CBS’s Partners was cancelled and removed from the schedule on Friday. Slightly softer exits for ABC’s 666 Park Avenue and Last Resort. Neither show got a back nine pickup, but both will get to air all of their episodes according to ABC. All three are marked “canceled” in the table below. None of them will be back next year.
Nobody who reads our site regularly should be surprised at any of those cancellations. They’d all been certain cancellations both here and in the Renew/Cancel Index for a while. In the case of the two ABC shows, they were. by wide margins the lowest-rated dramas that hadn’t already been cancelled (joining Private Practice). Similarly Partners was CBS’s lowest-rated comedy by a wide margin. Predicting those cancellations was akin to predicting that “water is wet” and “fire is hot.”
Another easy prediction: the Nielsen rage and fan campaigns that ensured in comments, e-mails, Twitter, Facebook, etc. While I’m not a believer in the fan campaigns, I’ll give them a very slight edge over Nielsen rage in terms of being worthwhile because they at least can give a person the illusion of doing something productive. Still, I was amused by the EW story that quoted a “suit” as saying it amounts to “pissing in the wind.” But I'll take that over the "antiquated system" complaints, particularly the protests that Nielsen doesn't measure DVR viewing (it does!). But advertisers only pay for commercial viewing 3 days after shows air, and advertisers don't pay when the commercials get skipped/fast-forwarded during DVR playback.
No state-of-the-art measurement system is going to convince advertisers to pay for things they're not interested in paying for. But fans and TV networks can dream!
Don't Trust The B----, Happy Endings & The Neighbors
You can debate whether I did it on purpose or merely forgot to downgrade Don't Trust The B----to certain cancellation and Happy Endings to likely cancellation thiis week. The B---- pulled some horrible, terrible, awful numbers on Tuesday, and Happy Endings wasn't much better. Though Happy Endings is in its third season, because it's first season was only 13 episodes, it's going to need more than one more season to get to the 88 episodes necessary for Mon-Fri syndication. But with Sony involved in its production, its relative ratings will have to get worse to get moved off the bubble.
As for The Neighbors, yep, I did merely forget to downgrade it to the bubble. I updated the text in the table, but the sorting and color is off. Next week...
Update: Bonus Forgetfulness
Yep, I forgot to add Whitney to the table even though it premiered on Wednesday. Because there's only one data point I'd have had it "on the bubble/too soon" this week anyway. It'll probably be there next week too since it's airing on Thanksgiving Eve...
When it comes to bubble status, like the Renew/Cancel Index we're focusing on the likelihood that a show will be renewed **for next season** (2013-14). Certain shows are toss-ups where based on the ratings, the renewal decisions could go either way and not be surprising.
Here, “canceled” is used interchangeably with “won’t be renewed for next season” and is not meant to imply a show will be yanked off the schedule in the current season though obviously the two outcomes are not mutually exclusive. The semantics police and lawyers should feel free to break out the handcuffs and plead their cases in the comments.
This Isn't The Renew/Cancel Index
Though the basic methodology is the same (intra-network relative ranking of shows by adults 18-49 ),unlike the Renew/Cancel Index which predicts what would happen if the season ended now, Bubble Watch prognosticates about what will happen by May. The two are still usually closely aligned, and almost certainly very closely aligned towards the end of the season.
Note: only scripted shows that have aired at least one episode this season are in the table below.
