Welcome to the first edition of the year of Peacock Renew/Cancel. Below is a table with predictions for which Peacock originals will be renewed and canceled. Factors such as how easy it is to find a given show on the platform at the time of writing contribute to these predictions. Let us know what you think by voting in the poll and leaving a comment!
Days of Our Lives
It’s no secret that the daytime soap opera is a genre that has declined in volume from its peak. Look no further than our own Daytime Soaps Ratings Library for proof. At one point, Days of Our Lives was one of 14 soap operas airing on broadcast television. For the last several years of its run on broadcast television, it was one of only three, and the only one on NBC.
Rumors of a Days of Our Lives cancelation had been afloat for a while now, as daytime programming has increasingly shifted to news and talk shows. Ultimately, the move to Peacock was both a cost-saving measure for NBC and a ploy to try to not only bring in new subscribers to Peacock, but also get them to use the platform on a daily basis. Being on the air for 57 years, Days of Our Lives has an audience of a wider age range than most streaming originals, which oftentimes tend to cater to younger demographics.
Moving Days of Our Loves to Peacock arguably demonstrates Peacock’s struggles with getting subscribers. There was plenty of backlash when the move to Peacock was announced, particularly amongst longtime fans of Days of Our Lives. Top executives must have been able to see this coming. Moving a show that has been free for 57 years behind a paywall on a service many viewers likely don’t have was never going to be a popular move with those viewers. With the move, the question was not if viewers would want to sign up for Peacock, it was if they reluctantly would sign up.
The bold Days of Our Lives move was one of a few that led to a quarter where Peacock added roughly two million paid subscribers. It is now listed in three different places on the Peacock’s Featured page and two different places on their TV page, and is also one of 12 titles to appear in Popular Searches.
It is interesting that they leave it out of the Peacock Originals page, nor do they add the ‘Peacock Original’ stamp to its key art (they do add it to the spinoffs). It’s quite possible they recognize the move from NBC to Peacock as unpopular to viewers and are trying their best to separate Days of Our Lives from the Peacock name, all while reaping the monetary benefits of getting new subscribers.
My prediction is that Days of Our Lives will remain a staple on Peacock for some time to come. The only thing holding Days of Our Lives back from a Certain Renew prediction is just how many episodes it makes per season. However, one would presume Peacock would look at cutting down on episode orders before flat-out canceling the show. Not to mention, judging by the online response to the news Days of Our Lives was moving to Peacock, they would be naturally upsetting lots of new subscribers who were reluctant to sign up in the first place.
Days of Our Lives: Beyond Salem
While Days of Our Lives is predicted to be renewed, the future of Days of Our Lives: Beyond Salem is less clear. Both five-episode seasons were released on Peacock before the move of Days of Our Lives from NBC to Peacock. At this point, something like Days of Our Lives: Beyond Salem itself is not likely to sign up new subscribers, especially not in the way that Days of Our Lives has. I don’t envision Days of Our Lives: Beyond Salem being a long-lasting Peacock original, but rather a test run to see if there is demand for the Days of Our Lives brand on the platform. Now that Days of Our Lives is on Peacock, Days of Our Lives: Beyond Salem is much less of an asset than it used to be. Combine this with the fact that there are no places on the Featured or TV Shows pages where Days of Our Lives: Beyond Salem can currently be found, and it is predicted to be canceled.
Bel Air
Having just premiered its second season, Bel Air is being promoted all over Peacock. The first season reportedly broke viewership records for a Peacock original series, and the series itself is so high-profile that it received an initial two-season order.
If renewed, Bel Air will be the first Peacock original live-action series to receive a third season. It’s likely that this is because before Bel Air, none of Peacock’s original series did all that well. However, reboots and continuations like Bel Air are intuitively likely to help a platform gain subscribers at the beginning of their runs with diminishing returns by the time they get to a third season. If Peacock finds that Bel Air’s viewers are watching other content on the service, they may not be inclined to order a third season.
For now, I am predicting Bel Air bucks the trend and gets a third season. If as the weeks go on it is yet to be renewed and it becomes less prominent on Peacock, that prediction may have to be rethought.
The Calling
The Calling is one of Peacock’s newest series, premiering in November 2022 and adapting the first two books of a popular Israeli novel series into a police procedural. While it’s premiere was recent enough that The Calling could still realistically be renewed, the show is nowhere to be found on the Featured page and never seemed to stand out from the rest of Peacock’s originals when it comes to popularity. It likely has a better chance at renewal than most shows with fates yet to be determined, but the newfound success of Poker Face is an indication that Peacock may not need what seems to be middling series like The Calling.
Curious George
The fact Curious George isn’t featured in too many places on Peacock is surprising, given it is a title that as an iconic franchise, hypothetically would bring in subscribers. The most concerning part, and the main reason why it is predicted to be canceled, is because Curious George has not aired a new episode in over 11 months. Peacock is in absolutely no rush to renew this series, which cannot be a good sign. With four new children's cartoons set to premiere in 2023, including a Caillou reboot, Peacock may no longer see the need for Curious George.
The Resort
The Resort’s eight-episode first season was released on a weekly basis in the late summer of 2022, with no word on it since. It is also nowhere to be found on the Featured or TV Shows pages. Like Curious George, Peacock is in no rush to renew The Resort, and is not making it all that easy for viewers to discover the show either. At this point, I would be surprised to see a season two announcement.
Bust Down
Another comedy with a fate yet to be announced, Bust Down’s 6-episode first season aired almost a full year ago. Given this, the fact it can still be found in a few places on the Featured and TV Shows pages is a positive sign; although, the one on the Featured page is for Black History Month and will likely be gone in a matter of days.
Unfortunately, the untimely death of co-creator and co-star Jax Knight makes a second season of Bust Down incredibly unlikely, especially given how long it has been since the first season aired. It is reluctantly placed in the Certain Cancel category.
Take Note
Take Note is a kids’ musical comedy that started being released on a weekly basis on February 28, 2022 on Peacock as well as airing on Family Channel in Canada. Having been a relatively low-profile launch and being incredibly tough for new viewers to discover, the odds of Take Note being renewed for a second season are also predicted to be very slim.
Poker Face
As a streaming service, Peacock has by and large struggled to find its place in the new streaming wars. With some wondering about the long-term viability of the very existence of Peacock, everyone attached to it must be breathing a collective sigh of relief when seeing the new drama Poker Face crack the Nielsen streaming chart. For the week of January 29, 2023, the most recently released chart, Poker Face lands at #3 for streaming originals at 547 billion minutes watched. The only other streaming services to make the chart that week were Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, the latter of which had Jack Ryan at #9. Poker Face is bringing much needed momentum to Peacock and deserved its early renewal. The question now is how Peacock capitalizes off this. If we see more dramadies pop up into Peacock’s development, Poker Face’s immediate success will be why.
Note On Dr. Death and Babble Bop!
You may have noticed that both Dr. Death and Babble Bop! have both been renewed and are both left out of both the Featured page and the TV Shows page. While this goes against the philosophy of making predictions based on a show’s accessibility, there is a simple explanation as to why for both shows. Dr. Death has not aired a new episode since the entire first season was released on July 15, 2021, and will likely remain a low priority for Peacock until close to the second season’s premiere. Babble Bop! is has not aired a new episode since the last three episodes of the six-episode first season were released on January 27, 2022. Similar to Dr. Death, it has very few episodes, all of which were released over a year ago.