Friday (May 11) afternoon proved to be Judgement Day for The CW’s teetering mountain of bubble dramas.
The verdict is in:
Sarah Michelle Gellar’s return to primetime was a brief one, while the powerful “Vampire Diaries” lead-in failed to yield a new hit. The CW has cancelled both “Ringer” and “The Secret Circle” after one season.
Neither cancelation was exactly a shocker. “Ringer” arrived as The CW’s most promoted pilot of the fall, but after drawing roughly 2.7 million viewers for its premiere, numbers plummeted and later episodes were struggling to stay above 1 million. “The Secret Circle,” meanwhile, was simply squandering too much of its “Vampire Diaries” lead-in, with this week’s episode falling below 50 percent retention in the 18-49 demographic.
News was better for Rachel Bilson’s return to primetime and for Maggie Q’s second straight spring on the bubble. The CW has renewed “Hart of Dixie” for a second season and picked up a third season of “Nikita.”
Also earning a renewal was “Gossip Girl,” though there was some uncertainty in media reports — we’re citing HollywoodReporter.com — regarding whether or not this will be the speculated 13-episode series-ending season.
The renewal and cancellation news came on the heels of The CW picking up a whopping five drama pilots for the upcoming season.
That pack of fresh dramas includes “First Cut” and “Cult,” which join with “Gossip Girl” and “Hart of Dixie” to give producers Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage four shows on the netlet.