Coming as no surprise, CBS announced today that its apocalyptic Summer series Salvation has been cancelled after two seasons. That show returned this past Summer with ratings down by 37% from its first season and I have had it as a Bubble show leaning toward cancellation pretty much since its Season 2 debut. The only reason that I did not have it at Cancellation Likely status is that CBS has a streaming deal with Amazon that makes the show profitable out of the gate. I considered it possible that arrangement may save it, but with its persistently low ratings through the Summer I grew increasingly more dubious. The network previously cancelled Zoo last year which had a similar streaming deal with Netflix (and similarly low ratings). Both shows turned a profit for CBS, but apparently the network would rather run repeats or find a reality show that might draw more viewers to the live broadcast (repeats of several CBS regular season shows typically scored higher ratings than Salvation this past Summer). The network has had genre entries airing in the Summer months since 2013 when Under the Dome debuted. But with the cancellation of Zoo last year and Salvation today, it has no sci fi shows slated for the upcoming Summer season. I did not see much in the way of fan support for the Salvation, so I don’t expect there will be too much momentum to get Amazon or another venue to pick it up.
Salvation follows a group of scientists and government officials who discover that an asteroid is on a collision course for Earth that will have apocalyptic consequences. It starsSantiago Cabrera, Jennifer Finnigan, Charlie Rowe, Jacqueline Byers, and Rachel Drance.
The Fall season is in the final stretch now so expect more updates and announcements to be made over the next month or so. Plus, there are still more Summer and Spring shows that we are waiting to hear word on such as Humans, Into the Badlands, and Preacher. Be sure to stay tuned to this site and the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for breaking news as well as the latest ratings results.
