Dirk Gently’s Travels Through Space and Time Come to an End
BBC America announced yesterday that their sci fi comedy Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency will not be returning for a third season. Based on the character from the Douglas Adams books, that show debuted to low ratings in its first year and saw those slip even further in its second season. The renewal after the show’s first season came as somewhat of a surprise, but Netflix was onboard as a partner and had international distribution rights for the show. I have had the show at a Renewal Possible cancellation alert level throughout its second season despite the low ratings because of the Netflix deal, but apparently that was not enough to keep it going this time. In the Peak TV era, it is getting harder and harder to predict the fate of shows that have partnerships like this one, though the cancellation is not a complete surprise considering low linear viewing and the fact that the show did not appear to see much in the way of delayed-viewing gains. Dirk Gently did develop a small but loyal following and they will almost certainly lobby Netflix for at least one more season (and they are with this online petition).
Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency is a continuation of the Douglas Adams books and follows the madcap adventures of famous detective who believes in the inter-connectedness of all things. It was developed by Max Landis and stars Samuel Barnett, Elijah Wood, Hannah Marks.
Ratings Results of Interest: Syfy’s Thursday Shows Continue to Sink
Syfy’s Thursday night shows have not performed well this season and they saw their numbers slip to their lowest levels this past week. Van Helsing dropped to a series low 0.09 rating based on same day viewing for the 18-49 demographic with 358K total viewers. Ghost Wars also hit a series low at a 0.05 score with 289K total viewers. And Superstition had its first Thursday 11 PM EST airing which only scraped up a 0.04 rating with 198K total viewers. All three of those shows wrap up their seasons next week. The latter two shows will almost certainly be facing cancellation and Van Helsing is On the Bubble leaning heavily toward Cancellation Likely.
On Friday, Agents of SHIELD remained low at a 0.5 rating with 1.8 million total viewers. That one is On the Bubble, though Disney could step in and save it and Once Upon A Time again like it did last year. The Exorcist only managed a 0.4 rating with 1.3 million total viewers for its Season 2 finale. I am keeping that one On the Bubble, but I don’t believe the prospects look good for a third season renewal. Over on Syfy, Z Nation had a 0.16 rating with 580K total viewers for its two-hour season finale. I expect at least one more season from that one unless Syfy decides to clean house after what has been a disastrous Fall season.
I covered the early week shows, including the Season 4 debut of The Librarians, last Friday at this link. All of the Saturday and Sunday shows have wrapped up their seasons or are on hiatus at this point and you can see the full ratings results for the week at this link. Be sure to follow the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for the latest ratings numbers as well as updates and breaking news.
