‘Pitch’ Officially Cancelled After One Season at Fox

Elizabeth Wagmeister

It’s official: “Pitch” has struck out.

Fox has cancelled the baseball drama, after one 10-episode season. Executive producer Kevin Falls tweeted the news on Monday evening, also posting, “Thank you to our faithful fans for trying so hard to save us.”

Though “Pitch” was one of the most hotly anticipated new series of the 2016-2017, the cancellation is not a surprise. Despite the early buzz, the baseball drama never connected with viewers, averaging a 0.8 live-plus-same day Nielsen rating in the 18-49 demo and 3 million total viewers per episode. Following its first 10 episodes, Fox did not go forth with a back-order, signaling the imminent cancellation.

Premiering in September 2016, “Pitch” last aired in early December of last year. However, Fox executives remained optimistic about the show, telling reporters in January that no decision had been made yet. “We were very proud of ‘Pitch,’ Fox boss Gary Newman said at the Television Critics Association press tour. “We would have loved to have a bigger audience.”

“Pitch” was a fictional series about the first female baseball player in the MLB, played by breakout star Kylie Bunbury, who made “Variety’s TV 10 Stars to Watch” list last year. She starred alongside Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Ali Larter, Mark Consuelos, Dan Lauria, Michael Beach, Bob Balaban, Mo McRae, Meagan Holder and Tim Jo.

The series was the first broadcast show to work with MLB. Ahead of its premiere, the drama garnered good reviews across the board, including Variety‘s review, which stated, “‘Pitch’ has swagger, for good reason. It gets the big things right; the Fox drama about the first female baseball player in the Major Leagues is one of the year’s most assured and exciting debuts.”

Created by Dan Fogelman and Rick Singer, “Pitch” was exec produced by Falls, Tony Bill, Helen Bartlett, Jess Rosenthal and Paris Barclay who directed the pilot. 20th Century Fox TV is the studio.

“Pitch” is one of the first bubble shows to be cancelled, signaling the start of the wave of decisions coming in the next couple of weeks, as the broadcast networks head into Upfronts.

Daniel Holloway contributed to this report.

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