No predictions, just statuses. If it's past the date below, click here to see if there are updates.
Last Updated January 22, 2013
With the fates of Leverage, Drop Dead Diva and Alphas all finally decided (all three were cancelled) at least for a while we are out of "how come they haven't decided yet!?" territory. So for a while I expect it will be comments and e-mails like "You've still got Suits as being in its second season, but it just came back!" and "%$*^ why is 'Sanctuary still on your list!" and "How dare BBC AMERICA claim Doctor Who as its own/how dare Syfy claim Continuum as its own!"
It's true shows like Bunheads and Suits are "back" after being off for a while, but they are back for continuations/conclusions of the same season (in the case of Bunheads, its first and in the case of Suits, its second).
Yep, Sanctuary is still on the list! I don't know how long it will be before a I delete it. I don't see the harm in more info, and since I'm the one maintaining the list... But spread the complaining love around please. Nobody ever complains "%$*^ why is Hung still on your list!" and it's been gone as long as Sanctuary.
BBC America and Syfy can claim those shows because they licensed the U.S. rights. This list focuses on networks in the United States because that's what makes the most sense for us, but we still love our UK and Canadian readers.
Changes This Week:
There were several season or series premieres this week and those shows have either been slightly updated or added to the list.
Notes:
- Kids shows and Adult Swim shows are not on the list below
- I've seen some squawking about shows on the list below that are owned/created by networks/studios outside of the United States. For purposes of this list, which focuses on U.S. cable networks, I'm only focused on where the shows air here in U.S.
- Shows from overseas like Downton Abbey & Sherlock that air on PBS in the U.S. are not in the list below (PBS is not a cable network), though ITV has renewed Downton Abbey for a 4th season in the UK which will ultimately air in the states.
- Despite some current inconsistencies in the table below, I do not intend to track episode orders or return dates specifically in this table at this time. The primary goal of the table is: what's been renewed, what's been canceled, and what shows fates haven't been decided yet.
- Yes, I know there will be a Doctor Who still has the remainder of season 7 to air and that there will be an anniversary episode, but as far as an 8th season goes, there's still no official announcement.
Last Updated January 22, 2013
Most of the shows on the list have statuses - if there isn't a status that just means there has been no announcement at the time of the most recent update (see date at top of post and/or above the table below).
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| Show | Network | Current / Last Season | Status |
| Breakout Kings | A&E | 2 | Canceled after 2nd season |
| Glades, The | A&E | 3 | Renewed for a 4th season |
| Longmire | A&E | 1 | Renewed for a 2nd season |
| Baby Daddy | ABCFAM | 1 | Renewed for a 2nd season |
| Bunheads | ABCFAM | 1 | |
| Jane by Design | ABCFAM | 1 | Cancelled after 1st season |
| Lying Game, The | ABCFAM | 2 | |
| Melissa & Joey | ABCFAM | 2 | Renewed for a 3rd season |
| Pretty Little Liars | ABCFAM | 3 | Renewed for a 4th season |
| Secret Life of the American Teenager | ABCFAM | 5 | Upcoming 2nd half of 5th season will be its last |
| Switched At Birth | ABCFAM | 2 | |
| Breaking Bad | AMC | 5 | Ending after 5th season |
| Hell On Wheels | AMC | 2 | Renewed for a 10 episode 3rd Season |
| Mad Men | AMC | 5 | Renewed for a 6th season |
| The Killing | AMC | 2 | Renewed for a 12 episode 3rd Season |
| The Walking Dead | AMC | 3 | Renewed for a 4th Season |
| Bedlam | BBCA | 2 | |
| Being Human | BBCA | 4 | Renewed for a 6 Episode 5th Season |
| Copper | BBCA | 1 | Renewed for a 2nd season |
| Doctor Who | BBCA | 7 | |
| Luther | BBCA | 2 | Renewed for 4 Episode 3rd Season |
| The Hour | BBCA | 2 | |
| tvbythenumbers.com | |||
