The Fastest Dizi Cancellations of 2022

After a long pre-production period, Son Nefesime Kadar, the Turkish remake of the British series 'Happy Valley' premiered in February on FOX. 

Just like the original series, the remake, starring Nurgül Yesilçay, Emre Kinay, Begüm Birgören, and Rojda Demirer, followed a no-nonsense police sergeant Mihri (Nurgül Yeşilçay) in a small town whose world is turned upside down when Ejder, the man she thinks is responsible for her daughter’s death is released from prison. Upon hearing the news, Mihri makes it her mission to re-capture him, put him behind bars again, establish justice, and prevent the disaster that befell her daughter from happening to another innocent. Mihri trusts her intuition and follows it, leading her to discover that upon his release, Ejder, was again up to no good. 

Son Nefesime Kadar averaged 2.62 in TOTAL, 2.54 and AB, and 2.76 in ABC1.

If you blinked, you probably missed the premiere of this short-lived FOX TV Drama series, Gülümse Kaderine. 

Gülümse Kaderine began production before it found a channel to air on. Eventually, FOX signed up for the dizi, announced its premiere (without as much as an official poster), and launched the series on April 27th. Shortly thereafter, it was announced the series was canceled, with the show's stars learning the news on social media.

Gülümse Kaderine followed the story of Eda and Yaren, two young girls who grew up in an orphanage in Bursa, consoling their loneliness by accepting each other as siblings. Yaren wants to become a doctor by taking the university exam and earning a scholarship to medical school. Eda, on the other hand, dropped out of high school and thinks that she will not get anywhere by studying. While both of them want to establish their own lives since they are eighteen years old, the fate of the two girls will change tragically after a house party... As Yaren embarks on a journey towards the secrets of her past that are hidden from her, Eda begins to turn all the crises into opportunities on this journey. She thinks that life owes them. And if this debt is not repaid by good fortune, Eda is determined to collect it.

In its short time on air, Gülümse Kaderine averaged 2.58 in Total, 2.38 in AB, and 2.45 in ABC1.

It is pretty rare for summer dizis to get cancelled quickly but this summer, that became a thing of the past with ATV's Sevmek Zamanı getting cancelled after only 5 episodes had aired.

Produced by Süreç Film, Sevmek Zamanı premiered on June 20, with its very promising leads, İlhan Şen and Deniz Işın. The series followed the story of Firuze, who unexpectedly meets and falls in love with Kaan, a rich and charismatic man, who unbeknownst to her led a double life (wife and all).  

In the days leading up to the premiere, the show's plot still wasn't particularly clear and this was reflected in the show's ratings, with the series averaging 2.03 in Total, 1.25 in AB, and 1.49 in ABC1.

It was case closed for ATV's legal drama İçimizdeki Ateş after only 5 episodes aired this summer. 

İpek Filiz Yazıcı, Atakan Hoşgören, Gizem Arıkan, and Demirhan Demircioğlu starred in the series as four strong, intelligent, ambitious, and successful young up-and-coming lawyers who were working their way up the cooperate ladder. 

İçimizdeki Ateş highest rated episode was its premiere, which garnered 2.27 in Total, 1.92 in AB, and 1.98 in ABC1. Subsequently, the series' ratings dropped drastically, with its finale episode not even reaching the Top 100 in the AB category.

To say FOX did this series dirty would be the understatement of the century.

For starters, the series was to premiere in the spring but after some last-minute decisions, the premiere was pushed to the Fall season, even though its first episode was already shot and ready to air back in April.

At long last, the series premiered on a Tuesday evening in August, becoming the first of the 2022/2023 premieres. 

Kusursuz Kiracı followed the story of Mona (Dilan Çiçek Deniz), a beautiful young journalist who moves into an old apartment building, where she encounters bizarre neighbors and an even stranger mystery.

The series averaged 2.72 in TOTAL, 2.15 in AB, and 2.59 in ABC1.

Until Seni Kalbime Sakladım's cancellation, we thought of TRT1 as a safe haven for dizis, yani at least 13 episodes guaranteed, regardless of the ratings.

