In the midst of continued protests and worldwide calls for police reform in the United States, A&E has gone ahead and pulled the plug on the reality TV series Live PD. Just days ago, the network had pulled the series from its television schedule while executives were reportedly evaluating their options. In a new update to the story, Deadline reports that A&E and MGM's Big Fish Entertainment, the entity that produces the series, have mutually agreed to end the show's run on the network.

"This is a critical time in our nation's history and we have made the decision to cease production on Live PD," A&E tells Deadline in an official statement. "Going forward, we will determine if there is a clear pathway to tell the stories of both the community and the police officers whose role it is to serve them. And with that, we will be meeting with community and civil rights leaders as well as police departments."

News of Live PD getting the boot on A&E comes just a day after Cops met a similar fate. Because of the national focus on Black Lives Matter and the worldwide protests following the death of George Floyd, Paramount Network canceled Cops after the series had been airing on television since 1989. While the news has drawn a certain amount of criticism from viewers hoping to see the long-running series continue, the consensus is that airing a series like Cops at a time like this would be tasteless. Time will tell if the series will find a new life on another network in the future.

After it had been reported that Live PD had been removed from A&E's schedule, host Dan Abrams took to Twitter to assure fans that the series was not over yet. "To all of you asking whether #LivePD coming back. . .The answer is yes," Abrams wrote in a tweet. "All of us associated with the show are as committed to it as ever. We are still discussing some specifics but I want to assure the #LivePDNation that we are not abandoning you." Still, despite his optimism, the network and the studio have both agreed that it's for the best if Live PD never comes back to A&E.

This decision couldn't have come lightly for A&E, as Live PD was among their most successful programs. The series had garnered high enough ratings to be named basic cable's No. 1 show on Fridays and Saturdays in 2019. With high hopes for the series, the network had also renewed Live PD for 160 new episodes just last month. There were clearly no plans to put the brakes on the reality show anytime soon, but as things have been changing drastically over the past few weeks, ending the series now can still be seen as very understandable.

Hosted by Abrams, Live PD followed various police officers working across the United States and broadcasting their encounters with suspected criminals in real time. As with Cops, there will always be the possibility that the show could one day return at a new home elsewhere, but given how the network and the production company are distancing themselves from the series, it doesn't seem likely other companies will be rushing to scoop it up. This news comes to us from Deadline.