| Game, The | BET | 5 | Renewed for a 6th season |
| Let's Stay Together | BET | 2 | Renewed for a 3rd Season |
| Real Husbands of Hollywood | BET | 1 | |
| Reed Between The Lines | BET | 1 | Renewed for a 2nd Season |
| Second Generation Wayans | BET | 1 | |
| Futurama | CMDY | 7 | Second half of 26 episode S7 still to air in 2013 |
| Kroll Show | CMDY | 1 | |
| South Park | CMDY | 16 | Renewed through 20th season (2016) |
| Workaholics | CMDY | 3 | Renewed for 13 episode 4th & 5th Seasons |
| American Horror Story | FX | 2 | Renewed for a 13 hour third season |
| Anger Management | FX | 2 | Renewed for a total of 100 episodes including first season |
| Archer | FX | 4 | |
| It's Always Sunny... | FX | 8 | Renewedfor a 9th season |
| Justified | FX | 4 | |
| League, The | FX | 4 | Renewed for a 13 episode 5th season |
| Legit | FX | 1 | |
| Louie | FX | 3 | Renewed for a 4th season but will not return until 2014 |
| Sons Of Anarchy | FX | 5 | Renewed for a 6th season |
| Unsupervised | FX | 1 | Cancelled according to Glenn Howerton |
| Wilfred | FX | 2 | Renewed for a 3rd Season |
| tvbythenumbers.com | |||
| Boardwalk Empire | HBO | 3 | Renewed for a 4th season |
| Bored to Death | HBO | 3 | Canceled after 3rd season |
| Curb Your Enthusiasm | HBO | 8 | Unknown. "It's always up to Larry," says HBO |
| Eastbound & Down | HBO | 3 | Renewed for a 4th season |
| Enlightened | HBO | 2 | |
| Game of Thrones | HBO | 2 | Renewed for a 10 episode 3rd Season |
| Girls | HBO | 2 | |
| How to Make it in America | HBO | 2 | Canceled after 2nd season |
| Hung | HBO | 3 | Canceled after 3rd season |
| Newsroom | HBO | 1 | Renewed for a 2nd season |
| Treme | HBO | 3 | Renewed for 5 episode 4th and final season |
| True Blood | HBO | 5 | Renewed for a 10 episode 6th season |
| Veep | HBO | 1 | Renewed for a 10 episode 2nd season |
| Bullet in the Face | IFC | 1 | |
| Portlandia | IFC | 3 | |
| Todd Margaret | IFC | 2 | Ended after 2nd season |
| Army Wives | LIFE | 6 | Renewed for a 13 episode 7th season |
| Client List, The | LIFE | 1 | Renewed for a 15 episode 2nd season |
| Drop Dead Diva | LIFE | 4 | Canceled after 4th season |
| tvbythenumbers.com | |||
| Banshee | MAX | 1 | |
| Hunted | MAX | 1 | BBC One not moving forward with 2nd season, Cinemax is considering its options. |
| Strike Back | MAX | 2 | Renewed for a 3rd Season |
| Awkward | MTV | 2 | Renewed for 20 episode 3rd season |
| Beavis and Butt-Head | MTV | ||
| The Inbetweeners | MTV | 1 | canceled after 1st season |
| Teen Wolf | MTV | 2 | Renewed for 24 episode 3rd season |
| Underemployed | MTV | 1 | |
| Californication | SHO | 6 | |
| Dexter | SHO | 7 | Renewed for an 8th (and presumed final) Season |
| Episodes | SHO | 2 | Renewed for a 3rd season, But Probably Not Returning until early 2014 |
| Homeland | SHO | 2 | Renewed for 12 episode 3rd season |
| House of Lies | SHO | 2 | |
| Nurse Jackie | SHO | 4 | Renewed for a 5th season |
| Shameless | SHO | 3 | |
| The Big C | SHO | 3 | Renewed for a 4th and final season |
| The Borgias | SHO | 2 | Renewed for a 10 episode 3rd Season |
| Web Therapy | SHO | 2 | Renewed for a 10 episode 3rd Season |
| Weeds | SHO | 8 | Series concluded after 8th season |
| Alphas | SYFY | 2 | Canceled after 2nd season |
| Being Human | SYFY | 3 | |
| Continuum | SYFY | 1 | Already renewed for a 2nd season in Canada |
| Eureka | SYFY | 5 | Canceled After 5th Season |
| Haven | SYFY | 3 | Renewed for a 13 episode 4th season |
| Lost Girl | SYFY | 3 | |
| Merlin | SYFY | 5 | Ending after 5th season |
| Sanctuary | SYFY | 4 | Cancelled after 4th season |
| Warehouse 13 | SYFY | 4 | S4 expanded to 20 episodes (half have aired) |
| Boss | STARZ | 2 | Canceled after 2nd season |
| Magic City | STARZ | 1 | Renewed for a 10 episode 2nd season |
| Spartacus | STARZ | 3 | Renewed for a 4th and final season |
| Cougar Town | TBS | 4 | |
| Men At Work | TBS | 1 | Renewed for a 10 episode 2nd season |
| Sullivan & Son | TBS | 1 | Renewed for a 10 episode 2nd season |
| Tyler Perrys: For Better Or Worse | TBS | 2 | currently airing *35* episode 2nd season |
