MacGyver Cancelled After 5 Seasons
MacGyver‘s April 30 season finale has just turned into a series finale: CBS has cancelled the Lucas Till-fronted reboot after five seasons.
“All of us at CBS are extremely grateful for the incredible work and dedication from Lucas and the rest of the cast, as well as Monica, the writers and the entire crew,” said Kelly Kahl, President, CBS Entertainment, in a statement to Deadline. “The MacGyver team traveled far and wide to repeatedly save the world with little more than bubble gum and a paper clip and made this show distinctly their own. We’re gratified we get to give this dedicated and loyal fan base the opportunity to say goodbye to their favorite characters in the thoughtful manner this series deserves.”
Thus far this season, MacGyver is averaging 4.8 million total viewers and just over a 0.5 demo rating (in Live+Same Day numbers) — down 22 percent from Season 4. Out of the 14 original dramas CBS has aired this TV season, it ranks No. 9 in the demo and 10th in total audience.
MacGyver has weathered a tumultuous year off screen. Last summer, CBS terminated its relationship with EP Peter M. Lenkov for creating a toxic work environment. Two weeks later, Till revealed that he had endured numerous instances of verbal abuse, bullying, and body-shaming while working alongside Lenkov. “I’ve never worked this hard in my life, and I am fine with hard work,” Till told Vanity Fair. “But the way Peter treats people is just unacceptable. I was suicidal that first year on the show, because of the way he made me feel. But the way he’s treated the people around me — that’s just my breaking point.”
In an Instagram post that followed Tuesday’s cancellation news, Till wrote, “The past five years have been what I will look on later as the most formative years of my life. Lots of tough, lots of love. I made life long friends, actually no, family. I learned to push myself to new limits, breaking through and through and through. Was nervous to take up the mantle of an icon and you guys allowed me into your homes and accepted me. I’m like the Roger Moore of MacGyvers now thanks to your support.”
This is CBS’ third high-profile cancellation so far this year, following the previously-announced deaths of NCIS: New Orleans and Mom. It comes as the network is readying new offshoots of NCIS and FBI, as well as the return of CSI.
TVLine’s 2021 Broadcast Renewal Scorecard has been updated to reflect MacGyver‘s cancellation.
Booooo!!!!!
Magnum PI is what I would have cut, such a boring show compared to what CBS Friday has been for years. Still miss the 1,2,3 punch of Macgyver, Hawaii 5-0, and Blue Bloods. All 3 great shows with something for everyone. Hopefully they can bring back Jack to end the show.
Jack’s character is dead.
Dunb decision to kill Jack off.
Uhm, the actor walked off set a number of times, refusing to film, and was let out of his contract early. He no longer was willing to work with the cast or crew. The show didn’t kill his character off, he did.
Not quite the whole story. IIRC when he agreed to the role they said they’d make sure he’d have time with his family back home with his new kid, and they reneged on that, and eventually he had enough because he wanted to raise his daughter.
He did not refuse to film. The show was not going to be filmed from Atlanta, a place too far for him to see his daughter. He asked many times that they let him go see her and they didn’t always let him. He is to be congratulated on the attitude he put his daughter first. He did not want to leave the series. But the attitudes of some forced him to do so. I consider him to be a great person with a high scale of values. According to statements from Lucas, which I have read, George helped him a lot in the beginning of the series. CBS did not defend him against Lenkov
@Angelo, if they agreed he should’ve made sure it was in his contract. He’s the same actor from CSI:LV who refused to show up for work because he wanted more money.
To be fair to George Eady, we don’t actually know whether any of those alleged incidents really happened, and if they did, what led to them.
The reason I’m saying this is because I recently listened to Lucas Till as a guest on a podcast where he spoke, among other things, about Peter Lenkov’s many and varied abuses of power. Till said that Lenkov would often pick on the cast and impose untenable schedules or conditions on set in order to provoke the cast into talking back or complaining, and whenever somebody did that, Lenkov would paint the offending actor as demanding or difficult to work with. He then briefly mentioned that there was one Macgyver co-star in particular who wasn’t willing to tolerate Lenkov’s behavior and stood up to him often.
