The Baker and the Beauty Canceled at ABC, For Life Renewed

ABC on Monday night announced the status of its remaining bubble series, and while it was good news for one of them, it was bad news for the other.

The Baker and the Beauty has been canceled after a nine-episode freshman season.

Based on the Israeli series, the series starred Victor Rasuk (Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, Stalker) as Daniel Garcia, a regular Joe who works at his parents’ Cuban bakery in Miami.

On the night that his girlfriend Vanessa proposes to him by singing Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” in the middle of a fancy restaurant, Daniel bumps into the beautiful Noa Hamilton (Dynasty‘s Nathalie Kelley), a model-turned-fashion mogul who is coming off a highly publicized split with her cheating actor boyfriend.

An unlikely romance between the baker and the beauty kicks off, but unfortunately, the series went largely ignored in traditional ratings.

It averaged around 2.5 million viewers and a 0.5 rating in the all-important 18-49 demographic.

The robust cast also included Dan Bucatinsky (Scandal) as Noa’s manager Lewis, Carlos Gómez (The Glades), Lisa Vidal (Being Mary Jane, The Division), David Del Rio (The Troop), and Belissa Escobedo as Daniel’s father Rafael, mother Mari, brother Mateo and younger sister Natalie, respectively.

Despite soft ratings, the series garnered a considerable amount of buzz, especially given that it premiered amid the Coronavirus pandemic.

It was seen as comfort food for the mind during a worrying time, but fans will not get to see whether Daniel and Noa make it down the aisle.

We're inclined to believe they will, but anything is possible in the world of soap land. As sudsy as the series was, it was really addictive.

ABC also renewed For Life Monday night.

The legal drama will return for a second season in the 2020-21 TV season after proving to have some solid ground in delayed viewing.

The freshman season averaged around 2.5 million viewers and a 0.6 rating, but soared in post-airdate viewing, which explains why ABC took some time to consider other metrics before making a final decision on the future of the series.

The series isnspired by the real-life story of Isaac Wright Jr., and stars Nicholas Pinnock (Counterpart) as Aaron Wallace, who was convicted for a drug trafficking crime he did not commit.

Now serving a life sentence with no chance for parole, Aaron earns a license to practice law while behind bars and works as a defense attorney for his fellow inmates, while trying to get his own sentence overturned.

The cast also includes Indira Varma (Game of Thrones), Joy Bryant (Parenthood), Mary Stuart Masterson (Blindspot), and Dorian Missick (Southland).

“It has been a profound honor working with Isaac Wright Jr. and Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson to create a show that, through the prism of Isaac’s experience in our broken criminal justice system, has been able to highlight the racial inequality that plagues this country,” series creator Hank Steinberg said in a statement.