CBS is seceding from the United States of Al. The Eye network has cancelled the Chuck Lorre comedy after two seasons, our sister site Deadline reports.
Al‘s sophomore run has been averaging 5.9 million total weekly viewers and a 0.6 demo rating (with Live+7 playback), steady in audience and down just a tick in the demo from its Season 1 tallies. Out of the seven sitcoms CBS has aired this TV season, it ranks fifth in audience and ties for No. 5 in the demo.
United States of Al, which bowed in April 2021 as a midseason replacement, focused on the friendship between Riley (Enlisted‘s Parker Young), a Marine combat veteran struggling to readjust to civilian life in Ohio, and Awalmir aka “Al” (Rules of Engagement‘s Adhir Kalyan), the interpreter who served with his unit in Afghanistan and had just arrived to start a new life in America. Kelli Goss (The Ranch), Elizabeth Alderfer (Disjointed), Farrah Mackenzie (Utopia) and Dean Norris (Breaking Bad) co-starred.
The sitcom shifted gears for its Season 2 premiere, opening its sophomore run with a powerful reaction to the crisis in Afghanistan, where in the wake of U.S. troop withdrawals last summer the Taliban military organization took over. The installment — which saw the Dugan family rally around Al as he desperately tried to get his sister out of his homeland — earned Kalyan the title of TVLine’s Performer of the Week.
While United States of Al won’t be back for the 2022-23 season, CBS previously handed renewals to fellow sitcoms Bob Hearts Abishola (for Season 4), Ghosts (for Season 2) and The Neighborhood (for Season 5, new showrunner TBA). Young Sheldon, currently in Season 5, was already renewed through Season 7.
The cancellation caps United States of Al‘s run at 35 episodes.
TVLine’s handy Renewal/Cancellation Scorecard has been updated to reflect United States of Al‘s fate. Hit the comments with your reactions to the news.
