B Positive receives cancellation diagnosis at CBS
It's a negative diagnosis for B Positive, which won't be back for a third season.
CBS has canceled the sitcom created by Marco Pennette, which centered on Drew (Thomas Middleditch), a therapist and divorced dad who finds himself in need of a kidney donor. When he runs into Gina (Annaleigh Ashford), a rough-around-the-edges woman from his past, she volunteers her own kidney; the two then form an unlikely friendship that alters their lives.
Chuck Lorre executive produced the series that also starred Jane Seymour, Linda Lavin, Ben Vereen, and Bernie Kopell. The second season, which concluded in March, shifted focus to Gina, who decided to purchase Valley Hills, the retirement home she works at, after inheriting a large sum of money. The cancellation comes after Pennette departed the series ahead of the season 2 premiere last October. The series was inspired by the creator's own personal experiences.
Michael Yarish/CBS Annaleigh Ashford and Thomas Middleditch in 'B Positive'
In an interview with TVLine in March, Lorre said there had been no renewal discussions at the time, admitting he was "nervous" about the uncertainty. (Like the recently canceled United States of Al, B Positive had been on the bubble over at CBS.) "There are no guarantees," he said. "The only thing I tried to focus on was making a great show every week, because the results are out of my hands. But the process of making the show worth watching — to build a show that's worth watching when the audience has so many other choices — that's the only thing I can focus on."
Lorre continued, "If I get caught up in the results, the Nielsen ratings or whatever, and what CBS chooses to do, I'm going to be very unhappy, so I try and stay out of that and just work on making the right choices — each scene, each moment, every piece of dialogue, every storyline, every piece of casting. The results belong to someone else." At the time, Lorre also shared his hopes for a potential season 3.
"There is the hope for a season 3 exploring a genuine relationship between Gina and Drew," he said. "There are [still going to be] life-and-death issues that are inevitable among the residents of Valley Hills … and we also have built in this ongoing, cutthroat competition with Golden Horizons, this threat from a corporate entity ... I've worked with Ryan Cartwright [who plays Asher] before on Mom and Big Bang Theory. He's just terrific as the cruel, callous, heartless face of this corporation."
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