Supergirl recently ended its season finale (the 20th episode) on a Kryptonian Pod cliffhanger, and we assumed we would get to see what happens next, considering the series premiere was the most-watched Fall debut, garnering the Greg Berlanti DC Comics adaptation an additional seven episodes and a crossover with The Flash TV show.
But it turns out CBS is mulling over the idea of blasting Supergirl into the Phantom Zone anyway, according to The Wrap. Reportedly, the show has lost half its viewers over the course of the season, which may not justify the amount CBS has to pay Warner for the rights.
The network would like the show to come back, sources close to the series say, but there’s a problem. The roughly $3 million per-episode price tag CBS pays to broadcast Supergirl — one of the highest license fees ever for a freshman show — isn’t quite justified by the ratings. Thirteen million total viewers tuned in to the heavily-promoted premiere back in October, but about half the audience bailed over the season, according to Nielsen.
That has set the stage for a last-minute stare-down between [CBS boss Leslie] Moonves and Warner Bros. TV chief Peter Roth. CBS will announce its fall schedule in two weeks at the upfront presentations in New York, so the clock is ticking to hammer out a deal.
Moonves does have the option to move Supergirl to The CW, a channel he also programs and the current home of The Flash and other superhero shows. That would likely require a budget cut for Supergirl, but it would also save money in programming fees while retaining an audience that’s already in The CW’s demo. We’ll see in two weeks if The CW will continue absorbing every DC superhero going.
(Via The Wrap)
