BET’s ‘The Quad,’ a fictional look at life at a historically black university, has been canceled after two seasons.
According to Variety, decreased ratings and executive turnover at the network were possible catalysts for the show’s cancellation.
The series initially kicked off in February 2017 with a two-hour pilot movie. Season 2 of the series averaged a 0.2 rating in adults 18-49 and 553,000 viewers per episode in the Nielsen Live+Same Day numbers, down around 30% in both measures from the first season.
The cancellation comes after a string of executive shakeups at the Viacom-owned cabler. In December, Scott M. Mills was tapped to serve as the new president BET, with Debra Lee staying on as chairman and CEO. Prior to that, several top BET programming executives exited the company last March.
In its first season, the show and its creators drew criticism from HBCU executives for its imbalanced view of sex, violence and corruption on the fictional Georgia A&M University campus. BET executive Debra Lee and ‘Quad’ star Anika Noni Rose responded, saying that it was the role of entertainers to tell true human stories.
“It’s really important to be clear that we are showing human life. Women do run institutions, women do have sex, hazing does happen at schools—all schools, not just HBCUs—people do affairs, it happens. It’s unfortunate, but it happens.”
To the Quad’s critics who have a problem with the show, the actress has some simple advice: “If it’s not for you, turn the station.”
