Bubble Bustin’ Thursday: Seven shows get the ax

With the upfronts just around the corner – next week in fact, the networks are cleaning out the deadwood and making firm on several pilots.

ABC announced Thursday it had renewed 23 shows for the 2015-16 season, from veteran shows Dancing With The Stars and Modern Family to newbies black-ish and Beyond The Tank, a Shark Tank spinoff. ABC also announced it was picking up nine new shows – six dramas and three comedies. Among them is a new medical comedy from Community star Ken Jeong (who actually is a doctor in real life) and a Muppets reboot, making use of its synergy with parent company Disney.

To make room, ABC dropped four shows from its schedule: Forever, Resurrection,  Criestla, and Revenge. No word on the fate of Last Man Standing, which is reportedly undergoing yet another showrunner change.

With ABC renewing Marvel’s Agent Carter for a second season, it came as no surprise it did not pick up a Agents of SHIELD spinoff.

Meanwhile, The CW announced Thursday it would cancel medical drama Hart of Dixie after four seasons, and pull the plug on The Messengers after just one. They did renew iZombie for a second season, despite averaging a little under a 1.0 rating among adults 18-49.

And Fox decided to end The Mindy Project after three low-rated seasons, but the show’s producers is in talks with subscription video-on-demand service Hulu to pick up two seasons of the show so it can go into off-net.