Till was extremely careful not to name any names other than his own, but I got the impression that he was more than likely referring to George Eads there. Eads was, objectively speaking, the cast member who had the least to lose by standing up to Lenkov. Everybody else on the cast was on the younger side and mostly with smaller credits on their resume, whereas Eads was coming off of a 15-year run as a series regular on CSI, which I’m sure came with a matching lucrative salary. If nothing else, Eads could financially afford to stand up to an unreasonable showrunner and ultimately choose to walk away rather than stay in that environment.
tl;dr: Given the recent expose of Peter Lenkov’s behavior, whatever George Eads may or may not have done or said on set, we can’t possibly know for sure that it wasn’t provoked.
Still helped to start the beginning of the end. It would have been worth it to get creative in order to keep the character. Jack Dalton was the perfect foil for MacGyver’s character and provided a comic side as well that was lost.
Syndication is basically dead, so 4 or 5 seasons for newer shows probably all you will get, mpi is an interesting deal as it is co-owned, but filmed in Hawaiian studio that cbs owns, so after the studio space is paid for the show cost next to nothing to make
I agree
Touche! Magnum is ridiculous. Used to be good with Hawaii 5-0.
I loved MacGyver, in fact I liked it better than Magnum PI and Blue Blood. So I’m not happy CBS is canceling it. Friday’s you should continue MacGyver, put the Equalizer and Clarice all on Friday. NCIS New Orleans was the one I liked the most out if all the NCIS. What show is taking MacGyver, hopefully not Hawaii 5 O.
Super duper not happy about it. Not overly surprised but not happy. I love this show and will miss Mac and the team
Is this due to that lawsuit as to wether the show is a spin-off, remake, or reboot.
I loved this show I am sorry they feel they have to cancel it
Making room for NCIS: Hawaii is my guess. I’m sad…. I love Mac and crew :(
Me too
My thoughts exactly. Now we probably know where the new NCIS:Hawaii will be put on the schedule. Lol. Sorry to see this one go.
That’s what I’m thinking. Magnum P.I. will probably stay where it is & NCIS: Hawaii will likely air before it, just like H50 did.
they don’t need to since they cancelled NO, which I think LA should have been instead of NO
They probably want to pair it with Magnum which is set in Hawaii….
Will just watch Blue Bloods on Friday nights because there is nothing else on that night. Less shows to DVR if I ever get to go to a high school football game ever again.
Finally.
The show has steadily declined over the last 2 seasons ever since George Eads left.
100%
I liked it better without him, but it definitely hasn’t been good.
totally agree. George Eads was a great engine of the show
Absolutely. The show was never the same after he left.
Agree completely. Never cared for desi at all and the romance between her and Mac feels very forced
I totally agree. The character of Desi sucked the life out of the show. Absolutely no chemistry between Mac and Desi either.
None! Totally wanted him to get with Riley!
Why? Where did the romance between Riley and Mac come from?
Yes. When George Eads left the show it was missing fun, crazy, excitement and spontaneity. I don’t mind the characters Desi and Russel but they do not bring anything much to the show.
As always a show i love to watch is being canceled while all the stupid reality shows stay on
Me too.
There’s no correlation between reality shows and dramas in terms of priorities, especially with CBS.
In fact, the network has more scripted in its line-up than they do with their reality programming.
They keep reality shows because a) they’re cheap to make and b) you don’t need much of a brain to keep up with them. Reality rubbish like that dreadful Kardashian crap keeps the simpletons happy sadly while those of us, who like our brains to be taxed somewhat, get shafted when our favourite shows get cancelled.
PBS is your friend.
Amen!!
