(Photo by: Nicole Wilder/Showtime)
Joanna’s tale won’t continue on Showtime. I Love That for You has been cancelled so it won’t be returning for a second season on the cable channel. The first season of eight episodes aired a year ago.
A comedy series, the I Love That for You TV show stars Vanessa Bayer, Molly Shannon, Jenifer Lewis, Paul James, Ayden Mayeri, Matt Rogers, and Punam Patel with Johnno Wilson in a recurring role. The story is inspired by Bayer’s own story of overcoming childhood leukemia. Joanna Gold (Bayer) dreams of becoming a host at a home shopping channel. Working to shed her life-long label as “that cancer girl,” she moves away from her parents and starts a budding romance for the first time in her adult life. Joanna also forms a meaningful friendship with her idol, Jackie (Shannon), the charismatic star of the shopping channel. This all happens against the backdrop of a highly competitive workplace where people play dirty to succeed. The CEO of the popular channel is Patricia (Lewis), the icy and enigmatic founder.
Airing on Sunday nights, the first season of I Love That for You averaged a 0.01 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 65,000 viewers in the live+same day ratings (including DVR playback through 3:00 AM). It was one of Showtime’s lower-rated shows. in the traditional ratings but much of the channel’s viewership often comes from streaming and delayed viewing.
Saturday Night Live vet Bayer co-created I Love That For You with Jeremy Beiler. The pair served as executive producers alongside showrunner Jessi Klein and Michael Showalter.
Deadline reports that there had been efforts internally to get the show renewed, and co-star Rogers claimed that a second season had already been written. The show’s production company, Annapurna, is expected to shop the series elsewhere, with Showtime’s support.
“I Love That for You has completed its run on Showtime,” a spokesperson for the network said in a statement. “We want to thank Vanessa, Jeremy, and Jessi, along with the incredible cast and crew for their hard work and wish them the best going forward.”
It’s worth noting that none of Showtime’s shows have been renewed since December, following a change in management. Let the Right One In, American Gigolo, and The L Word: Generation Q have all been cancelled, while other shows, that were in the works, have been let go and picked up by other outlets.
The cable channel will soon be rebranded as Paramount+ with Showtime as a linear channel, and the content will be integrated into the Paramount+ streaming service.
According to Deadline, new content will fit into one of three lanes:
Complex characters and subversive antiheroes like Dexter, Your Honor and Yellowjackets; High-stakes powerful worlds like Billions and Homeland; and Culturally diverse takes like The Chi and the upcoming Fellow Travelers.
What do you think? Have you enjoyed watching the I Love That for You TV show? Are you disappointed that it’s been cancelled and won’t have a second season on Showtime? Would you watch season two elsewhere?