| Tyler Perrys: House of Payne | TBS | 8 | concluded after 8th season |
| Wedding Band | TBS | 1 | Cancelled after 1st Season |
| tvbythenumbers.com | |||
| Dallas | TNT | 1 | Renewed for a 2nd season |
| Falling Skies | TNT | 2 | Renewed for a 3rd Season |
| Franklin & Bash | TNT | 2 | Renewed for a 3rd Season |
| Leverage | TNT | 5 | Cancelled after 5th season |
| Major Crimes | TNT | 1 | Renewed for a 15 episode 2nd season |
| Perception | TNT | 1 | Renewed for a 13 episode 2nd season |
| Rizzoli & Isles | TNT | 3 | Renewed for a 15 episode fourth season |
| Southland | TNT | 4 | Renewed for 10 episode 5th season |
| The Closer | TNT | 7 | Concluded after 7th season |
| Exes, The | TVLAND | 2 | Renewed for a 10 episode 3rd season |
| Happily Divorced | TVLAND | 2 | |
| Hot In Cleveland | TVLAND | 4 | |
| Retired At 35 | TVLAND | 2 | Canceled after 2nd season |
| Soul Man, The | TVLAND | 1 | Renewed for a 10 episode 2nd season. |
| tvbythenumbers.com | |||
| Burn Notice | USA | 6 | renewed for a 13 episode 7th season |
| Common Law | USA | 1 | canceled after 1st season |
| Covert Affairs | USA | 3 | Renewed for a 16 episode fourth season |
| Fairly Legal | USA | 2 | Canceled after 2nd season |
| In Plain Sight | USA | 5 | Canceled After 5th Season |
| Necessary Roughness | USA | 2 | Renewed for a 10 episode 3rd Season |
| Political Animals | USA | 1 | mini-series, USA says there won't be more |
| Psych | USA | 6 | Renewed for an 8th season, S7 premieres 2/27/13 |
| Royal Pains | USA | 4 | Renewed for 5th & 6th Seasons (26 episodes total) |
| Suits | USA | 2 | Renewed for a 16 episode 3rd season |
| White Collar | USA | 4 | Renewed for a 16 episode 5th season |
| Single Ladies | VH1 | 2 | Renewed for a 3rd season |
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I’m not happy with the latest round of cancellations…
Still dont get Drop Dead Diva Cancellation it didnt do amazing numbers but did do solid ratings. DeserveD a renewel for a final season at least.
It takes so long to air these seasons it seems the shows have been around for a lot longer than they have. Warehouse 13 seems like it’s been around at least 5 or 6 seasons.
I am not a big fan of split seasons. In some cases, it makes zero sense. Take Futurama, coming back for the second half of it’s season later this year. They did 13 last year, and there’s your season. There’s no ongoing storyline, so there’s no reason to call it the same season when it comes back 9 or 10 months after the last one aired. I remember back when Sex and The City did this, and it seemed to me nothing but a ploy to allow HBO to release two DVD sets of the same season, Parts one and two, pricing each at maybe 10 bucks less than what they were pricing a previous full season for. I think, as usual, that it’s just about the almighty dollar. The creative process has nothing to do with it.
@ Eugene
I dont understand split seasons either. It has probably been explained at some point but I never saw it. Take Rizzoli and Isles as an example. You just get going with a story line and then it is gone for 4-5 months. I dont get it.
I am really sad about the Alphas cancelation
@John A – Probably not that much to do with ratings but Lifetime wanted to go in a different direction with their shows and have a lot of new pilots for summer.
One of the few shows whose fate hasn’t been decided is Beavis and Butt-head which is extremely surprising given its popularity.
I like it better when shows like Sons of Anarchy & Justified on FX run continuously until its season is over. USA, Syfy & TNT are guilty of splitting their seasons up when it makes little sense to do so. I would’ve preferred to get all 16 episodes of Breaking Bad last year rather than see it split in 2 making fans wait until next summer for the final 8.
And my best guess is the reason Sanctuary is still on the list is because it was cancelled last May while Hung was cancelled in December 2011 a while back along with Bored to Death, How to Make it in America, and The Life & Times of Tim.
