We live in a very different television world than we did even three or four years ago, when viewers would get nervous every April about losing a favorite show. Whether perpetual bubble shows like Parks and Recreation or Community or Hannibal would be renewed or canceled was once a major topic of conversation on the Internet.
Times have changed. The upfront season isn’t nearly what it once was, a network show can be renewed with fewer than 900,000 viewers (see Crazy Ex-Girlfriend), and almost any show that manages to survive its first season is virtually guaranteed renewal even if it was once on the verge of cancellation, because the incremental gains in viewership in a second season is enough to keep it around a third (see American Crime, The Mysteries of Laura).
At this point, the majority of shows that are being canceled by the networks are shows that many even in the critical television community have never heard of. There’s too much television for anyone to be able to keep up with, and network television is very low priority these days, especially on the drama side. But, if a show has even a small, but passionate audience, it’s likely to be renewed because that small, but passionate audience can be a slightly larger passionate audience once television rights are picked up by Hulu or Netflix or Amazon Prime.
A ton of shows have already been renewed. In fact, the CW has renewed its entire schedule already. If your favorite show is not on this list, it’s probably already been renewed or is very likely to be renewed for next season.
Here are, however, the 17 series most likely to be canceled, according to TVByTheNumbers.
Fox
Of all the shows on this list, I’m personally sad about only one, Grinder, but I feel like even if the ratings for the Rob Lowe show don’t support its renewal, the adoration from the critical community may be enough to rescue it. Sleepy Hollow, once a ratings hit for Fox, isn’t a surprise, especially after a major character was killed off in the finale.
Cooper Barrett’s Guide to Surviving Life
Bordertown
Second Chance
The Grinder
Sleepy Hollow
CBS
No surprises here, and only Brian Grubb will be sad about the cancellation of CSI: Cyber.
CSI: Cyber
Rush Hour
Code Black
ABC
ABC was nice enough to give the terribly rated first seasons of Galavant and Agent Carter another shot, but the ratings continued to decline. Galavant was cute, but couldn’t capture an audience, while Hayley Atwell is going to be just fine if Carter doesn’t return. The big surprise here is The Muppets, which came into the season with name recognition and a lot of buzz. Unfortunately, they frittered it away by trying to turn The Muppets into a bad version of The Office.
Galavant
Agent Carter
The Family
The Muppets
NBC
If I am not mistaken, since Robert Greenblatt took over as NBC President in 2012, Undateable is the only sitcom that has survived until a third season. It’s unlikely to make it to a fourth. Once the home of Must-See TV sitcoms, the only comedy remaining on its schedule now is Superstore. Meanwhile, You, Me, and the Apocalypse had a lot of promise (and a great cast), but it couldn’t maintain an audience.
The Family
You, Me and the Apocalypse
Undateable
Heartbeat
Game of Silence
(Via TVByTheNumbers)
