At the end of Season 4, William “Bill” Masters and Virginia Johnson started a new chapter in their lives, becoming partners on a whole new level. Showtime saw that more as an ending than a beginning, unfortunately.
Deadline reports that Masters of Sex will not be getting a Season 5, despite having what they call “prestige but modest ratings.” To put in perspective, Showtime’s hits Ray Donovan and Shameless draw around 2 million viewers a week in Live+3, and an episode of Masters of Sex comes in at about 800,000.
It was suggested that Showtime executives saw Bill and Virginia’s marriage was a fitting end to lots of boinking research (a rather prudish perspective, hmm?), but the finale that aired on November 10 wasn’t an obvious send off. At least we’re free to imagine whatever happy ending we want for our protagonists, and maybe a series for Lizzy Caplan that truly deserves her.
GET JEZEBEL RIGHT IN YOUR INBOX
Still here. Still without airbrushing. Still with teeth.
