The show was likely "cancelled" (for a lack of a better term), during at least S4.

[neatoman]

So the Rise art book doesn't quite state when Rise started development but the earliest dated concept art in the book goes back to july 2016, meaning the 2012 was planned to be replaced by it during season 4 at the earliest. Not much of a surprise really, season 5 has a weird "side season" label and there are only seven months between one show ending and the other starting. Still, it does mean the producers likely weren't that impressed with season 3 and/or how season 4 was going.

[Andrew NDB]

It means nobody was watching it or buying any toys. Producers being impressed with anything wouldn't factor into anything.

[sdp]

Well Tales was always like a 'let's revive this' season. It took longer to come out, had a rebranding, different format. Was continuing even if the story had mostly wrapped up the season before. Were there any interviews talking about it? I think I remember them mentioning something like that but then again this happens often so i might be confusing it with another cartoon.

It's clear Nick thought they were going to bring back turtlemania with the 2012 show which it didn't. They had this HUGE marketing push for it, and it did have a huge positive news cycle and online acceptance. TMNT was hitting the nostalgia chords after Laird had kept FW TMNT influence mostly away from merchandise, Nick finally let it all free and nostalgia overcame everyone. I remember being disappointed with Season 1 but I was the minority, everyone ate their FW inspired show up.

Fewer people stuck around for Season 2, at least most normies who were talking about it, so I'm guessing when they renewed for Season 3 they likely told them this would only go on for another season after that which is why they also wrapped things up on S4. This is speculation of course, I wasn't keeping up with the show much during that time so I barely read stuff online about it.

[ToTheNines]

It means nobody was watching it or buying any toys. Producers being impressed with anything wouldn't factor into anything.

I was recently listening to one of the producers, Peter Hastings on the Turtle Tracks podcast. He said it was actually doing well with ratings and toy sales up through the end.

A couple of factors:

1. I know nothing about Ciro’s contract, but he didn’t want to do the show forever. He said from the start he needed 4 seasons. It’s pretty clear that season 4 was the crescendo and season 5 was mostly scraps. His exit might have been a big factor, especially if they’d always planned on it.

2. It surely wasn’t as profitable in 2016-17 as it was in 2012-13. Rise was clearly made on a lower budget and the plan was probably to spend a little less and still make a pretty penny. But it ended up being divisive and even fans of the show will tell you, Playmates sh*t the bed with that toy line.

I’m not a profit-driven corporation, but as a fan I have to say the short turnaround between these two shows was a huge mistake. Aside from being repulsed by the character designs, I was very turned off by Nickelodeon not allowing a cool-off period after 2012 ended.

In retrospect, I’m glad they shifted to Rise instead of trying to keep the show going without Ciro. That might have been dreadful.

[Andrew NDB]

Oh, sorry... I thought this was about Rise.

No, Ciro's show was definitely not "Cancelled" in the traditional sense at all.

[ToTheNines]

Well Tales was always like a 'let's revive this' season. It took longer to come out, had a rebranding, different format. Was continuing even if the story had mostly wrapped up the season before. Were there any interviews talking about it? I think I remember them mentioning something like that but then again this happens often so i might be confusing it with another cartoon.

It's clear Nick thought they were going to bring back turtlemania with the 2012 show which it didn't. They had this HUGE marketing push for it, and it did have a huge positive news cycle and online acceptance. TMNT was hitting the nostalgia chords after Laird had kept FW TMNT influence mostly away from merchandise, Nick finally let it all free and nostalgia overcame everyone. I remember being disappointed with Season 1 but I was the minority, everyone ate their FW inspired show up.

Fewer people stuck around for Season 2, at least most normies who were talking about it, so I'm guessing when they renewed for Season 3 they likely told them this would only go on for another season after that which is why they also wrapped things up on S4. This is speculation of course, I wasn't keeping up with the show much during that time so I barely read stuff online about it.

Seasons 1 and 2 bounced around 2 million to 3 million viewers per episode up through “Vengeance is Mine” in late season 2. After that was a 3 month hiatus and it basically never got back there (this hiatus coincided with the release of the 2014 movie… make of that what you will). But it did maintain 1 million to 1.8 million viewers per episode all the way until the end.

Some season 5 episodes went below 1 mil. But that season was all over the place with episodes debuting on either Nickelodeon, Nicktoons, streaming or DVD. Seemingly at random.

EDIT: Something else relevant is the fact that Season 4 was originally going to be 20 episodes. 6 more episodes were ordered later. Nickelodeon wouldn’t just be throwing extra episodes at a show that was hurting them financially.

[neatoman]

Oh, sorry... I thought this was about Rise.

No, Ciro's show was definitely not "Cancelled" in the traditional sense at all.

No, not "cancelled", hence why "for lack of a better term" is in the title. More like... "Planned for replacement", if I had to come up with more fitting terminology?

[Powder]

I met Andy Suriano at a con in June of 2015, & I gushed about how I was a big fan of his style on turtles (he was doing licensing art & some character designs). He told me that he had tried to submit a few pitches for an animated series all his own, but that they weren't interested. I was super curious & expressed my excitement for the idea of it happening one day, encouraged him to persist, Andy said he'd post the concept art to social media for me (& eventually did). I'll post it below. He was tasked left & right by Viacom at the time, they had him doing everything from the Nick series DVD covers to Crush soda's Out of the Shadows labelling, he was a part of the 2012 show's development from like 2010, going by dated sketches out there. So, it's entirely possible they were sold on the idea of him being next-up from very early on.
The concept art in question, which is at LEAST as old as 2015:

https://i.ibb.co/RT41qN4g/13534614-1322724977755762-1962046610-n.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/hx3LCMmW/13534194-651325661699709-1816385420-n.jpg

[ToTheNines]

Thanks for sharing, P.

So if anything, this show got the opposite of cancelled. As in, season 4 was extended and season 5 was just bonus. All these pitches we’ve seen dated 2015-16 just further prove that everyone knew Ciro would be leaving shortly after his 4 seasons, and they were planning accordingly.