NBC to cancel 'Bad Judge,' 'A to Z' with zombie twist

Bad Judge has been disbarred and it’s R.I.P. for A to Z as two more fall shows have fallen prey to the broadcast ax. Only this time, there’s a Halloween-appropriate twist.

NBC announced Friday it will not produce any more episodes of the two Thursday night comedies beyond their initial orders. Bad Judge has shot 10 episodes; A to Z has shot 11. Five episodes each have aired. Both shows will finish production on their 13 episodes and all will air, but NBC has confirmed it will not order episodes beyond that. So the duo are sort of like the walking dead for the next eight weeks.

Bad Judge stars Kate Walsh as a tough party-loving judge, while A to Z was a romantic comedy planned to chart the relationship of one couple from start to finish and stars Ben Feldman and Cristin Milioti.

The comedies started modest in the ratings then collapsed against tough competition from ABC’s Scandal and CBS’ comedy block. The most recent episode of Bad Judge had 4 million viewers and 0.9 rating among adults 18-49 and A to Z had 2.6 million and 0.7 rating. Since the shows are going to be on the air for awhile, there’s always the possibility of a ratings surge that gives NBC second thoughts about their fates, but that rarely seems to happen for freshman shows.

Previously, ABC canceled Manhattan Love Story — the first official canceled show of the fall. Fox also reduced the episode order for Mulaney.