In absolutely devastating news, Amazon has announced that we won’t be getting the second season of A League of Their Own after all. This is despite the fact that they already were only going to give us a half season, just four more episodes. Despite the show having a huge fan following, and wildly positive critical reviews (it has a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes!), Amazon refused to commit to a full season… and now they’re not even committing to the scraps we were promised.
Turns out there is crying in baseball. And it’s all Amazon’s fault.
Of course, they want to blame it on the ongoing WGA and SAG strikes. They want to make it look like writers and actors asking for fair pay for their hard work are to blame, even though it’s corporate greed that is keeping the strike going for so long. Also, the strike wasn’t happening yet when they originally begrudgingly renewed A League of Their Own for just four more episodes, so anyone who is paying attention will know it’s not the strike’s fault. They claim part of the reason for the cancellation is that the second season would end up airing a few years after the first season premiered, but it’s hard to take that at face value while standing amidst the rubble of all the other queer shows that have been canceled in the past few years. The truth is, Amazon could afford to take the financial risk and make four (4) episodes of a charming show about baseball with a passionate fanbase that involves very little CGI and can’t be as expensive to make as a lot of less popular shows that keep getting renewed. Because they’re literally Amazon.
It doesn’t take a lot of market research to know this one indisputable truth: if you show up for queer fans, queer fans will show up for you.
The L Word went off the air in 2009, and queer people showed up in droves to watch The L Word: Generation Q when it started TEN FULL YEARS later. Warrior Nun somehow supposedly got so much fan backlash to being canceled it’s being given a movie or three and the main ship on that show had one (1) peck over two seasons. Hell, the A League of Their Own movie came out in 1992 and wasn’t even explicitly queer and we claimed it as our own, and were hyped about the show before it dropped, because of it.
There aren’t a lot of shows made for us and by us, so when there is one, we’re going to support it. And if that show is GOOD? Legitimately well done, with well-rounded queer characters at the forefront of the story, with MULTIPLE different queer and trans characters and storylines of different races, not just one single skinny white cis couple only featured in one Very Special Episode? You better believe we show up for that content. I don’t even care about sports one single bit and A League Of Their Own was my favorite new show of 2022.
This is a devastating loss to our community, losing so much representation in one fell swoop. I’m going to miss Abbi Jacobson and D’Arcy Carden’s chemistry. I’m going to miss swooning over and rooting for Chante Adams. I’m going to miss laughing at everything Roberta Colindrez and Kelly McCormack do (until they make me cry.) I’m going to miss Gbemisola Ikumelo as the BEST best friend a girl could ask for. I’m going to miss the too-rare representation that Melanie Field’s Jo and Lea Robinson’s Uncle Bert provided. I’m going to miss watching the Peaches come together as a team, Carson and Max forge their unlikely but inevitable friendship, watching the girls all come into their own and learn how to be their truest selves. But I think most of all I’m going to miss the fun we had as a community watching this show. Writing thinkpieces, making memes, taking quizzes, getting style inspiration. We came together like a team, and no matter who your favorite character was or what your favorite episode was, there was always someone to play catch with. It was such a source of brightness during a dark time.
Will Graham and Abbi Jacobson created something truly special with A League of Their Own, and I will never forgive Amazon for calling the game before it was over, especially when it seemed like we were finally going to win.
I expect nothing, and I’m still disappointed. Amazon is so fu*king rich, they could have given us second seasons of this and ‘Paper Girls’. Instead their spending a billion bucks on ‘Citidel’ and it’s two spin-offs. So sad.
I am so bummed. If they remove season 1 from streaming I’ll know the late capitalist forces of evil have truly won.
This is shitty, fuck amazon.
But also, what’s with this site’s ongoing agenda against warrior nun? I mean, you too, Valerie?
“Warrior Nun somehow supposedly got so much fan backlash to being canceled it’s being given a movie or three and the main ship on that show had one (1) peck over two seasons.”
– like, what’s with all the dig?
“Somehow supposedly” – yes, it has a big royal fan base that organized multiple protest events.
“a movie or three” – the official announcement said three. At least you could state facts.
“a peck” – it was a full kiss, why dismiss it like this? And also, they had great scenes building their relationship. Does it only count as a real wlw story if they have sex?
Why even mention the show here? Seems like you pit one wlw show against another when what we really need is as many wlw shows as we can get.
I agree, it’s completely unnecessary to talk another show down like this. Every queer show is different and deserves its place. And it’s already hard enough to get anything with queer rep.
ALOTO was truly amazing, like one of its kind. I never watched a show before that made me feel so seen. I’m kind of in shock about its cancelation, but I know the mourning will come.
