American Woman Canceled at Paramount Network
Carissa Pavlica
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The Paramount Network is still finding its footing, and among the changes today, there is some bad news.
American Woman, the show loosely based on the childhood of Kyle Richards, will not move forward to a second season.
This news comes just after it was announced Younger, a show set in present day and similar in tone, will move from its home on TV Land to a Thursday night berth.
American Woman starred Alicia Silverstone as a Bonnie, a mother of two who recently discovered her husband (James Tupper) was a cheat and a fraud.
With the help of her friends, Bonnie tried to pick her life up and move on as a single mother in the expensive suburbs of Los Angeles.
Related: Younger: Moving to Paramount Network!
Bonnie discovered the difficulties of real life after being taken care of by her husband when she not only needed to land a job without any skills but had to make ends meet for a family of three on a low-paying retail position.
Alicia Silverstone was perfectly cast as the determined mother and friend and was at her comedic best throughout the run of American Woman.
She had a lot of help from her costars, Mena Suvari and Jennifer Bartlett.
Suvari played blonde Texan Kathleen who lived under her daddy's thumb and with all the money he could toss her way, never understanding what pressures her friends felt until she discovered her lover, Greg (Cheyenne Jackson) had a secret side.
Through Kathleen's story viewers visited topical issues such as homosexuality in the 1970s, est, discovering self-worth, and depression leading to suicide.
Suvari gave a sweet emotional bent to a woman who could have been difficult to watch with her lack of understanding of her friends and her neediness.
Related: American Woman Season 1 Episode 1 Review: Liberation
Kathleen's friendship with Diana (Bartlett) anchored her to the show.
Diana was the working woman of the series. Single, living with her mother, and striving to get ahead at her bank job, she represented the average unmarried viewer watching American Woman.
Diana toiled away at work while coworkers took pot shots at her and suffered setbacks while her male colleagues moved ahead.
Diana wanted to be noticed for who she was inside as much as on the outside, whether it was at parties or the local watering hole.
Related: American Woman Season 1 Episode 11 Review: I Will Survive
She went through a period of growth that included a downward spiral delivering her a surprise that could last a lifetime, and all of her ordeals felt like ours, too.
With Paramount taking a chance and moving Younger to the network and asking Darren Star for another series, it's a shame they don't give American Woman more time to grow.
While American Woman did have a grand premiere and mysteriously lose half its audience during the season (when the show only got better as it progressed), it could benefit from having some similar and well-known programming to bolster its performance.
Paramount hasn't had much success to date, and most of their series are becoming one and done. As the network tries to gain traction, the more familiarity, the better. Is this really the time to chuck something that was doing well creatively?
I'm going to miss these characters greatly. You can join them when you watch American Woman online. Even after the fact, it's still worth the watch!
Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She's a member of the Critic's Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on X and email her here at TV Fanatic.
