A Fan-Favorite Matt Reeves Television Series Was Just Canceled
A fan-favorite Matt Reeves series was just canceled after only one season. This is a tough blow for anyone who was watching.
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Matt Reeves is currently making headlines for all the right reasons, his directorial turn in The Batman is turning in positive reviews and there are already talks of a franchise. However, as with every filmmaker’s career, luck, goodwill, and success don’t follow at every turn. One such blot on Matt Reeves’ otherwise sparkling ledger is Ordinary Joe. According to a report on Comicbook.com, the NBC show, which Reeves had a hand in creating, has been canceled after only one season.
Matt Reeves’ involvement in Ordinary Joe goes all the way back to 2006 when he pitched and sold the project to NBC. From here on in Reeves’ creation was passed on to producers Russel Friend & Garrett Lerner. Ordinary Joe had no easy road in making it to screens. It wasn’t until early 2020 that a pilot was eventually ordered for the show. Along came the Covid-19 pandemic and all of a sudden a further delay was issued, halting production to 2021/2022. After all that hard toil and effort, it will undoubtedly be a shame for all those involved in the show that its tenure has been cut short. Co-creator of Ordinary Joe Garrett Lerner took to Twitter to express his thanks to all those that worked on the show. He went on to say he “couldn’t be more proud” of those who worked on the show.
According to various reports, the thirteen-episode first and only season of Matt Reeves’ creation had poor ratings and mixed reviews. This is likely to be the fuel behind NBC’s decision to pull the plug. Ordinary Joe starred James Wolk as the titular character, Joe. The premise showed three different parallel versions of Joe’s life, all a result of different choices made at an important crossroads in his life. James Wolk starred in the show alongside Natalie Martinez, Elizabeth Lail, Charlie Barnett, John Gluck, David Warshofsky and Ann Ramsay.
Several studios were also tied into the production of the show, among them was Matt Reeves’ 6th and Idaho studio. As well as this, the show was co-presented by 20th Television, Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group and 3 Arts. Some fans rang in with disappointment about the cancellation.
Ordinary Joe shows that despite the track record of the artists involved, things don’t always turn out as hoped. For instance, lead actor James Wolk had a prominent role in the recent Watchmen TV series. Matt Reeves’ record goes without saying, but he is having a great 2022 thus far with The Batman. Reeves also gained widespread acclaim for his work for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and its subsequent sequel. Not only that, but he has also had television success in the past as well. His co-creation Felicity with J J Abrams is listed on Time Magazine‘s all-time 100 tv shows.
As for the Ordinary Joe showrunners Russel Friend & Garrett Lerner, their back catalog includes executive producer work on hit medical drama House. Maybe for all involved Ordinary Joe is just a bump in the road and continued success is right around the corner. For Matt Reeves’ the latter seems an almost certainty with his refreshed take on The Batman, in cinemas now.
