The Tick fails to find new home after Amazon cancellation
The Tick has been canceled after season two on Amazon Prime and has so far failed to find a new home elsewhere.
Cult sci-fi superhero comedy series The Tick was canceled on Amazon Prime after its second season. Now, despite ardent fan support and efforts by creator Ben Edlund, the series has failed to find a home elsewhere to continue the series, according to a report from Deadline.
Reasons for the cancellation are vague, but the cult status of the series – hence a small and niche viewership – might be one reason, along with the shows production budget. The Tick reportedly cost $5 million dollars an episode to make, with pricey visual effects and a costly New York City shooting location, landing it on a list of the MSN’s 25 most expensive television shows of all time.
To put the cost of production in perspective, HBO’s Boardwalk Empire cost the same to make episodes twice as long.
However, executive co-producer, Susan Hurwitz Arneson took to Twitter to refute the show’s placement on the list. She confirmed that the series never had the same budget as Boardwalk Empire and that their budget was slashed by almost 35% in season 2. One of the stars, Griffin Newman, also defended the show’s budget. While he admitted it was certainly expensive to make, The Tick wasn’t nearly as expensive as the HBO show.
I can say for a fact our budget was not as high as Boardwalk Empire. Not even the first season where we had about a 35% higher budget than season two.
— Susan Hurwitz Arneson (@batdorkgirl) June 21, 2019
More from Show Snob
- The Santa Clauses season 2, episode 6 recap “Wanga Banga Langa!”
- Lawmen: Bass Reeves season 1, episode 7 preview: Non-spoiler thoughts for Part VII
- Goosebumps season 1, episode 6 recap: “Night of the Living Dummy”
- Beacon 23 season 1, episode 3 recap: “Why Can’t We Go on as Three?”
- Upload season 3, episode 2 recap: “Strawberry”
While the investment definitely paid off as far as quality and tone, the price tag associated with The Tick – what should be by all rights a low budget indy affair – is likely a major factor in both its cancellation and its failure to land elsewhere.
Still, if fans of The Tick know anything, it’s that “The Tick always comes back.” Edlund tweeted his appreciation for the support of fans of the series and a promise to keep trying to find The Tick a new home: “Please continue to choose love and hope for good things. And I think we might as well accept it as a law of the universe: when the time is right #TheTick always comes back…”
Based on the long and unusual history of the character – which started as a simple mascot for a chain of New England comic book stores and evolved into its own comics, cartoon series, 2001 live action series, and big budget Amazon production – it seems unlikely that we’ve seen the last of the Tick on our screens.
I, for one, think the world needs a hero like the Tick right now more than ever. Edlund’s complicated brand of idealistic optimism tempered with the harsh and humorous realities of government politics and bureaucracy strikes the perfect ironic yet hopeful tone.
Next. Chernobyl: Breaking down fact vs. fiction. dark
While it doesn’t shy away from the inane mundanities and complications that often bog people down, in the end, the message is one of choosing love over fear. The Tick chooses love, and from that flows all the things that bring balance to the world. Plus, the season two finale planted the seeds of what looks like an epic and intriguing season three. I would hate to miss it.
(Source: Deadline)