It’s official: the pom-poms have been mothballed and the megaphone has been muted. NBC has officially pulled the plug on Stumble, confirming that Coach Courteney Potter won’t be returning for a sophomore season. In a move that surprised absolutely no one who actually looks at a Nielsen spreadsheet, the freshman comedy has joined the ever-growing graveyard of “shows that were actually decent but nobody watched.”
Stumble arrived with a fair amount of pedigree, backed by the creative minds of Jeff and Liz Astrof and a cast led by the perpetually underrated Jenn Lyon. The premise, a disgraced cheer coach trying to find redemption at a scrappy junior college offered a refreshing, bite-sized alternative to the usual high-stakes sports dramas. It had heart, it had Taran Killam being reliably hilarious, and it even managed to snag Kristin Chenoweth for some much-needed sparkle.
By the Numbers: Why Stumble Was Canceled
The math behind the Stumble cancellation is fairly straightforward. The series averaged roughly 2.24 million viewers per episode. In the world of prestige streaming, that might be a hit; on a major broadcast network like NBC, those are “pack your bags” numbers.
There’s a certain irony in a show about overcoming failure actually failing. Stumble avoided the typical sitcom tropes, opting instead for a sharper, more specific brand of humor. It was a comedy for people who like their jokes fast and their characters flawed. Unfortunately, “specific” is often shorthand for “low viewership” in the eyes of network executives.
If you’re one of the few who missed out on the back-handsprings and witty banter, you can still find the entire first (and only) season streaming on Peacock. It remains a solid weekend binge, even if it leaves you hanging on a permanent cliffhanger.