Veep Creator's New HBO Show Cancellation Continues A Disappointing Trend After Sci-Fi Comedy From 2 Years Ago

The Franchise being canceled after one season is particularly distressing for fans of Armando Ilannucci, especially after his other recent HBO comedy met a similar fate. The Franchise was a cutting parody of the film industry, focusing on the cast and crew of a big-budget superhero movie while navigating the bizarre and harsh aspects of filmmaking. The show's cast of characters had developed in interesting ways across the course of season 1, even building to an intriguing and emotionally exciting turn in The Franchise's season 1 ending. However, the cancelation means ending is effectively the conclusion of the entire show.

It's a real shame, because HBO shows tied to Armando Ilannucci have proven to be some of the best comedies on modern TV, especially if they're given the time to develop. The Franchise deserved to go the same route as Veep and get the time to develop into a genuine smash. Instead, HBO's decision to pull the plug on the entertainment industry satire means that it has more in common with another Ilannucci comedy whose great potential was stunted by a premature cancelation. The Franchise's characters deserved more time to develop but carried on a more unfortunate recent HBO trend.

HBO Shouldn't Have Canceled The Franchise

The Franchise Was A Solid Comedy That Had Great Potential To Grow

Although it had a lot of potential as Armando IIannucci's true HBO successor to Veep, The Franchise's premature cancelation means it'll never reach those heights. A collaboration between Iliannucci with series creator Jon Brown and fellow Executive Producer Sam Mendes, The Franchise was a similar satire to Veep, with a focus on the personal corruption and bizarre dark comedy of seemingly serious settings like politics or million-dollar film sets. The Franchise had been finding its groove across the first season, increasingly embracing absurd turns while keeping the focus on well-meaning but morally compromisable creatives as they struggled to stay employed.

The result was a frequently funny, consistently cutting, and occasionally emotional comedy that benefited from an impressive cast. While the show could get easily distracted with goofy subplots like Adam fearing that his new growth hormones are transforming him into a sheep, the societal satire and riffs on franchises like the MCU gave The Franchise compelling edges that could have been steadily honed with further development about degradation in the name of making a blockbuster superhero movie. The Franchise was great and was steadily developing an effective emotional throughline when it was canceled, despite deserving more time to keep improving.

HBO Prematurely canceled Armando IIannucci's Previous Comedy Avenue 5

Avenue 5 Was Canceled After Two Seasons

What makes the cancelation of The Franchise so disheartening is that it's the second HBO Armando Ilannucci comedy to be canceled prematurely in the last few years.Avenue 5 debuted in 2020, bringing with it a sardonic approach to sci-fi that played out like a hybrid of The White Lotus and Star Trek. The show focused on a space cruise struggling with a series of accidents that strands the crew and passengers in space. The show benefited from a strong cast and impressive writing, similar to The Franchise. Both shows also had a focus on satirizing the wealthy and out-of-touch.

Starring Hugh Laurie, Josh Gad, Lenora Crichlow, Zach Woods, Rebecca Front, Suzy Nakamura, and Nikki Amuka-Bird, Avenue 5 ran for two seasons before it was canceled in 2023.

Avenue 5 used harsh scientific realities for great dark comedy. It also grew more ambitious across the course of two seasons, using the premise of a stranded spaceship cruise ship to riff on relationships, wealth disparity, and government structures. However, neither show was given a chance to really reach its full potential because of their ultimately shortened run-times. Both The Franchise and Avenue 5 ended on relative cliffhangers, with their lead characters still struggling to survive their respective situations. Both shows also had a wealth of possible new directions to go into, making their shortened lengths all the more disappointing.

Why Veep Is Still Armando Ilannucci's Biggest HBO Show

Veep Became A Massive Award Winner For HBO

Julia Louis-Dreyfus' Selina stands in a doorway in Veep

This is especially frustrating because Armando Ilannucci's biggest success with HBO proved how important it is to give comedies time to reach their full potential. Debuting in 2012 and ultimately running 7 seasons, Veep was a similar social satire that leaned into the surprisingly childish and frequently darkly absurd lengths people will often take to gain power and importance. Focusing on Julia Louis-Dreyfus' Vice President Selina Meyer, the political parody had the time to develop Meyer and her staff, giving them shades of grey and occasionally likable qualities even as they backstabbed, lied, and scrambled through several scandals and crises.

The Franchise could have become a true entertainment-focused successor to Veep's success...

Veep's early seasons were strong, but the show grew truly ambitious and hilarious over time. The greater depth of personality afforded to the characters was a result of the multiple-season run, which allowed Veep to become surprisingly character-driven. There were some surprisingly heartbreaking turns that only landed effectively because the crumbling emotional relationships had time to develop. The Franchise could have become a true entertainment-focused successor to Veep's success, with a similarly ambitious but deeply flawed protagonist. However, the relatively tighter focus and likely more cost-effective Veep got the time to do that, while The Franchise was just too big.

Veep's Success Teases How Far The Franchise Could Have Grown

The Franchise Could Have Become Better If It Had Time To Develop Further

Veep's overall success highlights the potential that The Franchise had, and shows how far it could have grown. The shows had a similar moral core, with similarly grim views on the failings of the powerful and the human flaws that can bring down institutions. With further time to develop the characters beyond their season 1 characterization, The Franchise could have poked fun at different facets of the film industry while keeping the comedic core that elevated Veep. That's probably the biggest disappointment about The Franchise's cancelation, as the show was developing a strong cast while retaining a clear satirical perspective.

With time, The Franchise could have even become a true successor to Veep, which remains a comedy highlight of the 21st century. The Franchisee show could have continued to illustrate universal human failings through a specific and zeroed-in comedic focus on the film industry, which is fertile comedic ground. Instead, the show's single season means it will remain a hilarious but frustratingly unfinished entry to the HBO library. The Franchise proved it had strong potential over the course of a largely solid season 1, but getting canceled early means it'll never reach the heights it could have found in time.

trendglee