The cheerleaders of Stumble are already taking their final bow in the first half of the 2026 TV schedule, with NBC's newest sitcom wrapping Season 1 with the finale for Courteney (Jenn Lyon) and her crew on March 13. At the time of writing, the network has not yet confirmed whether or not the mockumentary set in the world of junior college cheerleading will return for Season 2, so it's worth looking back at co-showrunner Liz Astrof's glowing comments about working on network TV as well as the latest on cancellation/renewal odds.
What The Co-Showrunner Told Us
Stumble not only brought in Claws vet Jenn Lyon as leading lady and Kristin Chenoweth as her scene-stealing cheer pal/cheer nemesis, but SNL vet Taron Killam even returned to NBC for it. Courteney (Lyon) has spent the first season leading an increasingly less motley crew of junior college students towards possible glory at cheerleading championships. The finale picks up on their big shot at Daytona, with Courteney having the support of husband Boone (Killam) and a reunion with her old coach, Marg Hargberg (played by Katey Sagal).
Liz Astrof is the co-showrunner alongside her brother Jeff, and the siblings started out the new show by explaining why the world of cheer is actually perfect for the mockumentary format. Between the two of them, they have plenty of experience as executive producers on both cable and television, ranging from CBS' 2 Broke Girls to Starz's Shining Vale. When I spoke with Liz at SCAD TVfest in Atlanta, she shared what the experience has been like in returning to network TV in 2026, with the traditional weekly release model regaining some of its old steam:
Article continues belowI love it, I love it, I love it. I grew up on that model, I grew up watching TV, absorbing TV, commercials, everything. I love that that is coming back. It's just my upbringing, so I love that it's coming back. I love that people are sitting down and watching TV, and you can count on it to not be gone for two years. You can count on it coming back. It's also the kind of stuff that you don't have to do too much thinking [about]. I love everything about network TV. I really do.
As it happened, I spoke with Liz Astrof just weeks after the finale of Netflix's Stranger Things, which is one of the most high-profile examples of a show that would be gone for years on end, with fans not even knowing for many months when it might be back. That's certainly not the case for Stumble, which only took time off in Season 1 for the expected winter and Olympics breaks, and could be revisited (or discovered) in the interim with a Peacock subscription. She went on:
I hope we come back, but you can come back and people don't look five years older. You can pick up where you left off. You have characters that you can grab onto and relate to. I feel like they're more relatable because you're writing for this audience and all different demographics. I really like network TV a lot. You can count on it.
Viewers could certainly count on Stumble on a weekly basis from the fall to the early spring of the 2025-2026 TV schedule, with Reba McEntire's already-renewed Happy's Place as a lead-in on Friday nights. But will the cheerleaders of Headltston State Junior College be back on Fridays next fall? Let's look at the details available so far.
Will NBC Bring Stumble Back?
While the wait is now on for an official decision from NBC about the future of Stumble, Deadline reported in late February that the freshman mockumentary was on the bubble for cancellation as the network's lowest-rated scripted show of the season.
The series is reportedly not thriving behind the multi-cam Happy's Place on Fridays, while the network's other mockmuntaries – St. Denis Medical (already renewed for Season 3) and Tracy Morgan's The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins – are both airing on Mondays.
That said, the outlet also reports certain factors in favor of Stumble continuing, including the positive Rotten Tomatoes scores of 82% from critics and 94% from viewers. The first season also reportedly came in under budget and has strong internal support from NBC.
So, for better or worse, it's just a matter of time until the news comes down about the future of Stumble, and it's not too soon to start crossing fingers that Courteney and Co. will be back in the fall. As a lover of weekly releases myself, I'm a big fan of Liz Astrof's comments about the perks of network TV, and she seems to have a clear vision for how to keep the laughs coming without prolonged breaks. We just need a renewal!
The Season 1 finale of Stumble airs on NBC on Friday, March 13 at 8:30 p.m. ET, and will be available streaming next day on Peacock.
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