What A Surprise: Fox Cancels Another Decent Sci-Fi Series

Fox has pulled the plug on J.J. Abrams’ sci-fi drama, Almost Human, starring TV show killer, Michael Ealy, and box-office poison, Karl Urban, both of whom are fantastic in the series. It’s not that Almost Human’s ratings were terrible, either. They compared favorably to The Following, but it was an expensive show, and when Fox had to decide which to pick up, they clearly chose the one with two seasons already under its belt.

I liked Almost Human, although I would’ve liked it more had it shed its mostly procedural format and explored a series’ long mythology more. With such a compelling sci-fi premise (though, one that was very familiar), they should have also developed the futurist world better. But, the procedural format is the sort of thing you do when you’re trying to gain a following, and a second or third season might have allowed the series to explore deeper sci-fi themes. It didn’t help that the episodes were also aired out of order.

At any rate, Fox simply didn’t have room for another tepidly rated drama on its schedule, what with the Batman sequel Gotham in the works, as well as The Red Band Society and Empire likely to show up on the fall schedule, they kicked Almost Human to the curb.

The good news is, it frees Karl Urban to continue pursuing a sequel to the box-office disaster Dredd, which has rightfully gained a nice following on DVD and streaming. I also suspect that series creator J.J. Abrams wasn’t too bothered by the cancellation, since he was busy announcing the cast of Star Wars.

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