‘Home Economics’ Season 4: Will ABC Renew or Cancel the Comedy Series?

Home Economics wrapped its regrettably abbreviated 13-episode third season on Wednesday with an earthquake-themed finale, and ABC has given zero indication whether it plans to bring the supremely underrated sitcom back for Season 4. (When asked, an ABC rep tells TVLine that there’s no news to share yet on a possible fourth season.) And since we loathe uncertainty almost as much as we do premature cancellations, we rang up series co-creators/co-showrunners Michael Colton and John Aboud to get a temperature check on the show’s future.

TVLINE | So… was this episode  a season or a series finale?
MICHAEL COLTON | We hope it’s a season finale. We’re optimistic. We know the network is very happy with the show. And we have a very devoted fan base. We’re just waiting for the right people to weigh in. It’s a process. But we’re planning to come back. We have a lot more stories to tell. We’re hopeful.

JOHN ABOUD | We designed this episode to either be the midway point of a 22-episode season, a season finale or a series finale. We planned for every eventuality.

TVLINE | What was the explanation ABC gave you for only ordering 13 episodes this season vs. 22?
COLTON | It was basically a shelf space issue… They have a [set] number of hours in primetime and they have new shows like [Gina Rodriguez’s] Not Dead Yet coming on… But It was a bummer. We would’ve much rather done 22. We have a lot of stories we want to tell. But every indication we’ve gotten is that the network is behind the show.

TVLINE | Let’s talk about the season finale. Connor had a bit of an existential crisis in the wake of the earthquake. He’s running for mayor of San Francisco?! Will that stick in a potential Season 4?
COLTON | We have some fun ideas on how to play the mayor thing out if we get a Season 4. I think it’s something we can have fun with for a few episodes. It’s inspired by the idea that when people have a certain degree of wealth they think that maybe they should…

ABOUD | … run everything! [Laughs]

TVLINE | Regarding Denise and Sarah’s IVF journey, why didn’t you have Sarah become pregnant this season since her portrayer, Caitlin McGee, was already pregnant in real-life?
COLTON | That would’ve been the easy thing to do. It certainly would’ve saved us from having [to make] her hold pillows and put fruit baskets in front of her. Timing wise, there were other stories we wanted to tell first. Once a character has a baby that [becomes their main] story; it’s hard to get away from that. And there were a lot of other things we wanted to play before we got to that point. And because we have a lesbian couple and it’s a very specific type of journey to get pregnant — the characters are based on my sister and her wife — we wanted to make sure we have the room to tell that journey. And had we [accelerated the story to sync up with Caitlin’s pregnancy] we would’ve jumped ahead and started Season 3 with her already pregnant, and [subsequently] missed the chance to tell some of the stories we want to tell about IVF. In [a potential] Season 4, we would have the runway to tell the story the way we want to tell it.

TVLINE | Casey Wilson was a great addition this season as Harmony. Might she return on a more full-time basis in a possible Season 4?
COLTON | Anything is possible. It’s a little early to have any of those conversations. But she’s hilarious and she’s ABC sitcom royalty. She added a whole new energy. We definitely want to bring her back.