Right now I don’t want to see negativity about any show with sapphic content.
My only point was, queer fans have showed up for less representation than we got on ALOTO, so people should be banking on queer fans showing up for queer shows.
Ok, Valerie, but I’m sorry it doesn’t read like that.
The persecution complex of Warrior Nun stans is WILD.
Right? Warrior Nun has been on my to-watch list, but every comment I see from fans is so defensive and off-putting it’s really turned me off of the show. “Persecution complex” is the exact right description.
Hey now, there’s no need to bring down others for being protective of a show they care about and whose continuation they fought for. This is the comments section of an article that contained certain verbiage/tone re: said show which, to be fair, can and did come across a certain way to some readers. The commenter made their point, and the writer then clarified their original intention. Let’s leave it at that and move on.
I’m a fan of both WN and ALOTO, and both have been excellent representations of wlw/queer storytelling in media. To lose either one of them is a huge blow all-around.
Case in point.
Lol. Looks like “let’s leave it at that and move on” is a bit too difficult for some people…
Going to take my own advice and stop engaging now. I suggest you do the same.
Wow, you proved that people who get attacked defend themselves… what a novel concept, let me alert the news outlets.
Warrior Nun fans have a very loose definition of what constitutes an “attack” and are, as a whole, EXTREMELY defensive of anything even mildly negative said about their show (as seen here). It’s off-putting. Fans of other shows can handle critique; fans of Warrior Nun cannot, and they take every non-glowing remark as a betrayal of the queer community. It’s such a sensitive topic that a mere mention of it engenders the commentary seen here.
It’s okay to not love or to have criticisms of specific queer shows! It’s okay to feel annoyed that one show has been saved and another hasn’t! Queer people don’t have to unreservedly love every piece of queer media. Not caring about Warrior Nun (or actively disliking it) doesn’t mean someone has betrayed the community, queer shows, etc. (Side note: I’m not ascribing any of these views to Valerie Anne as she clarified her point above.)
Hey, “icouldifiwantto”, I haven’t read your latest long comment in this thread, because I don’t really care what you have to say.
But to anyone else reading this comment thread and this article:
If you think a huge fan movement that stood up, got organized and put their time, effort, hard work and money into their cause and fought relentlessly for 7 months and finally achieved the near impossible, being dismissed as “somehow supposedly got so much fan backlash” is not an absolute insult, I don’t know what to tell you.
Maybe instead of telling everyone how much better their show is compared to every other show and especially to inferior WN, ALOTO fans should actually do something to try to save their show.
But hey, maybe “somehow” it’ll be given a movie or three.
lmao, girl. Get off the cross. We need the wood.
Oh, Jencendiary, if only your bad puns could bring back your favorite show, right?
This really is SO devastating. I absolutely adored this show, and would gladly have watched (multiple times) season after season – like you said, we show up for the shows that represent our community.
At this point I’m so afraid to fall in love with a new show, especially a new show with queer representation, because so many of the ones I’ve loved have been unceremoniously cancelled and usually de-platformed. Glow, Legendary, Willow, and now A League of Their Own. Ugh.
THIS! The streaming shows are shooting themselves in the foot by being so cancel-easy. People no longer trust them to commit fairly to a show so it’s reflected when audiences are wary of committing to said shows.
It’s just unfair and a stupid business plan.
I’m so pissed. I was literally re-watching season one yesterday. This is such a blow.
KEEP FIGHTING!
With today’s devastating news, I know we’re feeling more gut-punched than ever. Well, I propose that we start a crowdfunding effort— not to fund the show, obviously, since it is far too costly for the fandom alone to do so— but to hire a PR professional (ideally a fellow sapphic, or at least a fan of women’s baseball) to craft an organized, effective strategy to contact the right people at the studios with the following goals:
1). CHANGE THE TITLE— doing this will not only significantly lower the cost of the show, but also, more accurately reflect its content; Max, being barred from the AAGPBL, ends up in a different professional league, thus, the show is not about _a_ league, it is about at least two. A title along the lines of “Two Leagues Ahead” or some such would be a better fit.
2). MOVE TO A NEW PLATFORM— It is obvious that Amazon’s priority is with mediocre dudebro fare, completely ignoring actual success. A platform such as Apple, by contrast, has supported queer-inclusive shows such as “For All Mankind” (starring Abbi’s other half Jodi Balfour, incidentally) despite it not having a fervid fandom. “League” _has_ the fandom, and now that Apple’s flagship sports dramedy “Ted Lasso” has concluded . . . well, you get the idea. If we keep fighting, future generations of sapphics will thank us. So, who’s in?
