![The Wonder Years TV show ABC: canceled or renewed for season 3?](https://tvseriesfinale.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/wonderyears29-590x393.jpg)
(Photo by: ABC/Matt Miller)
Dean Williams’ journey won’t continue for a third season. The Wonder Years has been cancelled by ABC. The second season of ten episodes finished airing a month ago.
A coming-of-age comedy series, The Wonder Years TV show was inspired by the original 1988 series. This incarnation stars Don Cheadle, Elisha “EJ” Williams, Dule Hill, Saycon Sengbloh, Laura Kariuki, Julian Lerner, Amari O’Neil, and Milan Ray. Guests in season two include Patti LaBelle, Wayne Brady, Tituss Burgess, Donald Faison, Phoebe Robinson, and Bradley Whitford. Set in the late 1960s, the series takes a nostalgic look at the Williams family — Black middle-class residents of Montgomery, Alabama. The story is told through the point of view of Dean (Williams), the imaginative 12-year-old son of Bill (Hill) and Lillian Williams (Sengbloh), and the younger brother of Kim (Kariuki). Dean’s friends include Cory (O’Neil), Brad (Lerner), and Keisa (Ray), Dean’s secret crush. Dean narrates the story, looking back at his childhood as an adult (Cheadle). His hopeful and humorous recollections of his past spotlight the ups and downs of growing up in that time and place and the friendship, laughter, and lessons Dean encountered along the way.
Airing on Wednesday nights this summer, the second season of The Wonder Years averaged a 0.21 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 1.78 million viewers. Compared to season one, that’s down by 50% in the demo and down by 25% in viewership in the live+same day ratings (includes DVR playback through 3:00 AM).
A year-to-year decline was not unexpected given that season two was delayed until summer when audience levels are lower. There were also 13 months between the end of the first season and the start of the second.
Hill reacted to the cancellation on Instagram and wrote:
“Be cool…. when chapter ends, another begins. Congrats to Saladin Patterson, this talented cast and our amazing crew on bringing this beautiful story to our TV screens for the last two seasons. I had hoped to share this story a little bit longer but that’s how it goes sometimes in this thing called show business. Grateful. What’s next?”
Original series cast member Danica McKeller responded to Hill’s post and wrote, “Oh no! Thank you for continuing our legacy in a beautiful way.”
Williams wrote to Hill, saying, “You will never stop being an inspiration to me. Been an honor being a part of this show with you. Cheers to what the future holds.”
The fates of The Rookie: Feds, Home Economics, and The Good Lawyer pilot are still up in the air.
What do you think? Have you watched The Wonder Years TV series on ABC? Are you disappointed that the show wasn’t renewed for a third season?
Original version was much better
I am extremely angry about this! I loved watching that series. It was smart, funny, insightful…but let’s continue with more ridiculous bachelor and dancing shows. Ugh!
Good. Come up with original ideas.
Couldn’t care less about this show. I didn’t appeal to me. Not a fan of all the reboots! Get some new ideas people!
A summer showing and extended time between seasons are poor excuses because if something is good, people will watch it, especially those that would have enjoyed the first season.
I find this programme overhyped in the first place and it simply failed to meet the false hype.
Very sorry to hear that. It was nostalgic and bittersweet, which meant it didn’t have as good a chance to survive as it needed. I’ll miss it!
What? They can’t do that! Can’t they just find another network to pick it up for a third season?
This was a big disappointment from the start. I thought it would be similar to the original one, like maybe about Kevin and his kids but it was way off. I watched the first show and didn’t watch it after than.
Maybe come up with some unique & new ideas for shows???
It had terrible ratings, how it even got a 2nd season is beyond me
It was a well-done series, but not surprised that ABC cancelled it after dumping it into the summer months.
Really enjoyed the show -it seems unfair the time of year the second season aired was summer when people are not watching tv
Not fair second season was setup for failure -summertime when people don’t watch tv
Bummer, really enjoyed this show.
Expected after they dumped it in the summer, but still a shame. I quite enjoyed the show.