Picture: truTV
The comedy sitcom Tacoma FD ran on TruTV between 2019 and 2023 chronicling the lives of firefighters in a firehouse led by Chief Terry McConky and Captain Eddie Penisi. Despite being critically acclaimed and finding a new lease of life on Netflix – the show won’t be coming back as it stands.
As we first reported, Netflix licensed all four seasons of the show in December 2023, with all 49 episodes landing on the streaming service on New Year’s Eve (December 31st). It’s worth noting that Netflix only licensed the show in the United States with it currently available in all other regions.
Sadly, what’s available on Netflix will be the last batch of episodes made available. As first reported by TVLine, the show was canceled just months after the season finale for season 4 aired.
So why isn’t Tacoma FD going to have a fifth season on Netflix? Well, as summarized below by the two creators, it comes down to the fact that TruTV has opted not to renew the show for a season 5.
The duo creators behind the show responded on February 14th about the show’s cancelation with the following statement:
“Hi all. We got the sad news today. Tacoma FD has come to an end. Despite the great run we had and the new audience we reached on Netflix, our current network has decided to get out of the business of making scripted comedy. It was a crazy ride at TruTv as we went through 2 corporate takeovers and 4 different bosses in 4 seasons. But the 4 seasons we had the privilege to make were the highlight of our careers. We want to thank all of you out there who supported the show. We’re happy to know more people will discover it as it enjoys its new life on Netflix.
We also want to send our love to our amazing and talented cast (Hassie, Gabe, Marcus, Eugene & Chris and so many more) and the most incredible, dedicated, talented crew ever. We could not have done this without you. You all made it a joy to go to work every day. We can only hope to have as much fun on a set in the future as we had making TFD with you.
And finally we want to say how proud we are to have represented, in our own small way, the community of Firefighters and First Responders. Our hope was to humanize the folks who serve us so nobly. Hopefully we were able to do that and provide them with a few laughs as we played in their sandbox.
So Tacoma FD is done, but we are not. We have a lot of things in the hopper, both TV & Film… (and even a movie in the works called “Super Troopers 3”). We’ll see you soon. And we look forward to sharing more laughs with you down the road.
Love, Kevin & Steve”
Sadly, then, the cancelation was somewhat inevitable given that TruTV has largely left the original programming space with only a single show getting new seasons at the moment, which is Impractical Jokers.
Could Netflix save Tacoma FD?
Some would’ve hoped that Netflix might’ve stepped in, given they picked the rights up to the show, but that doesn’t look like it’s on the cards.
While the show featured in the Netflix US TV top 10s, it only stayed there for eight days before dropping out. It peaked on January 5th, being the fourth most-watched show before dropping.
Where we’ve seen shows licensed to Netflix and saved in the past, it primarily came down to monster performance on Netflix. Manifest spent weeks in the Netflix top 10s before getting renewed and Lucifer was already a proven hit on Netflix internationally before they acquired it.
Picture: TruTV
Would you have liked to see Tacoma FD return for a fifth season? Would you like Netflix to revive the show? Let us know in the comments down below.
