Week 2 Cancellation Watch: Ranking The Fall’s New Network Shows Based On Their Nielsen Ratings

The second full week of the fall season continues to see ratings erosion for the shows that struggled out of the gate, while the higher rated shows held fairly well. There was one second season renewal already (Sleepy Hollow), a full-season order (The Blacklist) and one cancellation, as of this writing (Lucky 7). Where does everything else stand?

The shows with the strongest lead-ins, obviously, have managed the best ratings (except for Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD, which does not have a lead in). There are only three shows that we can say, so far, are outright hits: The Blacklist, SHIELD and Sleepy Hollow. While CBS’s new sitcom, The Millers and ABC’s Super Fun Night premiered to good numbers, it was only their first episode and they were buoyed by their Big Bang Theory and Modern Family lead-ins, so we’ll need to see if that holds in subsequent weeks. Everything over a 1.6 looks decent for full-season pick ups, assuming there’s no more drastic ratings erosion, while the shows that fall below that seem less likely to get past their first 13 orders (except maybe Brookly Nine-Nine, which I’m hoping Fox has some faith in, and will want to keep it around, which they have demonstrated by ordering more scripts).

Having sampled everything on this list now except for Hostages, I don’t really see anything that’s good enough that it might pick up steam throughout the season, except maybe SHIELD and The Blacklist, if both shows dig deeper into their mythologies. It does, however, appears as though Community has a good shot at returning on Thursdays in Welcome to the Family’s slot, since that show debuted with a measly 1.2.

1. The Blacklist (NBC): 3.6 (picked up for a full season)

2. The Millers (CBS): 3.3

3. Super Fun Night (ABC): 3.2

4. Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD: 3.1

5. Sleepy Hollow: 3.0 (received a second season renewal)

6. The Crazy Ones (CBS): 2.9

7. The Goldbergs (ABC): 2.2

8. Mom (CBS): 2.2

9. We Are Men (CBS): 2.0

10. The Michael J. Fox Show (NBC): 1.9

11. Back in the Game (ABC): 1.8

12. Sean Saves the World (NBC): 1.6

13. Hostages (CBS): 1.5

14. Betrayal (ABC): 1.5

15. Trophy Wife (ABC): 1.4

16. Ironside (NBC): 1.4

17. Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Fox): 1.4 (additional scripts ordered)

18. Dads (Fox): 1.3

19. Welcome to the Family (NBC): 1.2

20. Lucky 7 (ABC): .8 (cancelled)

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