Why Pretty Little Liars SpinOff The Perfectionists Was Canceled

Why Pretty Little Liars Spin-Off The Perfectionists Was Canceled

Despite good reviews, the Pretty Little Liars spinoff The Perfectionists was ultimately canceled after only one season. Here’s what happened.

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Why Pretty Little Liars SpinOff The Perfectionists Was Canceled

The show Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists lasted only one season, so what happened? When the original Pretty Little Liars ended after seven seasons, Freeform announced the spin-off, leaving PLL fans hopeful that The Perfectionists would help fill the void. However, Freeform abruptly canceled the series after just ten episodes, angering fans in the process and making many wonder what led to the cancellation when the reviews of The Perfectionists were generally good.

Followed by Pretty Little Liars: Ravenswood in 2014, The Perfectionists was the second PLL spinoff to last only one season. Pretty Little Liars showrunner I. Marlene King wrote The Perfectionists pilot episode and signed on as an executive producer. The show was planned as a stand-alone series based in the Pretty Little Liars universe. The spinoff starred Sasha Pieterse as Alison DiLaurentis and Janel Parrish as Mona Vanderwaal from the original Pretty Little Liars, along with several new characters. The Perfectionists centered on Alison and Mona after leaving Rosewood High behind to work at Beacon Heights University, where another murder mystery soon follows.

Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists garnered good reviews, and given the original PLL fan base, many assumed that the show would be renewed for a second season. After all, The Perfectionists had the benefit of a lived-in world and relied on the mystery setup of its parent show to lure viewers back in. Instead, Freeform canceled the spin-off after only a ten-episode first season; it was very short-lived despite the expectation of The Perfectionists going longer than it did. The abrupt ending shocked viewers, prompting outrage among fans who were left with a lot of questions about what happened to Ali and Mona. There are a few possible explanations for why the Pretty Little Liars show was canceled despite the positive reception. These include network transitions and viewership ratings.

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The original Pretty Little Liars served an integral role in transitioning ABC Family’s rebranding to Freeform. But ultimately, as the network evolved, Freeform started to focus its efforts on shows that targeted similar demographics as PLL, but ones that centered more on everyday people and the regular, day-to-day dramas of life. When The Perfectionists was canceled in 2019, shows like The Bold Type and Grown-ish had become some Freeform staples for that demographic. This is one reason why the network may have chosen not to renew the spinoff for season 2: the thriller series simply didn’t suit the brand at the time.

If the Pretty Little Liar’s spinoff had been more popular, the show still might have been saved. As it turned out, The Perfectionists simply didn’t garner enough of a following early on. This is most likely the main reason why the Pretty Little Liars spin-off was canceled after the first season. Comparing the numbers to PPL viewership, it’s easy to see that the following just wasn’t there: According to stats via The Hollywood Reporter, viewership ratings for Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists averaged under 300,000 views the night it aired. In comparison, the final season of Pretty Little Liars reached nearly 2 million viewers per episode — and that was after viewership had dropped off from higher ratings during earlier seasons.

It might seem unfair to compare the two shows because Pretty Little Liars had the benefit of growing its audience over time. There’s also the fact that live viewership has been steadily declining over the last several years and The Perfectionists would arguably never draw in the same viewership numbers as its predecessor did. Some fans may have been burned out from watching Pretty Little Liars as well; depending on how they felt about the series finale, The Perfectionists may have never stood a chance. However, there’s a chance for spinoff fans to get some closure with the HBO Max reboot of Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin, giving fans a reason to celebrate. Riverdale creator Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa has signed on to lead the reboot which will follow a whole new cast of characters in a brand new setting: the town of Millwood.

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Original Sin stars Sharon Leal, Elena Goode, and Lea Salonga, all of whom play mothers to the series’ main characters, and who all have secrets of their own from the past. While some fans may still not be onboard with a show that essentially starts over with new characters instead of following up with the ones they’ve come to know in Pretty Little Liars and The Perfectionists, Original Sin could try to draw in a new audience that could allow it to succeed in a way that The Perfectionists didn’t. Armed with Aguirre-Sacasa’s talent and the knowledge of what went wrong with Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists, there’s a reason for fans to hope that this time a Pretty Little Liars show will last for more than one season.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/pretty-little-liars-perfectionists-canceled-reason-reviews/

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