CBS Renew/Cancel Week 16: With NCIS: Los Angeles Canceled, What’s Next For The NCIS Franchise?

 

Below is the table for Week 16 of CBS Renew/Cancel, followed by an analysis of notable shows. The following category changes have been made since Week 15:

-NCIS: Los Angeles moves from Tilts Cancel to Canceled
-East New York moves from Tilts Renew to Leans Renew
-So Help Me Todd moves from Leans Cancel to Tilts Cancel
-Bob Hearts Abishola moves from Tilts Cancel to Leans Cancel

NCIS: Los Angeles
As previously reported, CBS has canceled NCIS: Los Angeles after 14 seasons. This early announcement likely gives everyone working on the show enough time to give it a proper ending, being one of the longest-running shows not only on CBS, but on all of broadcast today. To put into perspective how long NCIS: Los Angeles has been on the air, it is the first of three NCIS spinoffs that CBS had ordered to series (another, NCIS: Red, was a spinoff of NCIS: LA that stalled in development). The second spinoff, NCIS: New Orleans, aired for seven seasons and left the air two seasons ago. 

This cancelation follows a developing pattern by CBS of canceling one of their lowest-rated veteran dramas by announcing it as a final season early in the calendar year, and is a correct prediction for The TV Ratings Guide. It is also confirmation that CBS is not content with how the NCIS franchise is performing in its current form. NCIS itself will very likely return, as it would be unimaginable for CBS to give advanced notice about NCIS: Los Angeles’ cancelation but not that of NCIS. NCIS: Hawai’i moves up one spot in the rankings due to the unlikelihood of CBS actually canceling two NCIS shows in one season. The ratings are still low, though, keeping it in the Leans Renew category right now even as it creeps its way back to the third-highest spot in the Renew section. This slight upward movement for NCIS: Hawai’i is not on its own merit, but rather as a result of the confirmed cancelation of the other remaining NCIS spinoff. 

The cancelation of NCIS: Los Angeles also confirms that the new brass at CBS may not be as fond for the franchise as those who recently exited the company. Time will tell how much longer the two remaining NCIS shows on CBS will stay on the air. Even as both are predicted to be renewed for next season, the cancelation of NCIS: Los Angeles could very well be the beginning of the end for the NCIS franchise. Perhaps the first ever international spinoff in NCIS: Sydney will give the franchise a boost, but being a Paramount+ original in the United States will limit its reach. 

Bob Hearts Abishola
Bob Hearts Abishola returned from its winter hiatus to a series low 0.34 A18-49 Live + Same Day rating. It far and away CBS’s lowest-rated comedy, and despite being in its fourth season, still appears to be largely dependent on how The Neighborhood rates leading into it. Even more worrisome for Bob Hearts Abishola is that Paramount does not have any distribution rights in the show. If CBS ever wants to try out a new sitcom, provided they don’t expand hours, one of The Neighborhood and Bob Hearts Abishola is at risk of cancelation. I would place my bets on Bob Hearts Abishola being that cancelation, as The Neighborhood is fully owned by Paramount, in syndication, and higher-rated. While Bob Hearts Abishola will probably rebound from that NFL-competing 0.34 for at least a little while until spring arrives, its chances of renewal as the fourth and final comedy on CBS’s schedule look bleaker than ever. 

East New York
With the cancelation of NCIS: Los Angeles, East New York’s chances arguably look a bit better. Canceling East New York would leave CBS to have to rebuild two hours on their Sunday schedule, which seems unnecessary when so far the show is performing mediocre at worst. As such,  moves up ahead of S.W.A.T. and into the Leans Renew category. However, East New York is not the hit that CBS probably hoped it would be, and is unexpectedly being out-rated by fellow new show Fire Country. If it was a clear ratings success, it would be in the Likely or even Certain renew category right now. 

So Help Me Todd
This is Week 16 of CBS Renew/Cancel, and So Help Me Todd has been upgraded back to its pre-season prediction: Tilts Cancel. I’ve never been kind to So Help Me Todd, a show that is squandering its Ghosts lead-in and ending the night’s momentum started by the 8 pm comedy hour. Still, it has been remarkably steady lately, hitting a series high of a 0.39 A18-49 Live + Same Day rating for its most recent episode and holding a 0.3 prelim for a rerun — somehow tying the rerun of Ghosts. Plus, it does have the advantage over CBS’s other low-rated Thursday drama; that is, unless they actually try to drag CSI: Vegas out two and a half more seasons to get it a syndication deal. I still don’t feel comfortable predicting a renewal for So Help Me Todd given its overall performance, but at the moment it is starting to put up a fight. 

Share this

Related Posts

Previous
Next Post »