NBC Exec Explains Suits LA Cancellation: Tough Choices Made

"Suits" has been a beloved series for nearly 15 years since it first aired on USA in 2011. Its recent resurgence on Netflix fueled numerous binge-watching sessions, but this momentum was not enough to save the new spin-off, "Suits LA," which was canceled following the release of NBC's fall schedule. Jeff Bader, the president of program planning strategy at NBC, elaborated on the decision to cancel the show.

“It’s so hard to talk about shows and which ones you bring back, and Suits had a very short run, but it really just has not resonated the way we thought it would,” Bader stated to Variety after the fall schedule was made public. He further explained, “There can be many, many reasons why people are speculating why it hasn’t resonated, but it’s just not really showing the potential to grow for us in the future, unfortunately.”

Bader added: “And it’s those decisions we had to make. We had to look at the performance of the shows, both on linear and on digital. We had to see the ones that looked like they had growth potential in the future. So we’re looking at how stable they are on their linear performance, how stable they are on digital, which ones are growing and which ones are declining. And we had to make some hard decisions.”

He also mentioned that NBCUniversal considers transferring shows to Peacock when they are canceled on the network, but "Suits LA" did not receive the green light for such a move.

Regarding shows that survived the cuts, Bader detailed the criteria that made them appealing enough to retain on the schedule, especially with the need to accommodate sports programming like the NBA on Tuesday nights. “We looked at what their performance was week-to-week, episode-to-episode, on both linear and digital, to just try and glean which ones we thought had the best ratings story,” Bader explained. “And then on the creative side, the creative teams did the same thing. Which ones have the most potential, or the best potential, to capture a new audience? And these were the two shows that made their way to the top.”

"Suits" originally ran for nine seasons from 2011 to 2019. The revival series, "Suits LA," premiered in February and featured stars like Stephen Amell, Lex Scott Davis, Josh McDermitt, and Bryan Greenberg. Additionally, original "Suits" cast members such as Rick Hoffman, David Costabile, and Gabriel Macht made appearances. Aaron Korsh, the creator of "Suits," also served as the creator and executive producer for the spinoff, which concluded its run with its final episode on May 11, 2025.