Cancellation Watch: Revolution and The Tomorrow People Remain Low, The CW Announces Finale Dates

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:

The Hot Seat: NBC’s Revolution returned from its Olympics-enforced hiatus on Wednesday but did not manage to improve its numbers.  The latest episode was steadily low with its last airing in January at a 1.3 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 4.6 million total viewers.  That’s not a good place for this show and appears to have it on the verge of cancellation.  Revolution does have a notable online presence and that has apparently helped other low-rated shows like Syfy’s Haven and NBC’s Hannibal, but I just can’t see one of the Big Four broadcast networks renewing a non-Friday with numbers this low.  If the show does not improve over the last few months of the season, it seems certain to be a goner.  Also in trouble is The CW’s The Tomorrow People which pulled another 0.5 rating with 1.5 million total viewers on Wednesday.  The fifth place network has been known to keep low-rated shows going (most notable of late:  Nikita and Beauty and the Beast), but then its programming has been showing some life this season on the Tuesday through Thursday Prime Time schedule and they have some pretty strong pilots in the development queue, so laggers like The Tomorrow People will likely not get as much leeway this year.  And that show is betting moved to Mondays starting next month which appears to amount to a burn-off run.

Other Ratings News:  Most of the current genre shows returned this week after their Olympics holiday (Agents of SHIELD took an extended vacation and resumes next week), and most saw their numbers slip.  On Tuesday, the CW’s The Originals dropped to a series low of a 0.8 rating in the 18-49 with 1.8 MM total viewers, though Supernatural managed to stay even with its last new ep at a 1.0 rating with 2.1 million total viewers.  Expect to see The Originals climb back up in the coming weeks.  On CBS, Person of Interest also experienced a series low for its ratings with a 1.8 score though it still managed eleven million total viewers.  That one is in no danger, though, seeing as it regularly lands in the Top 20 based on its viewers and it is a third season series.  On Wednesday, The CW’s Arrow slipped a tick from its last new episode pulling a 0.9 rating with 2.5 million total viewers.  On Thursday, Vampire Diaries also hit a low with a 0.9 rating and two million total viewers(based on the preliminaries).  But The CW’s drops are not unexpected as they tend to dole out new eps in fractured chunks that leads frequently ratings slides.  The Originals, Supernatural, Arrow, and Vampire Diaries have all been renewed anyway, so they have little reason to be concerned.

And speaking of the fifth place network, they announced the finale dates for this season’s shows.  Those dates are below, but don’t take this as an assurance that struggling newcomer Star-Crossed will finish out its run on Mondays.  About this time last year, The CW announced finale dates which included Cult, but that show ended up getting kicked to a Summer burn-off run.  Mondays are so bad for that network, though, that Star-Crossed airing out its episodes on that night effectively counts as a burn-off run anyway.

CW Finale Dates:
May 5: The Tomorrow People
May 12: Star-Crossed
May 13: The Originals
May 14: Arrow
May 15: The Vampire Diaries
May 20: Supernatural
June 11: The 100 (Premiered March 19)

Also of interest in the announcement about this season’s finale dates was the mention of limited run “event” series (when did they stop calling these mini-series?) Labyrinth which will air four hours across two nights on May 22nd and 23rd.  Not certain if that supernatural entry is a burn-off or if there is a chance of continuation, but it may be worth checking out.  You can read more about it at this link.

NBC’s Hannibal returns tonight with its second season premiere and Grimm resumes its season, so keep an eye on the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for the early numbers from those shows and any other breaking news or updates.  And 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 (StD) numbers and standings through February 26th 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.