'Deadly Class' And 'Happy!' Canceled At SyFy, 'Sneaky Pete' Killed At Amazon

A trio of shows have been given the axe on cable and streaming today. SyFy has canceled their darkly comedic series Happy! and the freshman assassin series Deadly Class. Meanwhile, Amazon has given the axe to their con man series Sneaky Pete after three seasons. However, a couple of these shows have the chance of being saved.

The Hollywood Reporter has word on SyFy canceling both Happy! and Deadly Class. The options on the casts for each of the shows was up at the end of the month, so a decision had to be made. But just because SyFy is done with the shows doesn't mean someone else doesn't want to keep them alive.

First off, Happy! (seen above) has a decent number of fans, both among the general public and over at SyFy. So the cancellation was a difficult decision to make. Unfortunately, since this is cable we're talking about, the ratings just didn't make it profitable enough to keep on the air when advertising money is required to keep these shows afloat.

If you never watched Happy!, it's based on Grant Morrison and Darick Robertson's graphic novel of the same name. The series stars Christopher Meloni as a corrupt ex-cop-turned-hit man named Nick Sax while Patton Oswalt tiny blue unicorn named Happy that the former cop sees and talks to as an imaginary friend.

The good news is the show has a Netflix deal already, and the first season of the show did well over there. Apparently it's Netflix's "top-performing, second-window drama series," coming in only behind You. That could be enough for Netflix to save the show and at least give it one more season to properly end the story, but we'll see what happens.

Meanwhile, SyFy's other comic adaptation of the Image Comics graphic novel Deadly Class didn't seem to strike a chord with audiences after a single season. The series followed a homeless teen recruited to a private school where the world's top crime families send the next in line to take over the family business. Lana Condor and Benedict Wong were among the cast members of the ensemble series that didn't really have many recognizable faces.

The problems with Deadly Class were all over the place. First, it was a co-production between Universal Content Productions and Sony Pictures Television, which made the renewal process somewhat complicated, especially since the ratings were pretty low. Unfortunately having Anthony & Joe Russo on board as executive producers didn't do much to help the show find an audience. Second, there was never a streaming deal made for Deadly Class, which usually helps offsets the cost of the series, not to mention helps gain more viewers in a second-window viewing format. And finally, the showrunners were replaced shortly before the show debuted due to creative differences.

SyFy isn't the only one handing out pink slips this week either. TV Line has word that Amazon has canceled their series Sneaky Pete starring Giovanni Ribisi as a crook who steals his cellmate's identity and lies his way into a family of strangers after his release from prison.

Sneaky Pete was already living on a second chance anyway since the show was originally developed as a CBS pilot that the network passed on. Amazon picked it up, retooled it with Justified's Graham Yost jumping in to take over the show from departed showrunner David Shore (House M.D., The Good Doctor). The show was meant to be a procedural drama but became a serialized one instead.

The show was previously said to be one of Amazon's better-performing shows, but maybe the third season's debut last month wasn't as impressive as the previous seasons to warrant continuing the story. Unfortunately, that means the con was never actually revealed, and fans will be left without a satisfying conclusion.