American Auto Cancelled at NBC

NBC is shutting down production on American Auto, cancelling the satirical workplace comedy after two seasons, TVLine has confirmed.

Season to date, American Auto has averaged 2.3 million total viewers and a 0.3 demo rating (with Live+7 playback), down 15 and 40 percent from its freshman numbers (2.7 mil/0.5). Out of the five sitcoms that NBC has aired this TV season, it ranks No. 3 in audience and ties for third in the demo (besting only Grand Crew, which was also recently cancelled, along with Young Rock).

UPDATE: Star Ana Gasteyer tweeted about the cancellation Friday. “I really loved this opportunity,” she wrote, “everyone on the creative team, the writers, the crew and of course, the ensemble made magic. Lucky me.”

Created by Justin Spitzer (Superstore), the sitcom was set at the corporate headquarters of the Detroit-based Payne Motors, run by former pharmaceutical CEO Katherine Hastings (played by Ana Gasteyer). The cast also included Harriet Dyer as CCO Sadie Ryan; Jon Barinholtz as Wesley Payne, the grandson of the company’s retired CEO; Humphrey Ker as General Counsel Elliot Chisholm; Michael B. Washington as Chief Product Designer Cyrus Knight; Tye White as assembly line worker-turned-executive suit Jack Fortin; and X Mayo as Katherine’s assistant Dori Ovens.

NBC did, however, recently order to series St. Denis Medical, a mockumentary-style comedy created by Spitzer that stars Wendi McLendon-Covey (The Goldbergs) and David Alan Grier (The Carmichael Show); go here for more details.

In American Auto‘s Season 2 finale, which aired April 18, Katherine scored an unexpected win with sales of the unimpressive Pika car, allowing her and her team to keep their jobs. Now, “she can start meeting the company in the way she wants to meet it,” Spitzer told TVLine during a post mortem interview. “She can start making her mark, and she can start being more active and less reactive.”

Elsewhere in the episode, Sadie agreed to get a drink with Jack in spite of her rule about not dating colleagues. Explaining Sadie’s change of heart, Spitzer told TVLine that he and the writing team realized the reasons for keeping the pair apart no longer made sense.

“This isn’t a situation where one of them is engaged or married to someone else or they don’t know of each other’s feelings,” Spitzer said. “If the obstacle doesn’t feel real to us, it’s not going to feel real to the audience. So let’s just take that next step.”

TVLine’s Renewal Scorecard has been updated with the news. Hit the comments with your reactions!

Launch Gallery: 2023 Renewal/Cancellation Scorecard: What's Coming Back? What's Already Axed? What's Still on the Bubble?