@Dan S – FX’s smart strategy is air the show’s 13 episode run at the same time every year continuously, which is why you will always see Justified and Archer in the Winter/Spring (Jan-April), Wilfred and Louie in the summer (June-September) (Though Louie will be in the spring because it returns in 2014) and Sons of Anarchy, American Horror Story, Sunny, and The League in the fall (September-December).
TNT and USA split their seasons if shows have 15-18 episodes which is smart only because with 15 episodes in a row it seems better to split to air new episodes at times where there wouldnt be new episodes of other shows and promote them as “new seasons” like Leverage and Rizzoli & Isles this past November. If shows are in there first seasons or have short runs than these networks will air the full season continuously like Perception, Common Law, Fairly Legal, Franklin & Bash, and Major Crimes.
Basically if shows have more than 13 episodes its wise to split the seasons to add suspense or to plug up holes.
Cable networks do what makes sense for them and a good chunk of what doesn’t make sense to fans of shows who don’t care whether the networks actually make money on them, has to do with selling advertising.
As noted by others, it’s easier to run everything straight through (a la True Blood, Homeland, SOA, Justified, Newsroom, etc) when you only have 10-13 episode seasons. It’s easy for premium cable channels to run their seasons straight through since they’re usually 13 or fewer episodes, and importantly, premium cable channels are not worried about advertising sales!
When there are 15-20 episodes per season, there are good reasons for the advertising supported networks to split the runs.
@Dan: it’s still on the list because at least so far I have a “why take it off?” attitude!
BTW, I should’ve added BBCA’s “Ripper Street” since it premieres in the U.S. tonight…next week.
I got one you missed that it seems should be on the list.
“Against the Wall” on Lifetime.
It had one season and I was wondering if it was coming back.
IMHO, I think Congress (and other countries governments) should pass a law (because I think we don’t have enough government intervention in our lives) that says if a show has not aired a new episode in 6 months or longer, it ain’t a split season it’s a new damn season! They should also require that the channel announce ahead of time what the (ballpark) schedule is so I don’t start watching a show only to find out later the expected break at Yule is really a 4 month hiatus (I’m looking @ you NBC with Revolution!) and finally, they need to ban outright those damn annoying promos that keep flashing at the the bottom of the screen … and nuke the transparent bugs while they’re at it … and also shrinking the credits so they can squeeze in more crap at the end … basically stop annoying the hell outa me.
ymmv
PS: Hey you kids, get off my lawn!
@Max
AtW was one and done same as The Protector … I won’t miss either of them but I did find both to be a nice way to kill ~45 mins … not enough others felt the same way I guess.
@Robert et al
Ripper Street has been pretty good so far … I prefer Copper (at this point at least) … if you can line them up somehow, try a night of Ripper Street, Copper, Murdoch, Miss Fisher and the new Father Brown with Ron Weasley’s dad playing the title character … all of them are murder done old school.
ymmv
@Max: yep, Fake Me Out is correct, it was canceled shortly after it’s first season. It’s not coming back, but I would use that as an argument for leaving shows on the list long after they are cancelled since not everyone is aware of statuses of shows that have been cancelled for over a year.
Thanks for the info – I thought it was a summer series so was assuming it would just show back up this summer – glad I asked.
My predictions:
Bunheads: Likely Cancellation
The Lying Game: Likely Renewal
Switched at Birth: On the Bubble
Anger Management: Likely Renewal
Archer: Certain Renewal
Legit: On the Bubble
Girls: On the Bubble
Californication: Likely Renewal
House of Lies: Likely Renewal
Shameless: Certain Renewal
Being Human: Likely Renewal
Continuum: Ratings say Likely Cancellation, we’ll see how cheap it is.
Lost Girl: Likely Renewal
Cougar Town: On the Bubble
Happily Divorced: Likely Renewal
Hot in Cleveland: Certain Renewal
BBC America is having an identity crisis. What’s american about British actors playing 100+ year old fake stories? They banked on Copper being a hit when they invested in Ripper. Both will ultimately fail. People watch BBC America for British shows… In America. They should continue emphasizing these shows while looking to fill the void left by the crapuum that is network TV
Oops! Hey, guys, my post apparently wound up in the spam filter. I must have said something unwittingly wrong. Can you rescue it? Thanks!
@Nick
In no way the crapstatic show Girls is on the bubble. Despite being completely irrelevant to HBO audience, it still have the support of critics and HBO. And that’s all it matters for a premium cable show.