It’s become all too familiar of a story in the age of streaming media; show gets the greenlight, gets critical acclaim, but not enough viewership to warrant production costs. It airs for one season, and is never heard from again. As the battle between streaming platforms has increased in intensity over the last couple years, you’d be hard pressed not to find a show this has happened to. But for Amazon Prime Video’s “A League of Their Own,” the story’s not quite over yet.
While it’s not another season for the Rockford Peaches, they’re at least getting some extra innings.
Prime Video’s spin-off series from the film of the same name came swinging onto the scene in 2022. Set in 1943, it tells the story of the Rockford Peaches, a women’s baseball league, and their challenges on and off the field. This iteration of the story was created by Abbi Jacobsen and Will Graham, with Jacobsen also starring. This version also explores more social themes of racism and LGBT relationships among women with a diverse cast that reflects this. The series attained high critical marks, with a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes following it’s first season. As noted before though, one good season does not equal success in today’s landscape.
“A League of Their Own” was unceremoniously cancelled back in March, but with negotiations pushing for something of a final season. Ultimately, “something” is about all it got with a half-season order. Unfortunately season one was only eight-episodes long, leaving season two with a heavily abbreviated four-episode run. This isn’t exactly a lot of space to wrap everything up in, even if it is better than nothing. Both Jacobsen and Graham expressed their bittersweet joy, acknowledging that they were hoping for more but are still grateful with the chance they have to conclude the story of their characters.
At the very least, Jacobsen and Graham can take with them that they fared much better than the previous “A League of Their Own” series from 1993. This oft-forgotten spin-off of the movie only lasted five episodes on CBS before getting axed. Heck, there was even a sixth episode that never even made it to the air. So while 12 episodes isn’t an awful lot, it’s still something that helps carry on the legacy of the original film. Both movies put women in the director’s chair and in leading roles in front of the camera to great effect. And the series, just like the women at bat, are at least going to get the chance to go out swinging.
We’ll let you know what we hear about the final four episode sendoff for the series.
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