Good Cop/Bad Cop: We're three weeks into the run of this comedic procedural, and things just keep looking worse. Its debut was already utterly disastrous in the demo, with just a 0.02 in that metric, but it total viewership figure wasn't far out of line from the average CW program, and was higher than anything All American has done this season (more on that show next week). Just a week later, though, it was down 50% in the demo (or a single hundredth, seeing as it only debuted to 0.02 to begin with). 0.01 is a rating rarely seen, even on CW, and it's their ONLY show averaging 0.01 this season (the pulled reality show The Wranglers and the shifted-to-Friday Joan both fared better). More damning, though, is that it dropped by over 100,000 viewers, making it one of the least-watched shows on the current CW lineup. It dropped a bit more the week after that, and stayed steady in the demo (not that there was much room to drop). While the demo rating remains a leading indicator in a show's renewal odds, CW has made their goal to find a show that'll bring them a million total viewers quite clear. There isn't a single show on the lineup that's anywhere near that right now (their most-watched show is Penn & Teller, just south of 600k viewers), but Good Cop/Bad Cop is one of the shows farthest away from that total right now. So, this show is a colossal bomb in the demo (though its lead-in is far from helpful in that metric, averaging 0.03 over the last three weeks itself), and it's total viewership is also very low. I'm not seeing anything in the linear ratings to indicate a renewal is on the horizon here. CW's standards are obviously very low, but they're not entirely nonexistent. They're one of the few networks to still pull underperforming shows. The Wranglers was a total viewer black hole, with just 160k viewers on average, while Joan debuted to just 290k before it was banished to Fridays that same week. Good Cop/Bad Cop isn't as bad as The Wranglers, but it's already doing worse than Joan. It's a co-production with the Roku Channel and the Australian streamer Stan, meaning that CW actually does have a say in whether it returns, rather than just being an international airing destination for a show wholly produced in another country. These ratings give them very little reason to want to continue. It starts as a LIKELY CANCELLATION.
Police 24/7: On the other end of the table is Police 24/7, a true crime series in the vein of On Patrol Live/Live PD, a major cable success over the years. This show is obviously no cultural phenomenon (it airs on the CW, after all), but it's done well for the network, with a 0.06 average and nearly 500k average viewers this season, a minuscule decline from last season in both regards. I currently rank it as the safest show on CW, the only show earning CERTAIN RENEWAL status. While several other shows also look like safe bets for renewal, Police 24/7 has the benefit of being new (high-rated shows like Whose Line, Penn & Teller and Masters of Illusion have all been on the air at least a decade, the last remnants of a bygone CW era), and is heavily repeated by CW. The first season was repeated twice before it returned, and performed about the same as originals, so this show provides solid scheduling filler for the network. It's hard to be certain about anything on the CW at this point, but this show will probably be around for a while.
CW Renew/Cancel March Madness Begins!
Four shows will compete in the CW Renew/Cancel March Madness for its inaugural season, four of their original scripted productions that aired this season. Voting will take place in two rounds, with the four semifinalists competing in the first round this week, moving on to the final round of voting next week, featuring the two winners of this week's polls. In our Renew/Cancel March Madness polls, shows are seeded by their seasonal ratings. As their current #1 scripted series, Superman & Lois is the #1 seed, and will face off against their lowest-rated series, Good Cop/Bad Cop. All American and Wild Cards will also face one another. While this is part of the CW Renew/Cancel, voting is not based on which show you think is a stronger performer, or which is more likely to be renewed, but rather on which show you like the best.
What do you think of my predictions? Let me know in the comments below!
