By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed Sunday, August 30, 2015
Deadline.com reports that USA has dropped Atlanta-based drama "Complications" after just one season.
The show debuted in June and concluded a couple of weeks ago. It was shot and set in Atlanta last fall. (My preview piece on the show in June.)
Deadline.com said the network considered it a very close call. Because it was not owned by USA but was a Fox 21 Studios show, the network deemed it wasn't financially feasible despite passable ratings. (Overnight ratings averaged about 1.4 million viewers, which increased to 2.3 million with seven days of DVR usage.)
The show, created by "Burn Notice" originator Matt Nix, starred snake-bitten Jason O'Mara, whose previous short-lived TV series efforts include Fox's "Terra Nova," ABC's "Life on Mars" and CBS's "Vegas." O'Mara played an ER doctor on what on the surface appeared to be a medical drama but ended up having elements of "24" and "The Wire" as he got intertwined with a gang war.
“The idea of doing multiple seasons is so alien to me,” O'Mara told me in the spring. “I don’t even know what that would feel like!”
USA has aired two other dramas out of Atlanta: three seasons of "Necessary Roughness" (2011-2013) and two seasons (so far) of "Satisfaction."
The other freshman drama USA introduced this summer "Mr. Robot" received much more attention and skewed much younger in terms of audience. It was renewed very quickly.
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