NBC Exec on Suits LA Cancellation: 'Hard Decisions Were Necessary'

"Suits" has remained a beloved series, captivating audiences since its debut on USA in 2011 and experiencing a significant revival thanks to its full availability on Netflix. This resurgence fueled countless binge-watching marathons. However, despite this momentum, the new spin-off, "Suits LA," didn't fare as well and was recently canceled following the announcement of NBC's fall schedule. Jeff Bader, the brand's president of program planning strategy, shed light on the decision to pull the plug on the series.

“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 explained to Variety after the fall schedule was made public.

“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.”

The executive further elaborated, “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.”

Bader also noted that NBCUniversal considers the possibility of transferring canceled shows to Peacock, but "Suits LA" did not receive the go-ahead for such a move.

Regarding shows that were spared from cancellation, Bader outlined the criteria that made them attractive to the network, especially amidst the need to accommodate more sports programming, including NBA games 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 told the outlet. “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 aired for nine seasons from 2011 to 2019. The revival series, "Suits LA," premiered in February, featuring stars like Stephen Amell, Lex Scott Davis, Josh McDermitt, and Bryan Greenberg. Additionally, original "Suits" cast members such as Rick Hoffman, David Costabile, and leading man Gabriel Macht made guest appearances. The show's creator, Aaron Korsh, also served as the creator and executive producer of the spinoff, which concluded its run with its final episode on May 11, 2025.