'The First Lady' canceled at Showtime after one season

has opted out of moving forward with a second season of its anthology series “The First Lady.” The decision comes just over six weeks after the series' Season 1 finale aired on the network.

"Showtime can confirm that 'The First Lady' anthology serieswill not be moving forward with another season," a Showtime spokesperson told Variety. “We would like to applaud the artistry and commitment of our showrunner Cathy Schulman, director Susanne Bier, their fellow executive producers, our incredible cast, led by executive producer Viola Davis, Michelle Pfeiffer and Gillian Anderson, and our partner of Lionsgate studio for their dedication to working to tell the unique stories of three remarkable leaders. »

The first season of the anthology series cuts between three different White House eras, following the political and private lives of Eleanor Roosevelt (Anderson), Betty Ford (Pfeiffer), and Michelle Obama (Davis).

"The First Lady" received a lukewarm response from critics. VarietyChief TV critic Caroline Framke was not a fan of the show's structural conceit, writing that "putting their stories together doesn't just make television confusing, but does them all a disservice. in the process ." The high-profile production was not one of the Television Academy's favorites on Emmy nomination morning, receiving three artisanal nominations in every category.

Produced for Showtime by Lionsgate Television, the 10-episode series, created by Aaron Cooley, was produced by Oscar-winning actor Schulman for Welle Entertainment, who also served as showrunner. Bier's Oscar-winning and Emmy-winning executive produced and directed all episodes of the first season. Cooley, Davis, Julius Tennon, Andrew Wang, Pavlina Hatoupis, Alyson Feltes, Jeff Gaspin and Brad Kaplan also served as executive producers.

Deadline was the first to break the news of the show's cancellation.

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