No more Mr. Nice Network.
Every season, the five broadcast networks roll out their new series, lavishing praise and promotion on the shows...until they premiere. Then they are on their own.
ABC has already made the first cut of the season, canceling low-rated rom-com Manhattan Love Story after just four episodes, with NBC soon following, deciding not to order more episodes of Bad Judge and A to Z, their freshman comedies, after their initial 13-episode order airs. Then Fox pulled the plug Utopia, its social experiment-gone-wrong. And there are sure to be more cancellations to come very soon.
But what will be the next series to head to the TV show graveyard? We're predicting the next casualty, ranking all the new fall shows from least likely to most likely to be canceled...
Chances of Cancellation: Zip. Zero. Nada. The Grant Gustin-led superhero series is the CW's highest-rated series premiere ever, and almost every viewer returned for the second episode, which is basically TV's version of a unicorn. Basically, it's the network's new golden child and will run for many, many seasons.
Chances of Cancellation: Shonda Rhimes + Viola Davis + insane-in-the-membrane storylines and pacing = TV viewer catnip. And eat up this sexy drama, they did, making HTGAWM the fall's highest-rated debut. Oh, and it improved on Scandal's numbers. ABC quickly ordered a full series...and begged Shonda to take over every night of programming.
Chances of Cancellation: Fox would have to be pretty batty to cancel their not-really-a-Batman-prequel, considering its one of their highest-rated shows on the air. After receiving a full-season order, Gotham has averaged 6 million viewers and a healthy 2.0 rating in the demo. Plus, Gotham has the best DVR playback of any of the new shows.
Chances of Cancellation: Long considered ABC's version of the Defense Against the Dark Arts position at Hogwarts, the post-Modern Family timeslot has mostly been a death sentence for many comedies. But black-ish managed to break the curse, retaining almost all of its lead-in and scoring a great demo number. Numbers have faltered slightly, but black-ish still notched an impressive 2.7 rating in its most recent episode and has already been picked up for a full season.
Chances of Cancellation: There's no mystery about it: NBC has a lot of faith in Debra Messing's on-screen struggle of balancing motherhood and being a cop. (HOW DOES SHE DO IT?!) Already picked up for a full season, Laura's ratings have been strong and the network is loving their female-driven Wednesday line-up, with Sophia Bush on Chicago PD and Mariska Hargitay on Law & Order: SVU in addition to Messing.
Chances of Cancellation: On a network slowly being taken over by supernatural and superhero fare, Jane the Virgin had a lot of pressure on it. And it mostly lived up to it. While its premiere numbers weren't earth-shattering, the telenovela did give the CW its highest Mondays-at-9 audience since February 2012. And it's one of the buzziest andmost beloved new shows of the season, which is why the CW already picked it up for a full season. Don't push yet, Jane!
Chances of Cancellation: CBS made the genius move and ordered more episodes of this action-procedural starring Elyes Gabel and Katharine McPhee. With strong ratings—a recent episode had a 2.3 rating and more than 10 million viewers—and solid DVR play, we'll likely be seeing those smarties around for at least another season.
Chances of Cancellation: Hm...while the numbers aren't massive (the latest episode attracted 7 million viewers and a 1.7 rating), Stalker has established a pretty loyal fanbase already, and landed the third spot in our definitive ranking of all the new shows. And CBS seems to have confidence in the Kevin Williamson-created series, ordering a full season.
Chances of Cancellation: The new comedy from Happy Endings co-creator David Caspe starring Casey Wilson and Ken Marino received the plum spot after The Voice. After a good start, Marry Me is shedding viewers. It recently lost about half of The Voice's audience, but is still doing better than NBC's other DOA comedies. Not unusual, but viewers need to commit to this comedy marriage if they want to keep it around.
Chances of Cancellation: CBS cancel an NCIS series? Ha, you must be new. After the latest spinoff scored 17 million viewers in its debut outing, CBS ordered a full season of French Quarter-set madness.
Chances of Cancellation: With the aging The Good Wife (and by aging we don't mean it's bad, The Good Wife is better than ever in its sixth season), CBS would be wise to keep Madam Secretary around passed its already ordered full season. Also a victim of CBS's football overruns, Madam Secretary has been doing well in total viewers. However, its 18-49 demo rating has dropped since premiere, but it's holding steady.
Chances of Cancellation: Its latest episode scored 5.5 million viewers and a 1.1 demo rating, but the series, starring Ioan Gruffudd, has managed to cultivate quite the loyal following in a short amount of time. And the series' will-they-or-won't-they chemistry between the two leads could help it become the next Castle, leading ABC to order a full-season of Ioan Gruffudd's immortal adventures.
Chances of Cancellation: Cristela Alonzo is a star. Is Cristela the show for her? Well, she created it and reviews for it have been mixed, but ratings have been steady. It holds on to a lot of the Last Man Standing audience. A recent episode had 5 million viewers and a 1.0 rating, much better than some other comedies on TV AND on a Friday night, leading ABC to pick the show up for a full season.
Chances of Cancellation: Ugh, this one just hits us where it hurts. We adore this show and are seriously stumped as to why more people aren't watching? Could the sick kids living and playing in a hospital premise have turned off viewers? Its most recent episode attracted 3.2 million viewers and a low 1.0 rating, making us want to scream into our pillows.
But there are two things giving us hope: Fox has ordered four more scripts (not episodes, it's important to note) and Red Band Society's DVR playback is strong. SO WATCH.
Chances of Cancellation: It's a little early to tell what could happen to this new CBS sitcom, but its first episode didn't exactly have blockbuster ratings. A 1.9 rating is great for other networks, but by CBS standards...we may be having an Irish wake for this family sitcom soon.
Chances of Cancellation: Comic books are hot, hot, hot right now! Constantine? A little too early to tell, but the premiere episode only had 4.3 million viewers and a 1.4 rating. Still, that was on a Friday. Not the biggest debut, but definitely not the worst. However, working against Constantine is the fact that it experienced a 36 percent drop-off in episode two.
Chances of Cancellation: Fox's remake of the critically-acclaimed Broadchurch—both starring David Tennant—has been pretty much a dud. After wrapping up its initial 10-episode run (which was billed as a limited series event), Fox has decided not to return to Gracepoint for a second season. At least we have the original!
Chances of Cancellation: Fox already cut its episode order for the John Mulaney sitcom. Ratings are in the toilet. Fox has swapped its timeslot with Bob'ss Burgers, meaning it airs at 7;30 p.m. now. Yeah, it's that dire.
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