The “Pitch Perfect” franchise is kind of a strange beast, and it’s not just because of the acapella. Despite the fact that the movies follow the law of diminishing returns, with each entry being just a bit less aca-awesome than the last, the spin-off Peacock series, “Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin,” is actually a lot of fun. With showrunner Megan Amram at the helm, “Bumper in Berlin” was a sweet, silly continuation of the “Pitch Perfect” movies that fully leaned into its main character, Bumper Allen. Played by Adam DeVine, Bumper was more of a villain in the first “Pitch Perfect” movie before eventually becoming a protagonist in his own right, and DeVine’s annoying-little-brother-esque performance is, well, pitch perfect. Throw in Flula Borg reprising his role as Pieter Krämer from “Pitch Perfect 2,” “Modern Family” star Sarah Hyland as his assistant and Bumper’s love interest, “The Good Place” star Jameela Jamil as Pieter’s famous ex, and the rest of the incredible cast (including Udo Kier!!!) and “Bumper in Berlin” is full of some seriously talented, watchable people.
“Bumper in Berlin” follows Bumper after Pieter sees his viral video mashup of “99 Luftballons” and “Take On Me” and decides to bring him to Berlin to help him chase his dreams of being an acapella superstar. It did well enough that Peacock ordered a second season in January of 2023, but in September of the same year that decision was reversed and the show was effectively canceled. So what the heck happened?
What got Bumper in Berlin bumped off the airwaves?
Fans of DeVine’s who knew him best from his Comedy Central sitcom “Workaholics” were shocked to discover that he could really sing, and fans of the “Pitch Perfect” movies wondered if a show centered on one of the franchises’ more irritating characters could work, but somehow “Bumper in Berlin” pulled it all together. The stars had great comedic chemistry and the songs were just as great as the movies. Despite the insane popularity of “Glee,” TV musicals are depressingly rare and often get cancelled far too soon (pour one out for “Schmigadoon!”), so when a second season of “Bumper in Berlin” was announced, fans were thrilled. Then Hollywood got hit with the one-two punch of a Writers Guild of America strike and the SAG-AFTRA strike, shutting down production on everything for several months. While these strikes were vital for labor rights and had more of a positive impact than a negative one, they also were the primary reason for “Bumper in Berlin” being canceled.
According to Deadline, the series renewal was reversed because the amount of time production was delayed was deemed too much, as the show would miss its target release date. Second seasons do tend to need to ride off of the excitement of the first, and when there’s a big gap between seasons fans can lose interest. It’s really a shame that Peacock didn’t go forward with it anyway, because “Pitch Perfect” fans are pretty intense and likely would haven’t objectd to the wait as long as they got to check back in with their favorite singing series again.
Could we ever see Bumper again?
Is there a chance that we’ll ever get to see Bumper, Pieter, and the rest of the “Bumper in Berlin” gang again? It’s not very likely outside of maybe a TV movie, and even the time for that seems to have passed. “Bumper in Berlin” wasn’t the only series that got the axe and then had the strikes blamed, though there may have been other factors involved. For example, Deadline says that Chloe Grace Moretz sci-fi series “The Peripheral” and the Abbi Jacobs baseball series “A League of Their Own” were both pulled for the same reason, though there were reports that “A League of Their Own” was actually cancelled because of focus-group feedback. It seems like the studios really just wanted to use the strikes as a scapegoat, but in the end the results are the same and some truly terrific television didn’t get the chance to be made.
Oh well, we’ll always have Berlin.
