Well-regarded action-drama “Nikita” and unkillable force-of-soap-opera-nature “One Tree Hill” have both been renewed by The CW.
Unfortunately, when it’s upfront season, good news for some shows invariably means bad news for others and the pickups for “Nikita” and “One Tree Hill” indirectly mean the end of the road for the cheerleading drama “Hellcats.”
Neither of the two CW renewals was a big surprise.
“One Tree Hill” made the move to The CW from the old WB and has taken more than a few extreme steps, including leaps forward in time and replacing a slew of major cast members, to continue its run into what will now be its ninth season on the air. It’s time to face the facts: Mark Schwahn’s series may outlive us all.
Airing out of The CW’s top program in “The Vampire Diaries,” “Nikita” got off to a tremendous start this fall. The Maggie Q-centric take on the USA series and the Luc Besson film spent its first several weeks averaging over 3 million viewers and actually outdrawing “The Vampire Diaries.” Then increased competition and viewer attrition began to take its toll and by last week’s finale, “Nikita” was pulling in under 2 million viewers and shedding nearly half of its “Vampire Diaries” lead-in among adults 18-49. Still, the show has solidified a devoted fanbase which will almost certainly have to follow “Nikita” to a new night.
As for “Hellcats,” the Vancouver-filed, Memphis-set cheerleading drama had a successful fall airing out of “America’s Next Top Model” on Wednesday nights. The CW shifted the series to Tuesdays and the audience failed to follow, leaving “Hellcats” struggling to draw over a million viewers in several recent airings, making its cancellation inevitable.
The CW will officially announce its 2011-2012 schedule on Thursday (May 19).