The CW has canceled Katy Keene, but we’re hoping the show manages to find a new home. Its story deserves the chance to continue – and here’s why.
The news that The CW decided to cancel Riverdale spin-off Katy Keene after just a single season came as a shock to many viewers. (Though with the subsequent decision to also end Chilling Adventures of Sabrina things just may be rockier than we know behind the scenes in the world of the Archieverse.) On the surface, Katy Keene feels like it should have been an easy hit – its got a talented cast, a connection to an uber-popular existing series, and a fun, whimsical feel that’s unlike most things currently on TV.
Unfortunately, the show ended up being a low ratings performer, and reportedly only achieved modest success on The CW’s digital and streaming platforms, which are generally considered a huge deal for the younger-skewing network. (According to reports, its numbers were well below fellow freshman series Batwoman and Nancy Drew, which were both picked up for second seasons.)
According to Deadline, Warner Brothers Television plans to shop it around to other networks in an attempt to find it a season 2 home. And given the corporation’s close ties to new streaming service HBO Max – which is already Katy Keene’s season 1 streaming home, and which features many of the CW’s Arrowverse series as well as original programming of its own – that’s probably the most likely option. But whether a potential second season of Katy Keene were to land on HBO Max or switch network homes, one thing is clear: It’s a show that deserves a second season, somewhere.
Here are five reasons why this show deserves the chance to continue – regardless of where it lands.
It’s pretty much the anti-Riverdale
We all love the wild and wacky world of Riverdale, with its random murders, cults, teen-owned speakeasies, bizarrely named drugs, and adults who are far too obsessed with the lives of the kids in their town. But, let’s be honest, it can get exhausting. Case in point: Last season’s mystery of Jughead’s “death” – which we all knew would never come to pass and involved a story that kept one of the series’ core four stuck in a terrible boarding school plot that no one cared about.
Katy Keene may be situated in the same universe, but the show is pretty much 180 degrees removed from its darker, more bonkers cousin. Where Riverdale is dark and dire, Katy Keene is bright and hopeful, a whimsical fairytale of friendship in New York City. No one’s trying to solve a murder or join a gang – instead, Katy and her friends are busy attempting to figure out their career ambitions and love lives. We actually get to see our main foursome behave like actual friends, hanging out together, listening to one another’s problems, and simply having fun.
In the world of the Archieverse (such as it is anymore – sorry Sabrina), we really need a show like this – one that offers up the light side to Riverdale’s dark.
Lucy Hale deserves a hit
Actress Lucy Hale is probably familiar to many members of Katy Keene’s audience thanks to her decade-long portrayal of Aria Montgomery on the megapopular teen drama Pretty Little Liars. Unfortunately, she’s had a sort of unlucky run since that series ending, landing the lead on another CW drama, the warm and fairly adorable Life Sentence, which was also canceled after just a single season.
In Katy Keene, she stars as the titular lead, playing the character with the sort of sweet, charming optimism that feels like a breath of fresh air in this current landscape of grimdark, difficult and often unlikeable heroines. Katy is an ambitious and hopeful, living in New York to chase her dream of becoming a fashion designer. She makes plenty of mistakes, both professionally and personally, but she’s easy to root for and like.
A large part of that is thanks to Hale’s performance, which shines with an appealing everygirl vibe no matter how ridiculous her homemade outfit of the moment might happen to be. She’s the sort of actress who can more than carry a show on her own, and it would be nice to see her get the chance to really dig into Katy’s character in a second season.
Josie McCoy finally gets the spotlight she deserves
In all honesty, Riverdale never really knew what to do with Josie McCoy. Which is the sort of travesty that deserves a piece in its own right, because she’s Josie McCoy. Of Josie and the Pussycats. And the show completely wasted her character, ditching the rest of her band and repeatedly sidelining her in awful storylines. (Remember when she dated Archie? Blech.)
Katy Keene finally gives Josie a place to belong – showing the character making new friends, finding her own way, and pursuing her dream of a music career. Katy Keene – given that it’s set in New York City and Josie works in a music shop – provides a much more natural fit for the character and the fact that she often needs a reason to sing doesn’t feel nearly as weird or out of place here as it sometimes did on her previous series. Josie belongs in a more diverse and thoughtful show like Katy Keene and it seems very wrong to have to say goodbye to her just as her story was getting started for real.
Jorge Lopez is a breakout character for the ages
Though Katy Keene is theoretically centered on the titular character, her group of best friends is just as important to the story the show is telling. And while it’s great to see Josie McCoy finally get her due and Pepper Smith has oodles of story to explore in potential future seasons, it’s Johnny Beauchamp’s Jorge Lopez whos really the series’ breakout character.
An out and proud gay man, Jorge is chasing his dreams of Broadway stardom by day while working in his parents’ bodega and performing as a drag queen at local bar Molly’s Crisis. From dating troubles to struggles relating to his family, Jorge’s journey is a relatable and important one. Katy Keene is wonderful at depicting gay relationships in as great a detail as its heterosexual ones, and Jorge’s love life is full of triumphs, struggles, and hard choices. It’s honestly a joy to watch.
Jorge’s drag queen persona, Ginger, is an equally important part of his character and her performances are not just fun, but something that we certainly aren’t used to seeing outside of a show like, say, RuPaul’s Drag Race. And while I can take or leave the musical aspects of Ginger’s performances, the fact that Jorge’s drag life helps the show further dig into LGBT issues and that’s a truly great thing we deserve to see more of.
This is a story about friendship at its heart
One of the best things about Katy Keene is that it remembers that, at its heart, its a show about friendship. This is a fact that’s apparently slipped away from its sister series Riverdale, a show which has fallen down the rabbit hole of dark mysteries and murders and forgotten that the reason it became so popular in the first place was the quartet of teens at its center.
Katy Keene puts its Core Four front and center in every story by showing us how much this group of friends care about and support one another, no matter what else may be going on in their lives. They show up for each other – whether it’s after Katy’s breakup with K.O. or during a critical competition for Jorge at Molly’s crisis. This is a show that understands the power of friendship, especially during a particularly challenging time of one’s life, and it treats those relationships as something that’s as important as any romance or career connection.
Would you like to see Katy Keene continue on a new home? Let us know in the comments.