Status: Cancelled
Aired: 2014-17, 3 Seasons Totaling 36 Episodes
Network: WGN
Starring: Janet Montgomery, Shane West, Seth Gabel, Tamzin Merchant, Ashley Madekwe, Elise Eberle, Xander Berkeley, Iddo Goldberg
Series Website: wgnamerica.com/shows/salem
Description: Set in 17th century colonial Massachusetts—a significant time in the history of American politics, religion and society—Salem brings you the real story behind the infamous witch trials. In Salem, witches are real, and they’re behind it all. Salem Village and Salem Town feuded over property, grazing rights and church rights. The government was dominated by Puritan leaders. People were scrutinized closely and this resulted in obvious discord. They were afraid of being persecuted for anything that may offend the Puritan mindset. The word “witch” seemed an easy and appropriate curse hurled at someone who behaved abnormally.
It was this setting of extremism and isolation that led to a period of witch hunts, where men and women were hanged and burnt at the stake with the belief that they, as witches, had taken to Satan over God. Were the Puritans right in their actions? Were the people innocent? Who were the real witches? WGNAmerica.com
Why Was It Cancelled? This was WGN’s first entry into the scripted programming boom back in 2014 and it pulled decent ratings for a cable entry when it debuted. Its number slipped each season, though, and it only averaged only a 0.09 rating based on the overnights for the 18-49 demographic in its third year. I thought that it might get a fourth and final season renewal to give it more of a binge-worthy run, but apparently WGN elected not to bring it back for another year. Series creators Brannon Braga and Adam Simon claimed that they “knew this would be the third and final season and were able to craft an exciting climax to Mary’s transformational saga”. But that came after the cancellation announcement and I’m guessing that WGN execs basically told them to have the third season set for a wrap up if the show’s ratings did not improve.
Season to Date (StD) Ratings Results:
| Air Date | Airings | Live+SD Rtg | StD Avg | Tot Vwrs (M) | Live+7 Rtg | Cancel Alert |
| 11/2/16 | 1 | 0.10 | 0.1 | 0.3 | n/a | Renewal Possible |
| 11/9/16 | 2 | 0.06 | 0.1 | 0.2 | n/a | On the Bubble |
| 11/16/16 | 3 | 0.10 | 0.1 | 0.3 | n/a | On the Bubble |
| 11/23/16 | n/a | Preempted | 0.1 | n/a | n/a | On the Bubble |
| 11/30/16 | 4 | 0.08 | 0.1 | 0.3 | n/a | On the Bubble |
| 12/7/16 | 5 | 0.09 | 0.1 | 0.3 | n/a | On the Bubble |
| 12/14/16 | 6 | 0.07 | 0.1 | 0.3 | n/a | Cancelled |
| 12/21/16 | n/a | On Hiatus | 0.1 | n/a | n/a | Cancelled |
| 1/4/17 | 7 | 0.07 | 0.1 | 0.3 | n/a | Cancelled |
| 1/11/17 | 8 | 0.08 | 0.1 | 0.3 | n/a | Cancelled |
| 1/18/17 | 9 | 0.05 | 0.1 | 0.2 | n/a | Cancelled |
| 1/25/17 | 10 | 0.08 | 0.1 | 0.2 | n/a | Cancelled |
Prior Season Ratings Results:
| Week | Airings | Live+SD Rtg | StD Avg | Tot Vwrs (MM) | Live+7 Rtg | Cancel Alert |
| 4/5/15 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | n/a | Low |
| 4/12/15 | 2 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.4 | Low |
| 4/19/15 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | n/a | Low |
| 4/26/15 | 4 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.3 | Low |
| 5/3/15 | 5 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.3 | n/a | Low |
| 5/10/15 | 6 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.3 | Moderate |
| 5/17/15 | 7 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.3 | Moderate |
| 5/24/15 | 8 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.3 | Moderate |
| 5/31/15 | 9 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.4 | Moderate |
| 6/7/15 | 10 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.3 | Moderate |
| 6/14/15 | 11 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.3 | n/a | Moderate |
| 6/21/15 | 12 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.2 | Moderate |
| 6/28/15 | 13 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.3 | Moderate |
For the latest updates on the current and upcoming shows, follow Cancellation Watch and the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site
Love this tv series. Not impressed it’s cancelled (Irl)
Absolutely fantastic !!
Great story line
Acting is top notch
Love love love it
So sad its been axed
????
I’m not really surprised to see this one get canceled – it couldn’t have been bringing in the ratings, and must have been an expensive show to keep running, between the period costumes and sets, the special effects, and the fairly large cast.
