Here’s why police drama Against The Wall was cancelled before it reached a second season Procedural dramas are basically the lifeblood of television, with some of the most popular shows being the likes of NCIS or the recently finished Criminal Minds. To break through a new procedural series really needs a fresh angle or a unique protagonist. A show like The Blacklist, for example, may not do much to reinvent the genre but it’s fronted by great leads in the shape of James Spader’s Red and Megan Boone’s Liz.

Against The Wall is a cop series that debuted on Lifetime back in 2011 that featured a good hook. It starred Rachael Carpani as Abby, who belongs to a family of Chicago cops – including father Don (Treat Williams, Blue Bloods) and three brothers – and she wants to follow in their footsteps. The only detective position available to her, however, is with Internal Affairs, which causes a rift between Abby and her dad. Her brothers aren’t super happy about it either but over time and after bonding with new partner Lina (Marisa Ramirez) she starts to see the value of the job.

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Against The Wall received decent reviews when it arrived with star Carpani, in particular, getting good notices for her work. The series also featured some compelling family drama but it debuted to modest ratings and by the time the season 1 finale aired they hadn’t improved. It thus came as little surprise when Against The Wall was cancelled by Lifetime by the end of 2011.

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Despite Against The Wall’s solid hook and casting it did little to distinguish itself from the sea of other cop procedurals that were on the air at the time, which is likely the reason it never broke through. In the years that followed the end of the show, Rachel Carpani went on to play the grown-up Cathy in both If There Be Thorns and Seeds Of Yesterday, Lifetime’s sequels to its adaptation of V.C. Andrews infamous bestseller Flowers In The Attic.

Against The Wall creator Annie Brunner most recently worked on hit drama When Calls The Heart, acting as a writer and executive producer. While Against The Wall was well-received amongst those who actually watched it, it seems very doubtful it will receive a belated revival season with the cast and characters having long moved on to new projects, in addition to the series being relatively obscure at by this stage.

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About The Author


Padraig Cotter
(3494 Articles Published)

It’s pronounced Paw-rick, not Pad-raig. Now that’s out of the way, a brief introduction. Padraig has been writing about film online since 2012, when a friend asked if he’d like to contribute the occasional review or feature to their site.

A part-time hobby soon blossomed into a career when he discovered he really loved writing about movies, TV and video games – he even (arguably) had a little bit of talent for it. He has written words for Den of Geek, Collider, The Irish Times and Screen Rant over the years, and can discuss anything from the MCU – where Hawkeye is clearly the best character – to the most obscure cult b-movie gem, and his hot takes often require heat resistant gloves to handle.

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He’s super modern too, so his favorite movies include Jaws, Die Hard, The Thing, Ghostbusters and Batman. He can be found as i_Padds on Twitter making bad puns.

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