--
| Show | Network | Status |
| 666 Park Avenue | ABC | Canceled |
| Last Resort | ABC | Canceled |
| Made In Jersey | CBS | Canceled |
| Partners | CBS | Canceled |
| Animal Practice | NBC | Canceled |
| tvbythenumbers.com | ||
| Emily Owens, M.D. | CW | Certain Cancellation |
| The Mob Doctor | Fox | Certain Cancellation |
| tvbythenumbers.com | ||
| Don't Trust The B---- in Apartment 23 | ABC | Likely Cancellation |
| Vegas | CBS | Likely Cancellation |
| Ben And Kate | Fox | Likely Cancellation |
| Guys With Kids | NBC | Likely Cancellation |
| Up All Night | NBC | Likely Cancellation |
| tvbythenumbers.com | ||
| Happy Endings | ABC | On The Bubble |
| Last Man Standing | ABC | On The Bubble |
| Malibu Country | ABC | On The Bubble |
| Nashville | ABC | On The Bubble |
| Scandal | ABC | On The Bubble |
| CSI: NY | CBS | On The Bubble |
| The Good Wife | CBS | On The Bubble |
| The Mentalist | CBS | On The Bubble |
| 90210 | CW | On The Bubble |
| Hart Of Dixie | CW | On The Bubble |
| Nikita | CW | On The Bubble |
| Beauty And The Beast | CW | On The Bubble |
| The Mindy Project | Fox | On The Bubble |
| Chicago Fire | NBC | On The Bubble |
| tvbythenumbers.com | ||
| Castle | ABC | Likely Renewal |
| Neighbors, The | ABC | On The Bubble, Sorry About the Sort/Color |
| Suburgatory | ABC | Likely Renewal |
| The Middle | ABC | Likely Renewal |
| CSI | CBS | Likely Renewal |
| Elementary | CBS | Likely Renewal |
| Hawaii Five-0 | CBS | Likely Renewal |
| How I Met Your Mother | CBS | Likely Renewal |
| Two and a Half Men | CBS | Likely Renewal |
| Bones | Fox | Likely Renewal |
| The Cleveland Show | Fox | Likely Renewal |
| Law & Order: SVU | NBC | Likely Renewal |
| Parks & Recreation | NBC | Likely Renewal |
| The New Normal | NBC | Likely Renewal |
| tvbythenumbers.com | ||
| Grey's Anatomy | ABC | Certain Renewal |
| Modern Family | ABC | Certain Renewal |
| Once Upon A Time | ABC | Certain Renewal |
| Revenge | ABC | Certain Renewal |
| 2 Broke Girls | CBS | Certain Renewal |
| Blue Bloods | CBS | Certain Renewal |
| Criminal Minds | CBS | Certain Renewal |
| Mike & Molly | CBS | Certain Renewal |
| NCIS | CBS | Certain Renewal |
| NCIS: Los Angeles | CBS | Certain Renewal |
| Person Of Interest | CBS | Certain Renewal |
| Arrow | CW | Certain Renewal |
| Supernatural | CW | Certain Renewal |
| The Vampire Diaries | CW | Certain Renewal |
| Glee | Fox | Certain Renewal |
| New Girl | Fox | Certain Renewal |
| Raising Hope | Fox | Certain Renewal |
| Go On | NBC | Certain Renewal |
| Grimm | NBC | Certain Renewal |
| Parenthood | NBC | Certain Renewal |
| Revolution | NBC | Certain Renewal |
| tvbythenumbers.com | ||
| The Big Bang Theory | CBS | Renewed |
| American Dad | Fox | Renewed |
| Bob's Burgers | Fox | Renewed |
| Family Guy | Fox | Renewed |
| The Simpsons | Fox | Renewed |
| tvbythenumbers.com | ||
| Private Practice | ABC | Canceled/Final Season |
| Gossip Girl | CW | Final Season |
| Fringe | Fox | Final Season |
| 30 Rock | NBC | Final Season |
| The Office | NBC | Final Season |
@enes
I highly doubt that the CW will pick up 666.
@Robert
Do you know a bubble status for Survivor, The Amazing Race, ect?
Bill or Robert, no idea how you stand on spamming but MrFreezeDude has spammed the above comment at least 6 times already. Twice on this topic alone, several times on the other one.
A.B.C.:
Happy Ending, Last Man, Malibu, Scandal, Nashville: Renewed.
The Neighbors: Cancelled.
N.B.C.:
Chicago Fire, Guys with Kids: Renewed.
C.B.S.:
The Good Wife: Renewed.
CSI: NY, The Mentalist: BUBBLE.
FOX:
Mindy renewed, Ben & Kate cancelled.
CW:
90210, Dixie, Nikita, Beast: All Renewed. Owens canned.
@Davis
Amazing Race is in no danger. Officially the next season began filming a few days ago.
