Cancellation Watch: The 100 Has Good Debut (for a CW Show), Grimm Gets Renewed, Revolution Sinks to Series Low

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:

Series Debut: The CW had one more show to throw at us this season in the post-apocalyptic teen drama The 100, and that one did quite will for its first episode, by CW standards that is. Its premiere episode pulled a 0.9 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 2.7 million total viewers and it even improved on its lead-in from Arrow. And while those might not be spectacular numbers, there not far off from what several of that networks top-rated shows have been pulling the last few weeks. Now the challenge that The 100 faces–as does any show after its debut–is staving off viewer attrition. The Tomorrow People debuted in the same timeslot back in Fall and also pulled a 0.9 rating with its bow. But then it went on a steady decline to the point that it currently is on the verge of cancellation (it has been shuffled to Monday nights which for all practical appearances looks to be a burn-off run). If The 100 can avoid falling too far–no further than a 0.7 or maybe 0.6 rating–then I believe it has a good chance at getting a second season renewal. If it drops to a 0.5 score, though, then I would bet that The CW will give the nod to one of the shows in their pipeline rather than bring it back. It’s too early to make a call at this point, but the early results definitely look favorable for the show.

Renewal Announcement: Coming as no surprise, NBC announced the renewal of Grimm this week. That series has averaged a solid 1.5 rating in the 18-49 demo based on the overnights throughout its third season even though it has fluctuated up and down pretty regularly. Still, its numbers are good for a Friday night series and the fourth season renewal will get it to the magic 88 episode count that the syndication market prefers (and that’s where a show really start to turn a profit). Typically, once a broadcast network show gets a third season renewal, its network has already virtually rubberstamped it for a fourth year as well because they are eying that syndication run . Last week fellow third season series Person of Interest received its renewal notice from CBS and I expect ABC to announce a fourth year of Once Upon A Time any day now.

On the Hot Seat: NBC’s Revolution has been languishing this season, especially since its January return, and on Wednesday it slipped to a new series low. That episode only mustered a 1.2 rating in the 18-49 demo with 4.3 million total viewers. The show only has five episodes left in its current season and very little time to make a ratings surge that would convince the NBC execs to bring it back for another year. However, it does have a very vocal fanbase that is active in the social networks and perhaps they can sway the network’s decision. I have written an open letter to NBC that suggests that the network work together with the fans to help keep the series going, though I don’t know if the old school execs are willing to take such an unprecedented leap. At this point, I still think it will be a nail biter for the series as the season comes to a close. Also continuing to struggle is ABC’s Once Upon A Time in Wonderland which again pulled a 0.8 rating with 3.5 million total viewers (based on the preliminaries) and fell behind fifth place network’s Vampire Diaries in the timeslot based on its ratings.

Other Ratings News: Those following this column will probably have noticed the drop off in the numbers of late for The CW’s top shows Vampire Diaries, The Originals, Supernatural, and Arrow. That’s not uncommon at this time of year as they tend to intersperse quite a number of repeats between new airings, and none of these shows are in danger of having their renewals revoked. But you would think that The CW might search for a better scheduling strategy because the current decreases could be offsetting the gains the network experienced early in the season. Case in point, The Originals slipped to a series low of a 0.7 rating on Tuesday with 1.5 million total viewers. And Supernatural only did a little better in the next hour with a 0.9 rating and 1.9 million total viewers. On Wednesday, Arrow could only manage a 0.8 rating with 2.4 million total viewers in an episode that introduced the Suicide Squad. On Thursday, though, Vampire Diaries at least managed to hold steady from its last new airing, pulling a 1.0 rating with 2.2 million total viewers (based on the preliminaries). All of these shows were regularly pulling a 1.0 rating or higher back in the Fall, but have dropped a few ticks for their new episodes with all of the repeats running the last few weeks.

Over on CBS, Person of Interest also slipped to match its season low of a 1.7 rating though it still did well in total viewers with right at eleven million. The Daylight Savings Time switch also tends to negatively impact shows at this time of year, so that should be factored in as well. On Tuesday, there was no new episode for Agents of SHIELD (and the frequent reruns and preemptions have been hurting that one), but the Marvel Avengers special pulled a 1.5 rating with 4.1 million total viewers. SHIELD resumes new episodes next week.

Keep your eyes open today and in the coming weeks because cancellation announcements for shows like Once Upon A Time in Wonderland, Intelligence, Almost Human, Star-Crossed and some of the others could come at any time.  And keep an eye on this site and the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for the latest ratings numbers and breaking announcements.  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 March 20th 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.

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