They should have stuck with the team working cases and not strayed with all the stupid romance crap. That was killing what was otherwise a great show with great momentum. That’s my two cents anyway.
Absolutely
100% agreed with all the stupid romance crap.
Agreed. Also would have preferred a smaller cast like the original show, with Mac teaming up with whoever was required or whoever he met along the way.
.
As others have said though, pretty clear where NCIS Hawaii will go on the schedule and no doubt there will be some crossover with Magnum, PI as they are already indirectly in the same universe.
I loved this show I am sorry they feel they have to cancel a good show
From the way CBS worded their statement, I think this decision was made long ago. They talk about giving the show a proper ending.
They filmed the episodes almost a year ago with the last season and just split it in half. So they did probably know then and are able to give it a proper ending.
Some episodes carried over but there were new episodes with a new showrunner and new writers.
I’ve seen mixed signals on whether they got the news in time to craft a series finale.
After looking into which episodes were filmed last year and then the new writers this year, and then how they aired them, it makes sense why sometimes the character arcs seem to be jumping around. I wish they would have stuck with the main design of the episodes that they started with — opening the show being in a hot mess, then getting a new mission. And having a larger issue/bad guy to fight all season.
I expect Lucas Till won’t have long to wait for his next series. The problem with this show was the writing.
What Crap!
Very sad to hear that MacGyver ,an excellent show with a very talented cast is ending. Looking forward to a very deserving final episode. Please relay my thanks and appreciation to cast,crew,production staff,and writers. Wishing them all future success in their careers. Hope to see you all in future productions.
It seems cbs is determined to cancel all of the best shows.For several seasons I turn to CBS at 7 and stay there until 11:00
I wonder what channel / station I will be watching next fall.
I enjoy this show, but the introduction of Desi really change the dynamic, and putting her and Mac together was a mistake. They had zero chemistry and had nothing in common. When Jack was on the show, the banter was light and airy. But the introduction of Desi darkened the show and the tone.
I agree. Never liked her.
My sentiments exactly!! Zero chemistry… was definitely looking forward to MacRiley.
The last week’s episode ended any potential romance w MacRiley.
agreed
So true. What I thought from Desi’s arrival. No chemistry.
I’m so sad 😭 however as long as they give us an ending worthy of the 5 years of stories and laughter, I’ll be okay. I need 3 things in specific
1. MacRiley (most important)
2. An awesome episode where Riley’s prison hacker ladies get focused on more
3. A good non cliffhanger ending regarding the whole nano tracker deal
Sucks I like the show. I honestly always thought it was hanging on by a thread, but was always happy when it was renewed. I really enjoyed the show.
I was a regular watcher and will miss the show
Very disappointed in CBS. This was a good family show. How many spin offs of NCIS and FBI do you need?
FBI was supposed to replace Criminal minds, but I don’t really care for either show
I’m not going to deny that MacGyver had good actors. But it must be said that George Eads’ departure was a before and after. Unfortunately, CBS failed to defend a great actor who was the center of the series.
This was quite literally the last* current series left on the that I have been watching. I can’t explain it but it was good comfort food and almost everything else feels like a lecture these days. I guess it’s good bye to new TV for me, I’ll just have to rewatch the old stuff.
* sorry – one of the the last 2 series. I still check in on Chicago fire now and then.
Really sad about this one! I always enjoyed this one, always one I wanted to watch live! Here’s to a great send-off! Although I’m really bummed to not see an actual MacRiley relationship on screen. But here’s to hoping they at least end up together! 🤞🏼 And from what it sounds like, they knew this was coming so I hope they get their send off!
I didn’t think so. The MacRiley thing was kind of resolved in last week’s episode.
So sad MacGyver is cancelled. Loved that show. But glad that the actors especially Lucas spoke out. ❤️❤️
I was so excited for that one… and it was so unwatchable. I had the rare experience of not even being able to finish the first season.
Time to cancel CBS for good, sick and tired of good shows being canceled