“Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll” comedy series cancelled at FX

PanARMENIAN.Net - It's the end of the road for FX comedy Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll. Sources confirm to The Hollywood Reporter that the Denis Leary starrer will not return for a third season. FX declined comment.

Created by, starring and exec produced by the Rescue Me alum, the comedy ended its second season last week after averaging 680,000 total viewers with three days of DVR. Produced by FX Productions and Fox 21 Television Studios, that's down considerably from its freshman run when the comedy co-starring John Corbett ranked as the third-most-watched new primetime scripted comedy on basic cable among total viewers and adults under 50 (with seven days of DVR). Among the advertiser-coveted adults 18-49 demo, SDRR drew only 305,000 total viewers with three days of DVR.

Speaking to reporters at TCA, FX president Landgraf said he uses a formula when determining renewals and cancelations. "I and my team get one vote, you and the other experts get one vote and the audience gets one vote. Two votes gets a show picked up, but we overrule a two-to-one vote against us for a time if we believe either the audience or the experts will come around based on the quality of the show," he said.

The decision to cancel SDRR comes days after FX opted not to continue with a third season of Howard Gordon's Middle Eastern-set drama Tyrant, though producers Fox 21 insist there's a future for the series and are shopping it to streaming outlets.

The demise of SDRR comes as music series continue to struggle to find the right tone, though THR chief TV critic Tim Goodman called the FX rock 'n' roll comedy a "note-perfect look at music, aging and family." For their part, HBO opted to cancel 1970s drama Vinyl after preemptively renewing it for a second season and ABC canceled country music drama Nashville, though the latter was revived at little watched Viacom cabler CMT. Meanwhile, the future of Showtime's Cameron Crowe music drama Roadies remains up in the air.

With the cancellation, FX's comedy roster includes Baskets, Louie, Atlanta, Better Things and FXX's You're the Worst, Man Seeking Woman, It's Always Sunny and Archer.