ABC's Boss on Why The Mayor and Ten Days in the Valley Failed

One of ABC's bigger disappointments of the current season was The Mayor, a feel-good comedy about an aspiring rapper who "accidentally" becomes mayor of his town after an attempt to gain notoriety for his music career through a political run for office goes awry.

Though ABC has had as much success with broadcast comedy as anyone, The Mayor never took off and ABC pulled it from its schedule. ABC president Channing Dungey addressed the show's failure, and like many fans, she expressed "heartbreak" over losing it.

"The issue did not seem to be one of the audience not knowing that the show was there, which is sometimes the case," she told reporters at the Television Critics Association winter press tour Monday. "And you say well maybe we didn't market it right or maybe we didn't market it enough. People knew, and they just didn't come. And what was really disappointing for me personally was it wasn't just a question of the live same-day going down week after week, the delayed numbers also continued to drop. And that's the biggest signal that ultimately it's for whatever reason a show that's just not connecting."

Check out more TCA coverage here

However, despite headlines saying the show is canceled (which it probably is), Dungey insists the network will let the final episodes play out and make a decision later this spring, when the final schedule for the next fall is determined. Ditto for Kevin (Probably) Saves the World, which is struggling on Tuesday nights but has big fans within ABC, including Dungey.

As for Ten Days in the Valley, which was pulled from its Sunday slot and burned off on Saturdays, Dungey says the right audience couldn't find it or didn't know it existed.

"Ten Days was a show that I think ultimately did not necessarily get the level of marketing support that I would have loved to have given it," she said.

On a more positive note about a show leaving, Dungey was excited about the end of The Middle, which will say goodbye later this season.

"The only thing I want to say is the end of The Middle is going to be a special one-hour long episode, which is the first time we've done that for The Middle. And we're really excited about the creative, I don't think there's going to be a dry eye in the house," she said.