Last Friday, it was announced that Prime Video’s comedy series, “A League of Their Own,” was canceled. That’s nothing too crazy, at first glance, right? Shows get canceled all the time, especially in this era of streamers cutting expenses. However, much like what Netflix did with “GLOW” and what Prime Video also recently did with “Peripheral,” ‘League’ was canceled after a second season (though shortened) was already ordered. As you might expect, this news, as well as the reasoning behind the decision, rubbed ‘League’ star-writer-producer-creator Abbi Jacobson the wrong way.
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In an Instagram post published shortly after the news was announced, Abbi Jacobson shared her response to “A League of Their Own” getting canceled before an ordered second season was produced. Though the response is generally positive, as Jacobson shared her love of the experience of making the series, there is clear frustration when she mentioned how Prime Video canceled the series due to the ongoing SAG and WGA strikes.
“What luck I have had to get to tell these stories and play this character I love so much. What a rare thing in life. And so I am sad today,” Jacobson wrote. “To blame this cancellation on the strike, (which is an essential fight for fair wages, protections and working conditions, etc…) is bullshit and cowardly. But this post isn’t about all that. About all the ways this show has been put through the ringer. Not today.”
She continued, “This post here is about the special show I was lucky to make with so many incredibly talented artists and actors and writers and crew. A show I’m so proud of. Filled to the brim with stories worth telling. Full of so much heart and soul and value. Thank you for watching. To the five.”
Obviously, there are only a few people who know the full story as to why ‘League’ was canceled in such an unceremonious way. That said, it doesn’t take a deep knowledge of studio systems to deduce what happened. You see, “A League of Their Own” was effectively canceled once before after Season 1. At that time, it was said to have been the result of low viewership and whatever reasons streamers typically give for canceling beloved shows. Eventually, that decision was reversed and a second season was ordered with a drastically reduced episode count. While not ideal, it was seen as a clear win for the fans who were hoping to get some sort of resolution to the series.
Now, under the guise of ongoing strikes (though they are clearly having a major impact on the industry), it appears Prime Video is taking the opportunity to go back to its original decision and cancel the series outright, without giving the promised resolution. Clearly, this is a much worse course of events for fans and those working on “A League of Their Own.” To save the series, only to watch it get canceled twice is way more difficult to process than in the studio just outright canceled it the first time and stuck with it.
Alas, that’s what happened and now Jacobson and the rest of the folks who worked on the series are forced to step away from the series with no resolution in place.
You can see Jacobson’s full post below: