After NBC announced Friday that Grosse Pointe Garden Society would not be back to bloom for a second season, the cast bid farewell to the series.
Melissa Fumero, who played society newbie Birdie on the Jenna Bans and Bill Krebs-created series, paid tribute to the character with some behind-the-scenes photos and a statement on Instagram.
“This one stings. This job is not for the faint of heart,” she wrote Saturday on her Instagram Story, sharing Deadline’s reporting of the cancellation. “Thanks for watching our little show.”
Fumero added in a post on the grid, “Oh, Birdie. You were one for the books. You felt like an amalgamation of every role I’ve ever played. I’ll miss so many things about this job, but most of all I will miss the incredible group of humans it brought together. I won’t miss the shoes. It’s really hard to make a show. Even harder to keep it on air. I’ll forever be proud of what we made. Thanks for watching.”
AnnaSophia Robb, who starred as high school teacher Alice, wrote with a cast photo on her Instagram Story, “Damn. I will miss our GPGS family. Grateful and proud of all that we made together.”
Sharing a video of the crew giving them a warm on-set welcome, Robb added, “We really did have the best crew. Thanks for making it a truly magnificent experience. It’s a blessing to do what you love, and an even bigger one to work with kind, talented and fun folks.”
Ben Rappaport, who played divorced father and gardening club manager Brett, shared his own statement with some photos of the cast with Bans and Krebs.
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again,” he captioned the post. “Showbiz ain’t for the faint of heart. Our beloved Grosse Pointe Garden Society was canceled today. I’ll sure miss working with these (and all of our) amazing folks every day. This was a special one.”
On Friday, Deadline exclusively reported that NBC opted not to renew the drama series for a second season, after the network explored the possibility of moving the show to Peacock.
A renewal by NBC had been pretty much out of the question as the mystery drama was a soft linear ratings performer, with its streaming numbers not able to offset that. The show originally launched behind Suits: LA on Sunday. It was subsequently moved to the Friday at 8pm slot, which did give it a modest linear ratings bump but not enough to trigger an NBC renewal possibility as Grosse Pointe Garden Society remained the network’s lowest-rated scripted series of the season.
The cancellation leaves fans with a lot of unanswered questions, the biggest coming in the season finale’s big cliffhanger: who was inside that duck costume at the garden club’s Halloween party and what had they done?