Fan-Favorite Series From Michael B. Jordan Was Just Canceled
61st Street, which was executive produced by Michael B. Jordan, has been canceled by AMC.
Media companies worldwide are going through a bit of reshuffling, which means there are plenty of programs that are unfortunately being canceled due to these new business measures. AMC has now canceled the fan-favorite 61st Street series, which saw Michael B. Jordan serving as an executive producer. Even stranger is that the second season of 61st Street had already been shot, but AMC no longer wants to show it on the network.
AMC is going through a few money woes, much in the same way that Netflix and Disney have been going through. The company announced that some cost-cutting measures would be enacted last month, which included a total of $475 million of write-downs from its current budget. Canceling 61st Street was part of that budget cut, as $400 million of that total was going towards “strategic programming assessments.”
61st Street could have been canceled for its scores on Rotten Tomatoes. Currently, the series has a 71 percent critic approval rating and a 68 percent audience approval rating on the rating website. While those scores are certainly not the worst, they are also likely not enough for AMC to want to keep the series going, especially if downsizing their program slate is what needs to happen. That does not mean that another network could swoop in and save the series.
61st Street follows Moses Johnson, a young black man who is pegged as a gangbanger when a police officer is killed during a failed drug bust. Franklin Roberts is set to retire as Chicago’s public defender but takes up Johnson’s case, as he sees the chance to upend the entire judicial system, proving the systemic racism that is deeply embedded within. The entirety of the show was made with a ton of research on the history of Chicago and the life experiences of producer/writer J. David Shanks, who worked as a police officer in Chicago before entering the world of film and TV.
61st Street stars Courtney B. Vance as Franklin Roberts, Tosin Cole as Moses Johnson, Bentley Green as Joshua Johnson, and many more. Michael B. Jordan served as executive producer on the series along with Jeff Freilich, Alana Mayo, Peter Moffat, Hilary Salmon, and J. David Shanks. The first season contained eight episodes and was meant to be part of a two-season event, though now the conclusion of the said event is not going to happen.
Sadly, despite 61st Street filming its second season, this epic story will not be moving forward at AMC. Again, that could mean that the show is going to find some way to move to another streaming company or network, but AMC could also not be willing to sell the rights to the series. Canceling shows seems to be commonplace for a lot of streaming companies right now, and very rarely do previously canceled shows find a way to be produced again.
For now, everyone can watch 61st Street on AMC and see if the show stirs up any kind of emotion for a social media campaign to be brought up to attempt to save the series and allow the second season to be shown.
