Renewal announcements were lite yesterday as the only sci fi / fantasy entry that received a greenlight for a new season was Netflix’s zombie comedy Santa Clarita Diet. That this show, which stars Drew Barrymore, will be returning for a third 10-episode season. I have not seen viewership numbers for the second year because Netflix is not big on sharing those, but the announcement does not come as a surprise as this one has drawn warm praise from critics and apparently enough of an audience to keep it around for a third year. The full cast along with the creative team are slated to be back for the upcoming season.
In the no news is good news category, The CW announced two cancellations yesterday but still remains mum on iZombie. Military drama Valor and dramedy Life Sentence were both sent to the Network Executioner as expected. But iZombie is still in play which should be encouraging to fans. I have moved that show to Bubble status, but I still believe it has a chance to come back for a fifth season because its network rarely outright cancels a show that has been airing for more than two seasons. At this point, my guess is that network executives are keeping their option on it depending on how many new shows they decide to greenlight. And even if it gets pushed from the regular season schedule, they could bring it back for one more season as a Summer entry in order to give it a final season. Fans of that show should definitely take to the social networks to support it and vote for it in our Save My Show Poll, because their efforts could give \ the network execs just enough of a nudge to make that fifth season renewal nod.
As we head into next week’s Upfronts when the networks will unveil their schedules for the 2018-19, keep an eye on the Cancellation Watch Tracker as well as the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for breaking news on renewals, cancellations, and pickups. I will be posting announcements throughout the day and will then rundown the news at the end of the day or first thing the next morning.
