EXCLUSIVE: A&E has canceled its flagship series and one of the highest-rated shows on basic cable. A week after Live P.D. was pulled in the wake of George Floyd’s death, the reality series’ hiatus has been made permanent.
The decision was made jointly by A&E and MGM’s Big Fish Entertainment, which produces the show.
“This is a critical time in our nation’s history and we have made the decision to cease production on Live PD,” the network said in a statement to Deadline. “Going forward, we will determine if there is a clear pathway to tell the stories of both the community and the police officers whose role it is to serve them. And with that, we will be meeting with community and civil rights leaders as well as police departments.”
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The cancelation of Live P.D. comes a day after Paramount Network pulled the plug on another docuseries featuring the police, the long-running Cops. At the time, A&E was still evaluating whether the show could come back at the right time. Last night, Live P.D. host Dan Abrams addressed the show’s viewers on Twitter.
“To all of you asking whether #LivePD coming back. . .The answer is yes,” he wrote. “All of us associated with the show are as committed to it as ever. We are still discussing some specifics but I want to assure the #LivePDNation that we are not abandoning you.”
Ultimately, both the network and the production company on Wednesday came to the conclusion that there was currently no path forward for the show in its current form as protesters and politicians are calling for a police reform following the death of Floyd while restrained by a cop during arrest.
This week, Austin outlets reported on the March 2019 death of Javier Ambler during a police stop, which was allegedly captured by the Live P.D. crew but the video has been destroyed.
The cancelation comes a month after A&E renewed Live PD for an additional 160 episodes.
Airing Friday and Saturday nights from 9 PM-12 AM, Live P.D. was ad-supported cable’s #1 show on Fridays and Saturdays in 2019 and has helped A&E become a leading cable network. The series had risen to the top spots in all cable during the pandemic when live sports were suspended, drawing a total of about 3 million viewers per weekend.
Here is Abrams’ reaction to the news of Live P.D.’s cancelation:
Shocked & beyond disappointed about this. To the loyal #LivePDNation please know I, we, did everything we could to fight for you, and for our continuing effort at transparency in policing. I was convinced the show would go on. . More to come. . .https://t.co/WWh7fDrig2
— Dan Abrams (@danabrams) June 11, 2020
Live P.D. was hosted by Abrams with analysis from Tom Morris Jr. and Sgt. Sean ‘Sticks’ Larkin. It followed police departments from across the country in real time as they patrol their towns. Executive producers for Big Fish Entertainment were Dan Cesareo, Lucilla D’Agostino and John Zito.
When it launched in 2016, Live P.D. marked a logistical breakthrough by being able to pull off a complex live broadcast from multiple locations at a reasonable cost. It launched a whole genre of live docuseries and was followed by such shows as M.D. Live on TNT and First Responders Live on Fox, but remained the most successful in the field.
