Why was the well-reviewed, Emmy-winning series "Counterpart" canceled? The sci-fi spy drama starring Oscar winner J.K. Simmons was just "too male" to earn a third season.

Speaking at the TCA summer press tour,  Starz COO Jeffrey Hirsch admitted that the show’s audience didn't fit with the network's female-focused strategy.

"'Counterpart' was a great show... and [series creator] Justin [Marks] is a great writer, but it was a very complicated show, a very male show. We had picked that show up and made a two season commitment before we’d honed in on this premium female strategy," he said.

Hirsch  explained that since it didn't appeal to their "core premium female audience... we have to find something else. If it doesn’t serve our core strategy, we’re just not going to do it."

The series starred Simmons as Howard Silk, a low-level employee in a Berlin-based UN spy agency. He discovers his organization safeguards a crossing into a parallel dimension that's at war with ours, then must work with the only man he can trust, his near-identical counterpart from this other side.

The series earned a  rare 100% Fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes for both seasons and won an Emmy for Main Title Design.

"Counterpart" also developed a devoted fan following, but wasn't able to attract, to quote Deadline's story, "a broad audience." Ahem.

You can still see Simmons in the newly returned "Veronica Mars" and reprising his role as blustery editor J. Jonah Jameson in "Spider-Man: Far from Home."

[Via Deadline]