ABC Renews ‘American Crime,’ ‘The Catch’

ABC has renewed critically acclaimed anthology drama American Crime for a third season and Shondaland’s The Catch for a second.

American Crime’s renewal shouldn’t come as a surprise, despite its lackluster ratings performance. The emotionally gripping series from Oscar winner John Ridley (12 Years a Slave), earned 10 Emmy nominations for Season 1 — including a Regina King supporting actress win. Season 2 reset with an influx of new talent in a story that focused on the rape of an underprivileged male athlete at a prestigious private school. Season two averaged 6 million viewers and a 1.6 rating in A18-49.

The Catch’s renewal is surprising. The catch-me-if-you-can drama starring Mireille Enos and Peter Krause has drawn weak ratings, averaging 6.9 million viewers and a 1.6 in the key A18-49 demo. A show with a name other than Shonda Rhimes attached to it might have seen a different fate. The Catch was marred with backstage drama during development with showrunner/creator Jennifer Schuur clashing with producer Rhimes over the direction of the show. Allan Heinberg was brought in to retool the show, which led to recasting key parts and revamping characters. We were no fans of the new direction, and given the ratings, it doesn’t seem like the final product captivated audiences but I digress.

Also renewed were freshman comedies The Real O’Neals (a fantastic show by the way) and Dr. Ken.