Hated Amazon already because of *looks at destruction of everything – from bookstores to worker’s rights – left in the wake of Amazon* and how they are with TV stuff makes me feel worse about them.
I was one of probably relatively few people who watched Mozart in the Jungle. Now maybe I’m being too much of a conspiracy theorist with this one but just when it started getting pretty gay with major supporting characters, it got cancelled. The reasons they put out for cancelling was for “costs savings” which is at least partly true – it was one of many original shows that got canned after they announced the very expensive thing that no one asked for: more Lord of the Rings. But I can’t help but feel that once some of its characters started moving away from heteronormativity, the plug was pulled. Do I feel that one season of ALOTO was enough Gay Shit for Amazon for a while? Yes.
During this time and at the mention of Mozart in the Jungle, I’d like for us to remember and toast Union Bob. Solidarity forever.
Interestingly, “Mozart in the Jungle” and “League” are both helmed by Will Graham.
Now that is interesting, thanks for highlighting it, Relish. Knew his connection with ALOTO but didn’t realise he was EP for Mozart in seasons 3 and 4. Now my comparison feels serendipitous :P
We KEEP FIGHTING!
Okay, fruits, hear me out: with today’s devastating news, I know we’re feeling more gut-punched than ever. Well, I propose that we start a crowdfunding effort— not to fund the show, obviously, since it is far too costly for the fandom alone to do so— but to hire a PR professional (ideally a fellow sapphic, or at least a fan of women’s baseball) to craft an organized, effective strategy to contact the right people at the studios with the following goals:
1). CHANGE THE TITLE— doing this will not only significantly lower the cost of the show, but also, more accurately reflect its content; Max, being barred from the AAGPBL, ends up in a different professional league, thus, the show is not about _a_ league, it is about at least two. A title along the lines of “Two Leagues Ahead” or some such would be a better fit.
2). MOVE TO A NEW PLATFORM— It is obvious that Amazon’s priority is with mediocre dudebro fare, completely ignoring actual success. A platform such as Apple, by contrast, has supported queer-inclusive shows such as “For All Mankind” (starring Abbi’s other half Jodi Balfour, incidentally) despite it not having a fervid fandom. “League” _has_ the fandom, and now that Apple’s flagship sports dramedy “Ted Lasso” has concluded . . . well, you get the idea. If we keep fighting, future generations of sapphics will thank us. So, who’s in?
Count me in for that fight!
Uuuggggh! This is maddening. I hope this show can get picked up by a new channel, but also I’m tired that queer women keep having to fight so hard for these really good shows.
I’m gonna cry. How dare they try to blame this on the strike!! I’m not surprised but damn these studio execs really are evil huh
This show is the one I am most upset about losing. It was such a good show. One of the best of the year to be honest, along with Interview with a Vampire. Another show people should be watching. I wish more people knew about both these shows and gave them a chance. I would argue that both are better than their movie predecessors. Hopefully, ALOTO gets picked up by another network/streamer. I want more time with these characters. I need at the very least a physical release for S1.
They killed this. They killed Paper Girls. They’re threatening to kill Good Omens, one of their most popular shows, unless everybody shows up to watch it in droves.
And yet they promote mediocre action dramas like Citadel, and fantasies like Rings of Power (which was decent but certainly didn’t need the insane multi-billion-dollar budget it was given). What is the difference between these two groups?
Oh right… gays.
Elon Musk’s madcap conservatism, transphobia and embrace of DeSantis may be making Jeff Bezos look good these days, but it’s still best to remember that he (like most supposedly “liberal” billionaires) has a VERY long way to go.
Amazon don’t care about inclusivity. They’ve cancelled an award winning queer created show. They invest in a few headliner mlm shows and think the gays are done whilst making nothing for their queer female audience.
This show was excellently crafted, had an amazing cast, solid viewing figures, and a very engaged fanbase who to be honest would have bought any merch amazon bothered to put out there (they didn’t).
The truth is to get signed off it has to be something that they think will get watched globally including China which means: f*** representation and f*** making art that means something
Well, this is garbage news.
I cancelled my Prime membership when I heard this news yesterday.
Ughhhhhh. For god’s sake!!!
This is totally me reading about the cancellation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfoR8SbFhy8
Noooo!!!!
I am so so heartbroken over this cancellation. Especially after rewatching Abbi Jacobson’s HRC speech. Truly one of my comfort shows.
I am so, so heartbroken and devastated. Such a superb show that made me feel so deeply.