried that we wouldn't be invested enough in a show that followed Glascott being a principal. So what we do get is a show that wants to both be about a principal trying to reign in his crazy staff and a washed up musician finding love with her dorky but adorable co-worker.