Correction, MrFreezedude has spammed this topic 5 times with the same comment, and at least 6 on the other one. Getting kinda annoying now.
Now that Last Resort is gone, the only show of interest on the Bubble Watch for me is Beauty and the Beast. Nikita is a likely renewal for syndication reasons.
I think it’s too early to tell about BATB. The ratings this past week indicated a continued drop. My guess is it will level out around .4-.5 – which might be OK if it’s moved to Friday. But with the (reasonable) success of Arrow, the CW might just cancel it on that level. I think it will depend on the pilots they see for next season. So I suspect it will stay on the bubble for the rest of its season.
Everything else I watch is looking good.
Jesus, I don’t see why is FOX pushing so hard with this “Mindy project”, I’ve watched every single episode so far and didn’t saw comedy at all.On the other hand they have “Ben&Kate” which is absolutely hilarious, but unfortunately is getting an axe any day soon.Stupid FOX and stupid Mindy!
“Correction, MrFreezedude has spammed this topic 5 times with the same comment, and at least 6 on the other one. Getting kinda annoying now.”
Comment spamming is to be discouraged. I have done what I can.
Are “Red Widow” and “Zero Hour” going to take the available time slots on ABC then? I’m really looking forward to watching “Zero Hour”, but if ABC decides to put it up against CBS’s Thursday comedy block, I’m pretty sure they will kill it.
Can you please move The Neighbors to the bubble section without the color problem? Thanks!
@Melanie, I totally agree with you. Suburgatory should be on the bubble. I feel it is doing poorly behind ABC’s highest rated comedy. And can’t imagine how low the numbers would go if it were in a different timeslot. The Middle should be listed as certain renewal.
What I really dislike about all the importance given to the demo is that just because a show is mostly watched by the all important desired demo does not mean it will have a large amount of viewers. So there could be a show that gets a 2.4 but only 4-5 million viewers weekly watching. And the network will considered that show to be more of a success than a show that gets 1.6 but garners 11 million viewers. I think that is crazy. But the network would be more willing to keep the show that is not popular with the masses. And then people wonder why Broadcast TV is losing more viewers year after year.
@Mickey
Blah, blah, blah… Typical. You have nothing of substance to contribute. You write and comment on other people’s posts just to give yourself something to do.
@SarahL
I find it a little weird that you’re singling out Mickey as someone who has nothing of substance to contribute, as if everyone else posts amazing insights.
“And can’t imagine how low the numbers would go if it were in a different timeslot.”
It aired after The Middle last year and usually held almost all of its demo audience. I must say it is surprising that Suburgatory is not doing that good after Modern Family. ABC needs to move this show back to 8:30 as it’s a better fit for The Middle ratings wise.
The only cancelled show that should be uncancelled is Last Resort. I think some military hater executive at ABC got their wish. I hope it is picked up by some other network. To me it is too good of a show to be let go.
I dont quite understand how anyone would feel “outrage” about the cancellation of three shows that no one had ever seen just seven weeks ago. Does seven weeks really create such emotional devotion to a television program? Maybe I would understand, “That’s a bummer. I liked that show.” But a fan campaign?? I dont get it.
a p garcia: I’m sure you think the atrocious writing had nothing to do with viewers ditching the show. I liked it, but if you think it was great tv, your opinion is invalid.
Sarah: “This is the benefit of being mostly a cable tv viewer. Apart from The Walking Dead, almost of the shows that I watch have lower ratings that are acceptable to the cable networks so they are less likely to be cancelled.”
Talk about a hypocrite. Do you know about a cable show called ‘Common Law’? It got cancelled. Just because you didn’t watch it doesn’t mean it didn’t have its own passionate fanbase (I didn’t watch). They were hurt by its cancellation. That’s the same case with the shows that you or any of us love, but were cancelled on networks or cable. There’s absolutely no difference when it comes to renewing a show. It competes with shows on its own channel and not others.
i agree with everything except hart of dixie should be on likely renewal…it’s doing as well as batb without a lead in and more consistent…and will be half way to syndication after this year…
I called you a hypocrite for singling out Mickey when he/she was absolutely right and your judgement was clouded.