Still, I’m sorry to see it go – it wound up being much better than I expected, I liked it better than some similarly-themed shows that had appeared about the same time (American Horror Story and Penny Dreadful, for example). “Salem” reminded me a bit of a throwback to the likes of those thoroughly tasteless but never dull Hammer Gothic horror and Corman/AIP Poe films (just add Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Vincent Price, or Boris Karloff), and especially of the old “Dark Shadows” Gothic soap opera (which is probably Salem’s direct ancestor, now that I think of it).
“Salem” wasn’t a great show, but I think it still ended up being a fun and likeable show with hardly a dull moment even though I was inclined to dislike it at first, and something tells me it has a chance of doing well enough in re-runs in the future, given some word-of-mouth, a good home, and a chance to gather the right cult audience.
This show should be renewed,it’s a great show, time it out better next time wait a while and bring it back. Release episode after episode instead of waiting so long. It’s sad to see this show go hopefully they give it a crazy ending in all the episodes or at least make the last four episodes more than 45 minutes
This Show Rocks. Time for Netflix to Pick it Up
I absolutely love Salem, I can not understand that they would even think about canceling this series. I can’t wait for season 3.
I love the series! Can’t wait to see 3 julianne
It’s a show and IMO all shows should be taken with a grain of salt. Hollywood uses (sometimes over uses) poetic license for ratings and the thrill of a show (it annoys me sometimes because they perpetuate, for instance, certain breeds of dogs as always vicious and bad and this stigma they press spreads fear and inevitably hurts the animal; Im an animal advocate).
I’ve studied the trials back in college as well due to curiosity and knowledge. Im still excited for Salem to return for another season. Im tired of any show I like and get invested in, regardless of genre, getting cancelled be it within the first few eps of season 1 or slammed down the line like Heroes was (just an example; The 4400 is another). I enjoy Salem for several reasons, accurate or embellished and will chalk it up to a guilty pleasure. Im not the type to have a non-reality show get my panties in a twist. Looking forward to this season.
I love this show.
I hope it lasts for at least two more seasons.
Btw, the kid who plays her son is a doing pretty good job. Great acting for a kid.
I can’t wait for the 3rd season start.
I loved this series and have been wondering if it was going to come back since it has been gone for some time. It remains number one on my DVR so to say the least I am excited for it to come back.
This show has all the components to be great, but is actually quite terrible
Mary is a good character, but almost every. other character is abysmal.
Not even Lucy Lawless could save this train wreck.
Lol martine is a witch.
This show needs to be cancelled. To make a show turning the victims of Salem Witch Trials into the bad guys is so disgusting, it boggles the mind. i don’t care that its inaccurate. What I care about is that it is spitting on the terrible injustice done to trial world women and men who died because some idiots believed them to be in league with the devil. they were not, and to say the people who killed them had a point is evil.
Martine,
Are YOU KIDDING ME? IT’s A TV SHOW not real life! This show BETTER NOT be cancelled! IT is AWESOME and YOU HAVE NO PERSONALITY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I agree I bought the it digital and DVD I love this show very sad to see it go I wish it would carry on now Im going to buy merchandise to show how much I love the show.
I am a direct descendant of 4 “Salem Witches.” If the “Witch Trails” happened, say a few years ago, yeah, it might be as tasteless as the movies made about 911. But the reality is “so what.” When people die, they don’t care, they are dead. When it happened 400 years ago they are still as dead and as not caring. Being that I’ve got 4 “Not-Witches” in my blood I’ll say I don’t feel besmirched by a fictional show made solely for the purpose of entertainment. I think the show does a great job of entertaining, and I’m looking forward to Season 3.
Smearing their memories? Well, no one named in the “Witch Trails” who was falsely accused as a witch, is a character who is a “witch” in the show –BUT one of the characters falsely accused on the show, guessed what? In real life they were falsely accused and executed, witch (ha) kind of debunks your point. So there is a starting point, you should do your homework on that maybe at least watch the show. Read “The Devil in Massachusetts” that’s a good starting point.
Additionally, the show is “horror entertainment,” this is not the dramatic show of its kind to tackle “witch hunting,” such as the 80’s movie franchise “Warlock,” “The Witches Hammer,” “Witch Finder General,” “Witch Hunter Robin,” and the gorefest “Mark of the Devil.” I could even go as far to say Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible,” which is a dramatization of the events for the sake of entertainment. Regardless of his lack of accuracy or that there are no witches in his play he’s still playing with dead things / people.
The reality is there are no such thing as witches. What happened in Salem was land grab and witchcraft was used as a proxy device for the government to steal land from the people. There is a hilarious movie called “The History of the World Part 1” by Mel Brooks. The Spanish Inquisition is a musical number, is that too much for you as well? I mean what is the cutoff point?