FOX Has Cast Out The Exorcist but Not Gotham Yet
Amidst all of its cancellation announcements yesterday, FOX announced late in the day that its horror drama The Exorcist will not be returning for a third season. That show started off with low ratings in its first season, and its renewal announcement last year came as a surprise to many. But when it returned this past Fall, its numbers slipped further and its chances for another surprise renewal diminished. That show did have an active fanbase that came out in support on the social networks during Fall, but apparently the show’s long absence from the schedule (its second season was only ten episodes and wrapped in December) cooled their enthusiasm and I saw little in the way of support as season end drew near. The announcement came at the end of a two-day period that also saw FOX issue cancellations for Lucifer (more on that at this link) and The Last Man on Earth (more on that at this link) as well as several non-genre entries. The news did not come as a big surprise because I have had The Exorcist at Cancellation Likely status for a while.
As for the network’s Batman prequel series Gotham, apparently that show’s fate hinges on what happens with the Lethal Weapon series. That latter show lost its lead and Warner Bros. has been scrambling to find a new actor to take over. If they can find someone they like this weekend, then it will likely get the renewal nod because its ratings have been higher than Gotham this season. But if not, FOX is leaning toward bringing back Gotham for a fifth season (maybe they could reconsider that Lucifer cancellation?). The network has its Upfront presentation on Monday afternoon, so the fate of those two shows should be announced by that time unless FOX decides to send them into overtime.
FOX still has one more genre entry awaiting word on its fate in Ghosted (Cancellation Likely). In addition, we should expect to hear announcements on Agents of SHIELD (ABC, Renewal Possible) and Timeless (NBC, On the Bubble) in the next few days. Be sure to follow our Cancellation Watch Tracker as well as the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for breaking news as we head into the Upfronts next week when the broadcast networks will unveil their schedules for the 2018-19 season.
Ratings Results of Interest: Colony, Krypton, and Siren Are All Down
On Wednesday, Syfy’s Krypton posted a 0.17 rating for a third week in a row, and two of the last three weeks the recently cancelled The Expanse actually beat that show. Krypton is owned by Warner Bros. and if it has a similar deal to The Expanse where Syfy only makes money on the live broadcasts, this show may be in uncertain territory. Still, I’m thinking that Syfy will want to avoid the embarrassment of cancelling a show that started out so well for them, so I still believe it will get the second season nod. Over on USA, the alien invasion series Colony aired its second Season 3 episode and slipped to a 0.12 rating with 443K total viewers. That show already started off the year with ratings declines of over 40% from its second season and now it has dropped further. I am moving that one to Bubble status as these are very iffy ratings for its network.
On Thursday, Freeform’s Siren slipped to a 0.15 rating with 496K total viewers, its lowest numbers yet. That show actually started out decent for its network, posting a 0.30 score for its debut back in March. It has dropped off notably the last couple of weeks, though, so we might need to keep an eye on this one.
The Upfronts start on Monday when the networks present their schedules for the 2018-19 season to the advertisers. Be sure to follow our Cancellation Watch Tracker and the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for all the breaking news that will be leading up to that. Ratings Source: ShowBuzzDaily
