The CW Renew/Cancel Part 9: Final Calls for Superman & Lois, Walker Independence, Gotham Knights, The Winchesters & More

It's been a tricky season for The CW, one of great change both in terms of ownership and leadership,, but also in terms of programming. Rough seas remain ahead as the network is expected to cancel most of their remaining lineup. Keep reading for my final predictions for all of their programs.

Show

Status

Walker

Likely Renewal

All American: Homecoming

Leans Renewal

Superman & Lois

Leans Cancellation

Walker Independence

Leans Cancellation

The Winchesters

Likely Cancellation

Gotham Knights

Likely Cancellation

Kung Fu

Likely Cancellation

All American

Renewed

Stargirl

Canceled

Nancy Drew

Final Season

The Flash

Final Season

Riverdale

Final Season

All American: Homecoming: The highest-rated show remaining (tied with Superman & Lois), Homecoming would seem like a natural choice to survive the season. Not only are its ratings solid, but it's also the spinoff of the network's #1 show, which itself has already been renewed. The only obstacle to a renewal - and it's a big one - is how much Nexstar is willing to pay for the few CW shows that they keep around, which is said to be as few as three. Strong ratings are nice, but the network will only take shows that make financial sense to pick up. While the production costs of the shows are not disclosed, Homecoming doesn't seem like the sort of show that would cost all that much compared to the rest of the CW shows, as it doesn't require expensive CGI and it doesn't have any big names in the cast that would demand a higher salary. The one thing giving me pause is that All American was renewed alone, and not with this show. One would expect the pickups to come together if they were certain they wanted more Homecoming. Nevertheless, the show's performance and the lack of any obvious financial hurdles leaves me believing that the show will be back for at least one more season. Chance of renewal: 60%

Gotham Knights: Gotham Knights has been holding its own at 9, retaining Superman & Lois pretty well for the most part. Nevertheless, it has one of the toughest hills to climb of any CW show. For one, DC shows have been dying out on this network in the past few seasons, and it's somewhat of a surprise that this even got ordered. The days of the Arrowverse are gone, with the only remaining show from its heyday (The Flash) ending its run in less than a month. It feels unlikely that The CW will refrain from continuing to move away from DC superhero programming this season. With Nexstar looking to cut costs, I also have my doubts that they will want to hand another season to a show that uses special effects so heavily, as shows with those effects are less cost-effective to produce than shows without them, like the All Americans or the Walkers. So that is another thing working against it - as I said earlier, cost is key in terms of getting a renewal. The CW's treatment of the show is also an indicator of how they see it: while both other new shows premiered int he fall, Gotham Knights was held until March and won't finish its run until the end of June. Neither other new show received a full season order, but being placed in the fall rather than Gotham Knights seems to show how much of a priority Gotham Knights was for them. Fair or not, this show had the deck stacked against it from the start, and its short life seems destined to end soon. Chance of renewal: 20%

Kung Fu: Kung Fu has very little working in its favor, and it's actually a bit of a shock that it survived last season's bloodbath. The show's ratings are middling, with only a 0.07 average in tis first season. It doesn't seem to do all that well on streaming, either. It may be cheaper to produce than   fellow WB series Superman & Lois and Gotham Knights, but I don't envision WB Discovery fighting too hard to renew this one, when they surely have bigger fish to fry. The path to profitability here just seems very narrow, and it has almost nothing working in its favor, and having wrapped in early March, it seems almost forgotten already. Chance of renewal: 15% 

Superman & Lois: This is the hardest call, because I really don't think this show deserves cancellation. By all accounts, it seems to actually have fans, with a solid social media following, a seemingly strong streaming performance, and ratings high enough to be #2 on The CW (tied with Homecoming). Yet, I think its high production costs will doom it. Superman & Lois, with heavy CGI due to it being a superhero show, is said to be among the most expensive on The CW, costing $5 million dollars per episode. With Nexstar looking to trim costs, it's almost impossible to imagine them being able to cut this show's costs enough to make it work for this new, slimmed-down CW. Ratings be damned, it's hard to envision it living on. Chance of renewal: 40%

Walker: Ratings for the show are so-so, with just a 0.08 average so far, but Walker seems to be among ht safest on the network. While its reported $3 million per episode production cost is still costly for Nexstar, it's much cheaper than Superman & Lois. The show seems to be a success, as The CW recently launched a spinoff of the show (a spinoff that, I must note, was ordered while former CW president Mark Pedowitz was still in charge). While that spinoff was mostly a ratings loser, it's still indicative of how profitable the network viewed Walker as being last year. If the show has remained as valuable to the network as it seemed to be then, it's hard to envision it not being one of the few shows to survive the season. Chance of renewal: 75%

Walker Independence: While Walker looks good for a renewal, Walker Independence seems less likely. Maybe The CW is truly wild about this franchise, and will save it anyway because it's so cheap to make, but the fact remains that this is their lowest-rated scripted show, averaging just a 0.05. It's impossible to speak with much certainty in regards to The CW these days, but with so few shows expected to make it to next season, it feels unlikely that their absolute lowest-rated show will be one of them. This would have likely survived in the past, and it still may if The CW thinks a Walker franchise is a major selling point for them, but this CW is far more ruthless. Chance of renewal: 35%

The Winchesters: In theory, a Supernatural spinoff should have been a savior for The CW. The long-running show was a key player for The CW for a decade and a half, from their very first year of operation. In reality, it was a bust. The Winchesters did well in its premiere, but without most characters from the parent series appearing on the show, fans lost interest, going from a 0.12 premiere to a 0.04 at its lowest point to a 0.05 for its finale. In a year with The CW likely too make major cuts, a show most generously described as a "flameout" would seem to be an obvious cancellation. It's a shame to see the Supernatural franchise end like this, but the Winchesters are unlikely to be able to triumph over the monster known as cancellation. Chance of renewal: 25%

What do you think of my predictions? What are your predictions? Let me know in the comments and vote in the poll of the week!

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