Seni Kalbime Sakladım's marked TRT1's foray into summer rom-coms in recent years, and it had all the ingredients that made for a perfect one: hot leads, the enemies-to-lovers trope, a height trope, the fake relationship trope, and much more.

But even with all that, the series, starring Ekin Mert Daymaz and Sevda Erginci became the fastest show to be canceled on TRT1 since at least 2016. Arguably, this wouldn't have been the case on another channel, especially with how popular summer dizis have become over the last couple of years.

Seni Kalbime Sakladım averaged 1.85 in Total, 1.77 in AB, and 1.93 in ABC1.

One of the last shows to premiere this summer, this remake of a Turkish classic with the same name, brought together leads, Oktay Cubuk (Ferit) and Nil Keser (Zehra).

As with the original movie, the series featured three brothers whose family sent them to Istanbul to pursue their education but who ended up following their own passions.

Ferit, the oldest of the siblings, is an incurable womanizer who has left a trail of broken hearts all over Istanbul but a stop was soon put to his reign of terror when three of his conquests team up to turn the tables on him. Ferit soon falls for Zehra, the ringleader of the takedown-Ferit-plan, but earning her love would require more than his usual antics. 

Ah Nerede averaged 1.97 in TOTAL, 1.09 in AB, and 1.38 in ABC1.

Premiering with great fanfare in the summer, Gizli Saklı followed the story of Naz (Sinem Ünsal), a recent graduate of the police academy who was tasked with going undercover to capture a dangerous mafioso. For her mission, Naz is paired up with Pamir (Halit Özgür Sarı), a veteran detective whose personality is completely different from hers. Undercover as newlyweds, Naz and Pamir start off hating each other's guts but just as they are on the verge of successfully completing their mission, they begin to fall in love!

The enemies-to-lovers trope is a fan-favorite in diziland and it is no surprise the international community ate this pairing up, but unfortunately, even though Gizli Sakli premiered to decent numbers, subsequently episodes fell short, resulting in FOX being FOX and canceling the dizi after 8 episodes. 

The series averaged 2.82 in Total, 2.40 in AB, and 2.81 in ABC1.

A very interesting choice for a remake, Hayat Bugun, was a Turkish adaptation of the award-winning American series, New Amsterdam. The series marked the first-ever remake of the series and the parties involved in the original series were incredibly supportive, with Ryan Eggold, who stars as Dr. Mark Goodwin, sending his regards to the cast and crew ahead of the series' premiere.

Hayat Bugun joined the very busy Wednesday night schedule in October, with a star-studded cast including  Ulaş Tuna Astepe, Hazar Ergüçlü, Tansel Öngel, Hande Doğandemir, Mert Denizmen, and Şerif Erol. 

Sadly, the series did not live up to expectations, with Show TV cancelling the medical drama after 8 episodes, more than 75 episodes shy of the original series episode count.

Hayat Bugun averaged 2.11 in TOTAL, 1.77 in AB, and 2.60 in ABC1.

If there was ever such a thing as a perfect-for-streaming dizi, it would most definitely be Darmaduman. Fronted by a stunning young cast that included the likes of Mert Yazıcıoğlu, Hafsanur Sancaktutan, Aytaç Şaşmaz, and Aslıhan Malbora, this Beverly Hills 90210 remake got its start on Thursday nights this Fall before swiftly being moved to Saturdays, in hope that the ratings would eventually rise. But even with TRT1's powerhouse dizi "Gönül Dağı" on a break, the ratings for Darmaduman remained low, signaling an overall lack of interest in the Ay Yapım production. 

As with the original series, Darmaduman followed the story of a close-knit family whose move to a big city thrust their lives in a completely different direction.

Many argued that the remake fell short because the story never had a climax, yani a moment that left you yearning for more. To be fair, the original series did have very poor ratings in its first season but unlike the original series, which went on to have over 200 episodes, FOX sealed the fate of Darmaduman at Episode 9.

