Cancellation Watch: Is The Tomorrow People Running Out of Time?

Unless otherwise noted, the ratings numbers below are based on the final overnights and may vary slightly from the preliminaries reported on the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site.

Ratings Results for the Tuesday through Thursday sci fi / fantasy shows:

On the Hot Seat: The CW’s freshman series The Tomorrow People has been struggling with mediocre ratings since early in its run and it appears that the clock is ticking down on the show as the season has passed its midway point.  On Wednesday, the show dropped back to its season low of a 0.5 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 1.2 million total viewers.  That was after it showed a slightly promising upswing the prior week to a 0.7 rating, so the drop was a bad turn just as the show appeared to be picking up some steam.  Sure, it airs on The CW which renewed The Beauty and the Beast last season after posting similar ratings.  But that move didn’t work out well for the network while other shows like The Originals, Arrow, Supernatural, and Vampire Diaries have turned into consistent performers and have helped the network reassert its presence in Prime Time.  Mid-season entries Star-Crossed and The 100 will be having their bows shortly (see the full mid-season schedule at this link) and if either of those surpasses the ratings of The Tomorrow People, expect them to have the better odds of getting the nod for renewal.  Also, the network has some pretty strong pilots in the works such as The Flash, iZombie, and the Supernatural spin-off, so network execs may be less willing to hold onto a ratings slacker like they did last year with Beauty and the Beast.  And factor in The Tomorrow People‘s upcoming move to Mondays–a night which has been a disaster for The CW of late–beginning March 17th, and you have to consider that the prospects for the show are very dubious.  I’ve addressed just recently what I believe the fans can do to help their show, but the time for action is quickly running out.  I’ve had this one as a bubble show for some time now, but it will be moving to Likely to be Cancelled in the next edition of the Power Rankings.

Other Ratings News: On Tuesday, ABC’s Agents of SHIELD held steady at a 2.2 rating in the 18-49 demo with 6.6 million total viewers despite its two week break from new episodes.  Those aren’t great numbers, but it is still in the Top 25 based on its ratings so it is holding on for now.  On CBS, Person of Interest held steady at a 2.1 rating with 12.4 million total viewers after it also just returned from a two week break and looks solidly on track for a Season 3 renewal.  On The CW, The Originals slipped a bit to a 0.9 rating with 2.1 million total viewers.  It has been averaging a 1.0 rating, though, so its numbers are still good for the fifth place network.  Supernatural also slipped a bit to a 1.0 rating with 2.5 million total viewers, but it continues to perform relatively well for The CW in its ninth season.  On Wednesday, Arrow slipped one tick to a 1.0 rating with 2.9 million total viewers which are plenty good numbers for its network.  On Thursday, Vampire Diaries slipped to a season low of a 0.9 rating with 2.1 million total viewers (based on the preliminaries).  But considering the fact that the show had to contend with the first real night of Olympics coverage, that was not too bad. NBC’s Revolution was preempted by coverage of The Olympics and it will not be returning with new episodes until February 26th.  And American Horror Story completed its third season last week with a fourth season set to bow next Fall.

Keep an eye on the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for the early numbers from the rest of this week’s sci fi / fantasy shows as well as any breaking news.  You can see the current status for all this season’s genre shows at this link,  and for more information on the ratings numbers and how I determine the Cancellation Alert status of a show, see the Cancelled Sci Fi FAQ.

Here are the season to date numbers and standings through February 6th for all the shows that have bowed so far (sorted by most likely to get cancelled):

Ratings Source: TV by the Numbers and The Futon Critic

Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2014 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved.