Sometimes a cliffhanger-filled finale can force a network’s hand on a renewal.
Other times, a cliffhanger-filled pilot can simply leave fans feeling frustrated and unfulfilled after a cancellation.
Regular viewers of “The Nine Lives of Chloe King” find themselves in the latter camp, as ABC Family has opted not to renew the first-year drama after only 10 increasingly low-rated episodes.
First to report the news was EW.com.
Based on the novel series by Liz Braswell, “The Nine Lives of Chloe King” featured Skyler Samuels in the title role, as a young woman who learns on her 16th birthday that she’s a Mai, part of an ancient race with cat-like powers, but some very problematic mortal enemies. But Chloe wasn’t just Mai, she was The Chosen One, blessed (or cursed) with nine lives (losing one in the premiere). The same, alas, could not be said for the series, which drew only two million viewers in its June launch, a figure that has slipped to nearly half that by August.
The show’s August 16 finale, included at least a half-dozen cliffhangers, with Chloe dying for the second time. As the episode ended, three of her Mai friends were in serious jeopardy, her mother had been abducted and one of her two love interests was possibly dead (or maybe just in a coma), since bad things happen when humans and Mai kiss.
My full discussion of the wacky “Chloe King” finale is here. Sadly, we won’t know how any of it turned out.
As recently as last week, the fate of “The Nine Lives of Chloe King” had yet to be determined, but with fellow summer premieres “Switched at Birth” and “The Lying Game” drawing bigger audiences (and a full month post-finale without a decision), signs were bleak.