As of its 6th episode, Darmaduman averaged 2.50 in Total, 2.39 in AB, and 2.44 in ABC1.

Unlike previous years with hits like "Mucize Doktor' and 'Sadakatsiz,' 2022 was a challenging year for Turkish remakes, and ATV's Hakim was one of its casualties. 

The very well-produced Turkish remake of the award-winning "Your Honor" series, premiered earlier in the year, with veteran actor Erdal Beşikçioğlu playing Ömer Arif, the revered judge character and newcomer Ozan Derman, playing his son Ozan.

Just like the original, the remake followed the father-son duo, as they navigated the aftermath of a fatal accident, that resulted in the death of a Mafia leader's son.

Hakim averaged 2.88 in TOTAL, 3.42 in AB, and 3.41 in ABC1.

Eyebrows were raised when ATV announced its new drama series Adı Sevgi will be airing on Sunday nights, the same night with top award-winning hit series like Yargı and Teşkilat.

Notwithstanding, following the release of very cryptic fragmans, the series premiered to decent ratings in March, with Yunus Emre Yildirimer and Gizem Günes leading the charge as Emir and Elif, respectively. 

As we later came to find out, the series centered on Elif, a school teacher who takes on a very powerful family in her bid to protect one of her students from a forced arranged marriage.

Adı Sevgi averaged 3.58 in TOTAL, 1.57 in AB, and 2.36 in ABC1.

Annenin Sırrıdır Çocuk had us hooked right from the jump and with subsequent episodes, the series was able to retain that momentum, until its cancellation. 

İrem Helvacıoğlu, Selin Yeninci, Engin Öztürk, and Olgun Toker led the series, which premiered in April, centered on every mother's worst nightmare: their child being kidnapped. When Defne (İrem Helvacıoğlu) got pregnant, the only one happier than her husband Cinar (Olgun Toker) was their maid, Meryem (Selin Yeninci). And when Meryem announced that she too was pregnant, Defne was thrilled! Their relationship grew along with their pregnancies, and the two young women formed a special bond. So when Defne’s baby was abducted, she turned to her fellow mother for support.

The only problem: Meryem was never really pregnant, and she’s the one who stole Defne’s child. BOMBA.

Annenin Sırrıdır Çocuk avergaed 2.87 in TOTAL, 2.36 in AB, and 2.95 in ABC1.

There was little to no buzz surrounding TRT1's Mükemmel Eşleşme when it premiered, mostly because the show was barely pushed by the network. 

In Mükemmel Eşleşme, Ahmet Kayakesen and Gizem Sevim starred as Kerem and Pınar respectively, two career-oriented people, with no plans of getting married, having children, or starting a family, but the same cannot be said about their families. 

To escape the pressure from their families, Pınar and Kerem agree to behave as if they are dating. But they never foresaw that the meeting, which they accepted so their mothers would leave them in peace, would affect their lives positively over time, and that they would eventually abandon their carefree lives and single-room flats.

Mükemmel Eşleşme averaged in 1.35 in TOTAL, in 1.60 in AB, and 1.52 in ABC1. 

When it comes to any FOX dizi, the question on our minds is always the same: Do we bother watching it, even though it will likely get cancelled? Yani, why get invested? For Bir Peri Masalı, every episode was rumoured to be the episode to determine its fate on air, so much so that they never had a stock (backup) episode. But long last, FOX saved its FOXin' till Episode 13.

The MEDYapım-produced series followed the story of Zeynep (Alina Boz), an average girl with big dreams whose life changes drastically after stumbling upon a large sum of money! With cash now at hand, Zeynep transforms herself into the fashionable socialite named “Melis” and breaks into high society with one object: finding a rich husband before she’s found out or the money runs out. She sets her eyes on Onur Köksal (Taro Emir Tekin), a successful businessman and the oldest son of a wealthy family. As she successfully worms her way into the Köksal family, the deeper she gets the more she realizes that life at the top has miseries of its own. 

As of its 11th episode, Bir Peri Masalı averaged 2.99 in Total, 2.39 in AB, and 3.00 in ABC1.