FOX CEO Confirms Why They Canceled 911 Despite Its Popularity

Despite being one of the most popular shows on the entire network, 9-1-1 is ending its run on FOX. Season 6 of the first responder procedural will be the last on FOX, though ABC picked up the series for Season 7, so it will be moving networks. The move to cancel 9-1-1 may have been surprising for some, but it came down to finances for FOX. Since 20th Century Studios is now owned by Disney and no longer the network's in-house studio, the cost of 9-1-1 became too much to justify the returns.

It was reported shortly after the cancellation news that the per-episode cost of 9-1-1 was too high for FOX. As it turns out, that's exactly what happened. During a conference call ahead of FOX's upfront presentation, CEO Rob Wade opened up about the 9-1-1 cancellation decision.

"We felt moving forward into what is really a new era of television, the economics weren't going to pan out for this show for us," Wade said (per The Wrap). He went on to say that the "business model wasn't right for us," alluding to the production from 20th Century Television, which helps makes sense of ABC's decision to pick it up.

Even though FOX has opted not to bring back 9-1-1, the show's popular spinoff series will remain on the network. 9-1-1: Lone Star has been renewed for a new season on FOX. That could put a damper on potential future crossovers between the two shows.

"It has been an honor to be the founding network of 9-1-1 and we are grateful to Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Tim Minear, together with Angela Bassett, Peter Krause, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Oliver Stark, Aisha Hinds, Kenneth Choi, Ryan Guzman and the rest of the cast and crew, and 20th Television for delivering such an impactful series to Fox," FOX said in a statement when the move was announced. "We wish them well after 9-1-1's final Fox season concludes."

Will you be watching 9-1-1 on ABC after the move? Do you think Lone Star could follow the original series to another network in the future? Let us know in the comments!