This week on the ABC Renew/Cancel, the network's #1 show takes the spotlight, while we take one last look at an old comedy favorite on the way out. Plus, the final four shows left standing in the ABC Renew/Cancel March Madness are revealed!
Certain Cancellation:
N/A
Likely Cancellation:
N/A
Leans Cancellation:
Doctor Odyssey (0.27, 0.22-0.40)
Leans Renewal:
The Rookie (0.29, 0.22-0.34)
Already Ending:
The Conners
Already Renewed:
Abbott Elementary
High Potential
9-1-1: The highest-rated series on ABC, 9-1-1 has had a strong spring so far. While CBS scripted has been off the last few weeks (though NCAA basketball is still stiff competition, though perhaps less compatible than other scripted shows would be), the show has avoided hitting its fall lows since it's been back. The show dipped below the league average a few times in the fall, hitting a 0.31 series low twice. It has rebounded nicely, and remains the #4 scripted series on TV (not counting NFL-inflated episodes of the Fox cartoons and Watson). While the 0.3s it hit in the fall weren't even necessarily all that concerning, it's definitely nice to see it performing better since its return. One of the major concerns that has followed 9-1-1, and even prompted a network switch, is the expense of producing the show. It's never been in any danger of being canceled this season, but it'll be held to higher standards than some of the network's cheaper series, so a large year-to-year drop isn't ideal. I'm not sure what the future has in store for 9-1-1, given it's already in season eight, and rising costs of TV productions have led to several shows being canceled even with solid ratings. However, 9-1-1 seems to have plenty of gas in the tank at this point. In addition to the strong same-day ratings, which, as I said, even strengthened a bit in the second half of the season, it's also a very strong performer on streaming. In February, ABC stated that the show was the #5 series on broadcast TV in multiplatform+7 ratings. That was at the beginning of the seasons of both Shifting Gears and The Rookie (which rated less than a tenth above 9-1-1 at the time), so 9-1-1 may have even pulled ahead of them as the season went on. ABC fully owns the series, so there are less roadblocks for renewals than The Rookie, and they've made it very clear that the 9-1-1 franchise is important for them, having handed a straight-to-series order to 9-1-1: Nashville. 9-1-1 looks pretty likely to make it to ten seasons at this rate, and it could even go on longer if it remains one of TV's top performers. It's a CERTAIN RENEWAL.
The Conners: One show that is absolutely not coming back this season is The Conners. ABC renewed the show for a final season last year, and it finally returned for that very short season last week. It improved on its ratings from late in season six, when it aired at 9:30, and returned 100% steady with its previous season average. It out-rated The Rookie, Doctor Odyssey and Grey's Anatomy that week, tied Abbott Elementary, and was just a single hundredth behind Will Trent - not bad for a show that seemed to barely get renewed for such a short season. Even more notable, though, it rated higher than the last four episodes of Shifting Gears, helping Abbott Elementary rise a bit in the process. Only time will tell if The Conners can stay stronger than the lows of Shifting Gears, but if it does, that certainly raises some questions about the true strength of Shifting Gears, if it can't out-rate the final season of a show's been essentially running on fumes for the last few years.
ABC Renew/Cancel March Madness continues!
Last week was the first major round of competition in the ABC Renew/Cancel March Madness, with eight of the network's nine scripted series competing (Doctor Odyssey had already been eliminated in the play-in round). It was a pretty shocking round of competition, with just one show from last year's Final Four advancing to the Final Four. In the first round, #1 seed 9-1-1 didn't exactly pull off an upset in its first-round landslide victory over Grey's Anatomy, but it was a turnaround from last season, where it was ousted by Grey's spinoff Station 19. Grey's itself was a first-round exit last season as well, though it lost by just 30 votes out of nearly 5,000 cast, while it failed to even hit 30% of the vote this year. The most evenly-matched pairing of this year's poll was High Potential vs Abbott Elementary, featuring two of ABC's most recent major success stories, with nearly identical season averages. Both led the poll for portions of time, but in the end, Abbott Elementary advanced to the Final Four for the second year in a row. The Rookie went all the way to the championship game last time, but not this time, stumbling in the first round against #2 seed Shifting Gears. Will Trent and The Conners faced off again, with a rematch of last year's Elite Eight round. The result was different this time, with The Conners advancing to the second round and keeping all three ABC sitcoms alive, and ensuring one will be in the championship. It wasn't a lack of trying on Will Trent's part, either: despite being eliminated, the series had the third-most votes of any show in this round. And now, voting begins to determine the shows that will face off in the championship match. You can also vote in polls for NBC, CBS and Fox.
| The TV Ratings Guide | 8:00 | 8:30 | 9:00 | 9:30 | 10:00 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | American Idol | Paradise | ||||
| Tues | Will Trent | The Rookie | Bad Romance | |||
| Wed | The Conners | Abbott Elementary | Celebrity Jeopardy! | What Would You Do? | ||
| Thurs | 9-1-1 | Doctor Odyssey | Grey's Anatomy | |||
| Fri | Shark Tank | 20/20 | ||||
| Sun | American Idol | The $100,000 Pyramid | ||||
What do you think of my predictions? What are your predictions? Let me know in the comments!
