It looks like Flashpoint might be on its way out, at least at CBS. Or perhaps not. It's probably too early to tell and I have no idea about its fate in Canada where it's produced, but according to president of CBS Entertainment, Nina Tassler at the TCA press tour, the show hasn't been renewed beyond the 9 already produced episodes already in the can.
CBS plans to air those episodes and is open to more, but is likely waiting to see how Medium performs Fridays at 9pm and just taking a lukewarm posture in public as both a negotiating strategy and a show of support for Medium. A wrench was thrown into CBS' plans when NBC didn't pick up Medium and CBS had to slot Medium on Friday nights.
Given the past performance of Flashpoint, and what we hear are relatively low costs, I'll be a bit surprised if CBS doesn't wind up making a deal for more episodes.
If I were CBS, I’d be ordering more FP and reviving WAT for mid-season. Good Wife and 3R are going to flop big time.
Really, since the earliest it will air is mid-season, it’s too early to make a renewal announcement. They’ll wait to see how their new shows and The Bridge perform before they decide anything.
‘Flashpoint’ is extremely successful within Canada, and even if CBS chooses not to renew for more episodes, CTV most likely will. It’s pulling great numbers.
I think NBC is worried that Medium might not perform. Remember, if it had gotten the same ratings on CBS on a Monday that it got,it would have been cancelled.
I don’t know why they don’t just retain it as a summer series. It does decent numbers and is probably the second best drama on the network behin The Mentalist.
What!?!?! Come on CBS, please renew it! Flashpoint is an awesome show!
@Michael, I think NBC is hoping that Medium fails….CBS on the other hand is hoping it does well.
Is way too early to say is canceled. those episodes will air in 2010 (fall 2009 in Canada)
Why is CBS reruning Medium on Tuesday Nights instead of its timeslot on Fridays? I belive they know that Medium may be too heavy for their friday night line-up and are considering a Tuesday at 10 backup to a Good Wife Failure.
I’d love a flashpoint, The Unit 2 hour block on CBS, but then again, that ain’t happening! We need good action shows on TV to balance out the vapid reality shows.
The Good Wife will flop, so instead of repeats an early replacement would be Flashpoint which is currently airing in Medium’s future slot. Flashpoint is cheap to produce but I had thought CBS had renewed the series for a third season of 13 (production) season 3 episodes but it seems that CBS is only bringing Flashpoint back with the leftover season 2 episodes originally supposed to air this summer. Its probably good that Flashpoint only has 9 episodes so if it doesnt do well, CBS won’t have to order anymore episodes, and it seems CBS has a couple of replacement dramas.
I totally agree with Denver Dean, big mistake not renewing Without a Trace! CBS needs to listen to the fans that support Flashpoint!
It’s cheap and gets decent ratings for a Friday night what’s the point of canceling it. Its doubtful they’ll find a better alternative.
I think it’s amazing that CBS is still airing reruns of Without a Trace, and they are performing relatively well as far as reruns go.
I give Flashpoint a 50/50 chance of coming back beyond the 9 already ordered.
Doesn’t The Good Wife sound a lot like Close to Home with a different hook? Or Judging Amy? Those two shows actually had decent ratings but they skewed older so CBS dropped them. Amy had been on for a while so it had a good run but nothing in that Tuesday time slot did as well in the ratings as Amy until Without a Trace was placed there and they killed that too. Not sure what kind of demos they are looking for at 10E/9C on Tuesdays but another lawyer show probably isn’t it, even if it turns out to be a good show.
I like Flashpoint too and it is repeating well. Some Fridays it comes close to having more viewers than anything else, and honestly demos aside, it is hard to imagine that if you have a show that delivers 2 to 3 million more viewers than the other shows money isn’t made.
But if you look at the history of CBS in the last ten or so years “someone” thinks Tuesdays at 10E and Fridays at 9E are underperforming even when they win their time slot in total viewers. I understand all the demo arguments but would you rather have more viewers than everyone else or keep the same demo numbers and have fewer viewers than everyone else. That is the part that makes no sense. And that seems to be the choice CBS continues to make. Replace something that has a good fan base with a question mark and hope the demos go up, which never seems to happen.
I think Good Wife will do well averaging 14 million. I can’t believe CBS decided to air Medium, it’s ratings aren’t exactly super. Flashpoint does fantastic for a Friday night.
Catherine, Flashpoint usually won the demo. And Without A Trace always got a 2.5 or higher in the demo. CBS just thinks that the demos could be better, which is silly.
Interesting to see how many people have written off “The Good Wife”, while so many reviews have been positive and several almost glowing. As for “Without a Trace”, most of the folks I know who are watching it throughout the summer are former fans who couldn’t or didn’t find a way to watch it throughout the past season or two. For those of you so concerned about “Flashpoint”, it will remain a standby in CBS’s
vault until needed, at least through 2009-2010 season. After that, I am informed, their contract with the producers is over. If you really need a Flashpoint fix, find a Canadaian CTV Network link and enjoy the show this fall.
Even though its relatively cheap, with the limited timeslots I’d give Flashpoint a 50/50. If CTV orders additional episodes than if the show gets axed by CBS, new episodes will likely air in the summer of 2010.
Good Wife so far has the best reviews of the upcoming shows most calling it the best new show of the season