Abby’s was cancelled after just one season.
Star of Abby’s, Natalie Morales, has slammed NBC after the broadcaster cancelled the show, which featured a bisexual lead, after just one season.
The series, which centered around an “unlicensed, makeshift bar” run from the title character’s backyard, was cancelled following a decline in viewership over its one season run.
When asked about the cancellation of the series on The Daily Beast’s The Last Laugh podcast, Morales said: ” I was really disappointed. It sucked. It sucked really hard. I think we did a really great thing. And I’m really proud of what we did.”
She then blamed the station for the lack of viewing figures, saying they’d failed to advertise the sitcom sufficiently. “If I’m being honest, it’s bullshit to tout all of these firsts and all this inclusion and all this diversity and then not market the show whatsoever,” she said.
“Not that I’m not thankful for the people that put it on the air. I just feel like, if you’re going to say that you’re about diversity, then actually walk the walk.”
Morales said that Abby’s was NBC’s first-ever show that got no ‘outdoor advertising.’
“So much for diversity!” she quipped.
However, Morales went on to say that the whole incident had made her want to move into producing works. “I’m in this weird crossroads moment,” she said.
“I can either focus on other people’s creations and act in them or direct them. But I’ve been amassing this huge pile of stuff that I’ve written that I’m really excited about making.”
Earlier this year, Natalie Morales emphasised the importance of playing a bisexual lead. When asked, in an interview with Autostraddle, she said: “It’s so important to tell stories about marginalised people, but if we tell stories that reduce them always and only to the ways they’re marginalised, it just perpetuates the problem.”
She later added: “Sometimes a person’s sexuality is at the forefront of their life. Sometimes it’s just one of the many, many things about them—and those can be different things at different times.”