Two of the few scripted shows on NBC's fall schedule returned this week, and one of them is unlucky enough to not yet have a renewal. Keep reading to see how Quantum Leap fared as it returned from its break in a new time slot!
Certain Cancellation:
N/A
Leans Cancellation:
N/A
Leans Renewal:
Law & Order: Organized Crime (0.42, 0.39-0.46)
Likely Renewal:
Chicago Med (0.59, 0.56-0.62)
Extended Family (0.34, 0.23-0.71)
Law & Order (0.43, 0.38-0.48)
Night Court (0.38, 0.28-0.46)
Certain Renewal:
Chicago Fire (0.60, 0.56-0.63)
Chicago PD (0.55, 0.53-0.57)
Law & Order: SVU (0.56, 0.50-0.62)
Saturday Night Live (0.77, 0.60-0.96)
Already Canceled/Final Season:
La Brea
Magnum PI
Already Renewed:
Found
The Irrational
Coming Soon:
Lopez vs Lopez
Quantum Leap: A few weeks ago, it was announced that Quantum Leap, displaced from its fall time slot on Wednesdays by the Chicago lineup, was returning to finish out its second season on Tuesdays, behind La Brea. I hesitated to make any prediction changes just based on that move, as it was certainly possible that it could perform similarly to Found, which, despite not really rating all that impressively in its last few episodes, still grew noticeably from La Brea. Well, it didn't. In fact, it was only able to match La Brea, all while La Brea was tying its series low. That meant a 0.18 for Quantum Leap, by far a series low for it as well. I was already pretty wary about the show's future back in the fall, when it was doing a pretty poor job of leading off a lineup at 8 PM, having capped off its Wednesday run with a 0.25. I'm now fairly sure it's not coming back, as its ratings are terrible and NBC essentially threw it to the wolves. They know how terrible of a lead-in La Brea is, and how much even a solid show like Found dropped when it had to deal with that as its lead-in. A mediocre performer like Quantum Leap was always doomed to fail in that slot, but they threw it there anyway, because they don't. really care all that much about it. There's also not really much room for it to begin with, assuming that Dick Wolf's two lineups come back, The Voice remains at three hours, and NBC sticks with some comedy (they probably shouldn't, but they will), in addition to the two shows they've already renewed. It's a LIKELY CANCELLATION.
Night Court: Speaking of Tuesday night disasters... Night Court continued the trend started in season one of dropping pretty much all the time, notching a new series low this week of 0.28. The show was actually holding up pretty well, for a change, with a 0.37-0.35-0.37-0.33 ratings trend that actually resembled a normal show's ratings trend. This week's showing is a setback, and it brings back the questions we had in season one, mainly: when will this show ever stop dropping? When will it find its floor? It is January, going below a 0.30 already is very worrisome. We aren't even halfway through this season, so it's hard to imagine just how low it will be by the time the finale airs. Despite that, it's still very likely to return. It is still, somehow, some way, far and away NBC's #1 comedy (of the whopping three they have on the air). Logically, both Extended Family (which also weakens with each passing episode) and Lopez vs Lopez (which they're treating as an afterthought) would be canceled before Night Court, and it's hard to imagine that they cancel all three if they intend to keep comedy represented on the network next season. My best guess for this quasi-revival is that it ends after three seasons, next year, after being demoted to the back half of a comedy lineup. It should still be OK to get through this season, and it remains a LIKELY RENEWAL.
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!
