It’s a rare occurrence for a television network to cancel a show halfway through its season. That usually happens after a show’s second or third season. Many different factors go into canceling a series. Most of the time, it’s because of massive view drops, controversial topics or actors, or schedule complications.
What isn’t a very common occurrence, however, is when a show gets canceled only halfway through its first season, one that’s not even on a streaming service. That’s whatThe CW networkhas done to an Australian drama series calledBarons.
The show first aired on the ABC network back in 2022 from April 24-June 12 in Australia. The first season was eight episodes long and was planned to have five seasons in total. Part of the filming was also supposed to take place in the United States and Indonesia.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, that plan had to be scrapped. There was going to be plenty of work for this to be a longer series. Yet The CW pulled the show off-air after four episodes. So, what happened toBarons? Why did the show get canceled halfway through the first season?
What the Show Is About
Before we get into whyBaronsgo canceled, let’s have a quick chat about the overall plot of this show. It takes place during the 1970s, commonly known as the time of many eventful impacts: sexual liberation, war, protest, and social disruption.
Two best friends, Bill “Trotter” Dwyer (Sean Keenan) and Snapper Webster (Ben O’Toole) are chasing their dreams on the Australian beach. They each create iconic, but rival, surfing brands inspired bytheir love for the beach. But their success will tear their friendship and even their worlds apart.
Their business starts to go mainstream, and the two rebels and their friends find themselves in the middle of homophobia, jealousy, corporate politics, and racial tension. This creates a bitter, lasting rivalry as they sell theirdream to the world.
The overall plot of the show seems fascinating. It tackles important social and political impacts of the world and how mainstream corporate ideals can tear apart even the best of friends. Making your dreams come true requires time and effort but also comes with risks.
Maybe this show didn’t appeal to Americans because of all the overlapping social/political views. Or maybe surfing shows just aren’t that alluring in most states. Truthfully, the reason behind the cancelation ofBaronsis less dramatic and pretty simple.
Related:10 Surfing Movies That Inspired Generations
The Views Plummeted
WhenBaronsfirst aired in America, the show received 179k total viewers during its debut. It also received a 0.0 demo rating. Not exactly a great start for this Australian surfing show.It only gets worse from herein terms of view count.
Since the debut, audience views have plummeted from 179k to 124k. It did briefly build back up to 157k, but it’s still not enough views for The CW to keepBaronson air.
For whatever reason, the show just didn’t click for American audiences. The show quickly became The CW’slowest-rated summer series. In total, the show received an average of 0.03 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 164k viewers in the live and same-day ratings. This also included DVR playbacks of the episodes.
164k seems like many viewers. But that’s really not enough for a series to last long on a television network. The 0.03 total rating doesn’t help with that either. Shows that air on TV usually need to have a 1-2 million viewer mark to keep it broadcasting, whichBaronsis lacking significantly.
Canceled After Airing 4 Episodes
Baronsaired in its home country of Australia before broadcasting on CW in America. The show was part of the roster since August 18, 2025, when it first aired. But after only four episodes, the CW pulled the plug on the show.
The show has eight episodes in total, butit got quietly canceledhalfway through its first season. It’s doubtful that there will even be a second season because of this. It’s clear that there won’t be any further plans for the five seasons the creators had intended on.
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Thisisn’t the only showThe CW pulled from its network. They are getting heavily criticized for it by audiences as well. The CW also pulledGotham KnightsandThe Winchestersoff their network as well. Fans of both shows were not happy about this decision.The Winchestersdidn’t even get picked up for a season 2.
It’s actually a bit anticlimactic thatBaronswas canceled simply for the lack of views. Or, at least, the show didn’t receive the amount of views that The CW wanted. There was no drama about it or audience complaints about the series that we know of.
Still, it’s a shame that the show got canceled halfway through its first season. It seemed pretty entertaining and could have gone a long way. WhileBaronswill no longer be broadcasting on the CW, you can still watch the show from the CW app to stream in and at cwtv.com.
