Fall TV Season
One month into the season, three shows have been canceled and at least nine more are on life support. What went wrong? Plus, a GALLERY of each show’s chance of survival and ad rate.
ABC
Cost of a 30-Second Ad: $117,857
Prognosis: The Maura Tierney law show will soon head into the great beyond.
ABC
Cost of a 30-Second Ad: $81,226
Prognosis: Ratings have been decent for this new edition in the franchise, and it bounced this week. Unless things change dramatically, consider it safe.
Dean Hendler / NBC
Cost of a 30-Second Ad: $115,173
Prognosis: Begin your goodbyes now.
Fox
Cost of a 30-Second Ad: $133,900
Prognosis: Excellent. CBS has picked the show up for a full year, and it adds even more viewers when DVRs figure in. Could it be doing better? Yes: ABC’s Castle beat Five-0 this week among 18-to-49 year-olds. But for a new show in a 10 p.m. time slot, it’s doing well enough. Look for it to stick around beyond this season.
CBS
Cost of a 30-Second Ad: $87,191
Prognosis: This show is doing terribly, and Jerry Bruckheimer-produced projects generally don’t come cheap. On any other network, it would be gone already; NBC puzzled many by ordering it for a full season. Still, if it continues to be as weak as it’s been, there’s no way they can keep it on the schedule.
Vivian Zink / NBC
Cost of a 30-Second Ad: $107,671
Prognosis: Decent. Ratings have fallen off since its premiere, but they steadied last week. ABC hasn’t picked up the show for the rest of the season yet, but did order more scripts.
ABC
Cost of a 30-Second Ad: $143,326
Prognosis: In the most-overplayed TV story of the fall, Lone Star is already gone.
Fox
Cost of a 30-Second Ad: $61,584
Prognosis: Great. The lady spy remake is actually building off of the strong Vampire Diaries. This show is a CW-style hit.
Ben Mark Holzberg / The CW
Cost of a 30-Second Ad: $112,170
Prognosis: Not good. The crime show hasn’t found any audience to speak of, and critics aren’t rallying around it either. But ABC has bigger problems with The Whole Truth.
ABC
Cost of a 30-Second Ad: $91,866
Prognosis: This expensive spy dramedy from J.J. Abrams could be the next show to go.
Chris Haston / NBC
Cost of a 30-Second Ad: $189,160
Prognosis: Very good. The weight sitcom has fit in seamlessly in CBS’ Monday comedy block.
Ron Tom / Warner Bros.
Cost of a 30-Second Ad: $125,748
Prognosis: Fox clearly believes in this show, and has ordered a full season. Now the Greg Garcia-created comedy just needs to build its viewership.
Fox
Cost of a 30-Second Ad: $110,329
Prognosis: CBS ordered a full season of this Jim Belushi series, and critics like it. But ratings are down in the show’s Wednesdays at 10 time period compared with CSI:NY’s performance last season. We’re hazy on this one.
CBS
Cost of a 30-Second Ad: $58,672
Prognosis: We hope you did not fall in love with this Jimmy Smits law drama because it is gone already.
Jordin Althaus / NBC
Cost of a 30-Second Ad: $113,000
Prognosis: The William Shatner comedy has, as with the other four new CBS shows, been ordered for a full season. But its ratings have fallen since a strong debut. Will the network squander a great lead-in from The Big Bang Theory on this critically-despised Twitter sitcom?
Michael Desmond / CBS
Cost of a 30-Second Ad: $114,443
Prognosis: On the chopping block. Its only hope is if ABC doesn’t want to put one of its midseason comedies here.
ABC
Cost of a 30-Second Ad: $137,210
Prognosis: Oh, The Event. The serialized science-fiction drama started off well enough. But has since fallen every week. NBC ordered a full season of the show, but unless it stabilizes or grows, it’s hard to imagine that there will be an Event come spring.
Justin Lubin / NBC
Cost of a 30-Second Ad: $59,521
Prognosis: Dead on arrival.
NBC
Cost of a 30-Second Ad: $29,876
Prognosis: The CW has never been able to use America’s Next Top Model as a lead-in, but this cheerleading college series is doing nicely. Safe.
Sergei Bachlakov / The CW
Cost of a 30-Second Ad: $68,882
Prognosis: Pro: It’s the only new show—or returning show, for that matter—on Friday nights that’s doing any business. Con: The Tom Selleck cop show draws a median age of 102. But if it doesn’t stay around all season, we’d be surprised. As far as a Season 2, that probably depends on CBS’ new series development.
John Paul Filo / CBS
Cost of a 30-Second Ad: $122,916
Prognosis: NBC this week ordered a full season of Outsourced. But the network has a lot of new comedies coming in midseason—and Parks & Recreation needs a spot, too. If ratings continue to erode in its post-Office slot, then it will be yanked.
Jordin Althaus / NBC
Cost of a 30-Second Ad: $91,120
Prognosis:
It’s dead!
ABC
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