The network upfronts arrive in early May, and now that we’re entering April, I thought we’d take a quick minute and look at the shows most likely to be cancelled while we’re prepping our recaps for Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead. The sort of good news: Community is not even really in all that much danger. It’s ratings are crap, but they’re better than most NBC sitcoms. Parks and Recreation, meanwhile, is a lock for renewal. In fact, as much crap as we give the networks, lower ratings across the board have kept many of the shows we do watch on much longer than we would’ve expected given the same ratings five years ago, including Community, Parks and Rec, Parenthood, 30 Rock (which did give us 6 more seasons than we expected) and even Happy Endings, which wouldn’t have been renewed last year in 2006’s television climate. So, um, yay for bad ratings!
Here’s a quick look, however, at the 12 shows destined for cancellation announcements this month.
ABC
1. Happy Endings — Friday’s ratings sealed the fate of Happy Endings. Friday’s lackluster episodes make us slightly less likely to care.
2. Red Window — Never watched it, don’t even know what it’s about, but it’s a goner.
CBS
3. CSI: NY — There’s some speculation that, should Vegas fail to perform well on Friday that CSI: NY may hang on to the slot, but I doubt it, not with the strong pilot season that CBS has had. Gary Sinise will have to go back to making movies, which is good news for us all.
4. Vegas — If Dennis Quad’s most recent feature film output is any indication (Movie 42, Playing for Keeps, What to Expect When You’re Expecting, The Words, Footloose, Soul Surfer), he’s much better off on television. But if he wants to stay on television, he’ll have to jump back into the pilot pool.
Fox
5. Touch — Kiefer Sutherland is already lining up his next pilot.
NBC
6. 1600 Penn — Only on a NBC would a show that receives a .7 rating in the 18-49 demo not have been cancelled after the premiere episode.
7. Deception — 3.4 million viewers for the finale of an expensive drama won’t cut it.
8. Guys With Kids — Co-star Zach Cregger is already lining up a new pilot.
9. The New Normal — Go On might survive if it fares decently after The Office. The New Normal is cooked. The series finale is scheduled for this week.
10. Smash — There are no more reboots left in this one. It’s moving to Saturdays, which is a humiliation worse than cancelation.
11. Up All Night — NBC could bring it back, but there’s no one left but the baby to act in it. I have NO idea why NBC hasn’t made the cancellation official yet.
12. Whitney — Thank God.
