I don't know if the cause was fighting thru covid, the addition of the gay storyline that may not have been that popular or actors wanted to do other things or there was just no where to go next.
Interesting you bring this up. I don't watch this show, and was only made aware of it because Hallmark made an announcement that they would be focusing more on LGBTQIA2S+ stories, which did not go down well with their majority Christian Conservative viewers, many of whom said they would stop supporting the channel.
In a follow-up story to that, Hallmark introduced the lesbian couple into the Good Witch and a bunch of viewers said they were going to stop watching the show because of that. I don't know what the actual ratings were for the show before the lesbian storyline or after that storyline was introduced into the show, but it does make me wonder how much of an effect that did play on the drop-off in the ratings and if it did play into the cancellation of the show? I know majority of Hallmark's demographic are women between the ages of 18 ad 65, mostly white, of the Christian Conservative spectrum.
In the forums/discussion threads some of them complained that they watched Hallmark because it didn't contain all of the LGBTQIA2S+ content that's on every other station and streaming channel. And they're absolutely right, Hallmark used to be a channel people could watch for wholesome, classic romances and love stories, so now it's just like every other channel focusing on the kind of stuff that made a lot of people tune out in the first place.
It's an interesting development nonetheless, especially since some other shows did get the axe due to the restrictions put on productions via COVID, while others were simply put on hiatus until COVID subsided. It could be a mixture of things that affected this show, but almost tempts me to go look up the actual stats and what may have led to the actual cancellation.
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liscarkat (16966)
3 years ago
The lesbian storyline didn't help. There's a place for that kind of thing, but it didn't fit well into "Good Witch". The show had been dropping off in quality for the last couple of seasons. Joy was okay but was no replacement for Grace. In the last season Cassie, a previously strong, in-charge, cheerful woman who was always on top of the situation became depressed, weak, and uninvolved. It was all a letdown. I could have watched one more season, knowing it was the last so I could prepare myself rather than finding out a week before the final episode, but maybe quickly was the best way for it to go.
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cyguration (3925)
3 years ago
So after looking a bit into this, based on interviews it sounded like Catherine Bell actually liked working on the show and repeatedly noted how thankful she was to have worked with Hallmark for ten years. So unlike Charmed or Hawaii 5-0, it doesn't sound like this was due to casting shake-ups.
Looking at the ratings tells a fairly significant story, though. The series was actually on an incline for many seasons, even topping out at 2.6 on the Nielsen scale in 2017 during the fourth season, and seemed to end the season on a good note with a 2.2:
https://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/good-witch-season-four-ratings/
Season 5 topped out in 2019 at 2.3 million both at the start and end of the season, which is actually up from Season 4:
https://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/good-witch-season-five-ratings/
Season 6 averaged around 1.8 million, a pretty steep drop through the 2019/2020 airing:
https://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/good-witch-season-six-ratings/
And finally, Season 7 bottomed out with a 1.6 average on the Nielsen scale:
https://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/good-witch-season-seven-ratings/
According to Screenrant, the LGBTQIA2S+ storyline was introduced in Season 7. So the drop-off was steadily happening before then, as you alluded to with the quality going downhill in the latter seasons.
Interestingly enough, whatever happened on the episode that aired on June 13th, 2021 caused a massive drop-off in viewership, the lowest of the series at 1.3. I would have thought the June 20th and 27th episodes to have the bigger drop-offs due to the July 4th holiday being around the corner, but they actually increased viewership over the June 13th episode.
Anyway, looks more like the lesbian storyline was more a nail in the coffin than the iceberg that sunk the ship.
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