Fox Cancels ‘Monarch’ After One Season

FOX has canceled the country music soap opera Monarch after just one season.

The Hollywood Reporter relates that the show — which debuted to reasonable ratings before subsequently struggling — broadcast its final episode on Tuesday night (Dec. 6), wrapping its first and final season.

Monarch was highly anticipated in advance of its premiere. The drama starred Trace Adkins as Albie Roman, a country superstar who is the patriarch of a country music dynasty commonly referred to as "the first family of country music." Monarch also featured Oscar winner Susan Sarandon as Roman's wife, fellow country superstar Dottie Cantrell Roman, but her character died in the premiere episode, appearing in a limited role in flashbacks thereafter. The main cast also included their daughters, Nicolette (Anna Friel) and Gigi Taylor-Roman (Beth Ditto).

Shania Twain, Martina McBride, Tanya Tucker and Little Big Town are among the country stars who made cameos over the course of Monarch's run, but the show's ties to country music weren't enough to save it.

Deadline reported that 3.8 million viewers tuned in to watch the first episode on Sept. 11 after a lead-in from an NFL game, with another 1.5 million people watching the encore presentation for a total of 5.3 million total viewers. The show drew largely negative reviews, and according to the Hollywood Reporter, Monarch struggled after moving to its regular Tuesday night time slot, averaging 4.1 million viewers across all platforms. It especially struggled in the key advertising demographic of 18-49-year-olds, scoring a mere 0.3 in that demographic.