TV Shows on the Bubble 2012
'Fringe' is renewed, but what of 'Community,' 'Nikita,' 'Cougar Town' and many more?
TV Shows on the Bubble 2012
We're only two weeks away from upfronts, which means that I fell a bit behind this spring in doing my BubbleWatch duties. Some sites have had Bubble lists and galleries up since December.
I waited long enough that I missed making a prediction on FOX's handling of "Fringe," but trust me when I say that my prediction was going to be exactly what occurred: A 13-episode fifth season to allow the writers to finish the story. [Scout's Honor!] FOX also officially cancelled "Terra Nova," allowing its exclusion here.
I also waited long enough for CBS' to renew nearly everything on its schedule, leaving only a handful of shows sweating renewal on TV's most-watched network.
When this gallery got WAY too big, I cut some of the obvious no-brainers.
ABC's renewing "Modern Family" and "Dancing with the Stars." The CW's renewing "The Vampire Diaries."
In fact, you probably didn't even remember that those shows haven't been officially renewed.
I left in a bunch of shows that are probably no-brainers for cancellation, because you never know when A Certain Website is going to try to bully FOX into picking up a third season of "Breaking In."
It's a big bubble this year.
Check it out... It's in order by network... ABC is first.
Photo Credit:
Comments
Option 1
Comment instantly as a guest GuestOption 2
Option 3
Login or create a HitFix account Login SignupBalaji K
April 30, 2012 at 5:28AM EST Reply to CommentAmong the shows listed in this bubble watch, I'm
Happy for: Castle, Revenge, Parks & Rec
Hoping for: Cougar Town, Nikita, Community
Sad for: The Finder, Bent
Other notes:
Apartment 23 is not nearly as good as Happy Endings.
Do you think Alcatraz will be paired with Fringe? Alcatraz could probably be slotted on Fridays in the midseason after Fringe ends it's run.
I liked Breaking in but the entry of Megan Mullaly and the exit of Odette Annable destroyed it.
Touch is getting similar ratings to Finder in the post American Idol slot. The sad thing is FOX will renew Touch but cancel Finder. I like Finder more than Touch.
The same applies to Awake and Smash. If Awake was on Monday nights after Voice and Smash was on Thursday nights, Awake would have better ratings and Smash would have similar or worse ratings than what's Awake managing now. But, Smash got renewed and Awake is likely to get canned.
Error: "Suburgatory" will be back next week. Shouldn't it be next season?
Balaji K Sad for Awake too. :-(
April 30, 2012 at 5:30AM ESTdan Balaji - On a couple of your points:
April 30, 2012 at 12:27PM EST*** I don't think "Apartment 23" is worse than "Happy Endings" was *last* season. I think it's worse than "Happy Endings" was this season. I kinda hope ABC lets it try to develop.
*** Dramas are expensive and FOX has admitted very frankly that "Fringe" is losing money on Fridays. I'm not sure why FOX would want "Alcatraz" also losing money there. That's just not smart business.
*** You're right that "Touch" has now dropped far enough (and it's going to drop more) that it's on par with where "The Finder" was. It's worth noting that "Touch" has that international presence "Finder" doesn't have and that "Finder" aired after "Idol" in its higher-rated phase earlier in the spring, so it was losing more of that lead-in. But yes.
*** And I think "Awake" would have lost even more of that "Voice" lead-in than "Smash" does. "Awake" was, IMO, never an easy (or plausible) sell for NBC.
Off to fix that Suburgatory typo! Thanks!!!
-Dan
Tausif Khan Bent at least performed better than BFF. Bent at least got its whole run. People liked it. Critics covered it. Lena Dunham even mentioned being a fan of it before Girls debuted.
April 30, 2012 at 6:15PM ESTBent should be back next year (not a prediction but a hope.)
Balaji K - In my opinion, the 3 dramas - Lie to Me, Chicago Code, Human Target - that FOX ruthlessly cancelled last year were way better than Terra Nova, Alcatraz and Touch. I guess FOX got lured by the big names involved in the 3 shows this year.
April 30, 2012 at 9:50PM ESTTausif Khan To be fair on the Chicago Code Jason Clarke was not a good leading man and the show flounder a bit, along with the creators just coming off of Terriers, for those reasons.
May 1, 2012 at 12:16PM ESTAlcatraz had a clearer sense of what it wanted to be. It was less ambitious in terms of its content (which is sad given that Alctraz is the sci fi show and Chicago Code the cop show) but some elements of the show were really good. All of the 60s scenes I enjoyed a lot. The actors were really good so I feel in terms of those two shows that criticism is a little unfair.
In terms of Terra Nova the show has been canceled and can be said to have been done ruthlessly so as critics where pointing out and I believe Dan does hear as well that Terra Nova needed to stay on the air for 2 years just to amortize the cost of the sets and money put behind the show. However, because it was such an all around failure they cut it after only 13 episodes, ruthlessly.
Mulderism
April 30, 2012 at 5:41AM EST Reply to CommentI *just* discovered Community a few months ago and have now seen every one. The L&A parody last week was gold. Very creative show with an extremely likeable cast. Even without Chase it would be great.
I would really like to see this show go on. It's the only sit-com I've watched on NBC since Seinfeld.
War Chief Shake Zula
April 30, 2012 at 5:46AM EST Reply to CommentCROATIA MUST NOT BE ALLOWED TO SAVE MISISNG! NONE OF THEM CAN! THERE IS NO PLACE ANYWHERE ON TV (possibly excepting a deliberate parody of the concept on a Robot Chicken sketch) FOR SUCH A POORLY SHOT, SLOPPILY EDITED, BADLY WRITTEN DUD!
Ricardo
April 30, 2012 at 5:50AM EST Reply to Comment"If NBC can't find a way to make money on its most-watched drama... that's on NBC. And yet pundits expect it to get canceled. I'm predicting a renewal and a lot of consternation."
I'm sorry Dan, but saying that is ignoring the current model that network tvs operate on. Not finding a way to make money on total viewers is not "on NBC". It's on the advertisers. And if there's a network who would love total viewers to be counted, it's CBS. Alas, they're not.
PS: "Missing" is not coming back, international sales be damned.
Chris L CBS figures out ways to get demo viewers to watch their old-people dramas. NBC does not.
April 30, 2012 at 7:53AM ESTdan Ricardo - Nobody mandates selling on 18-49 for every show in every time slot to every advertiser. CBS sells 25-54, because it wants to and it can. If "Harry's Law" is only drawing Women 65-84, do you think there's NO advertiser out there that wants to target that demo? Even if it's "Ensure Presents 'Harry's Law,'" it *ought* to be possible to keep your most-watched drama on TV.
April 30, 2012 at 12:42PM EST-Daniel
War Chief Shake Zula
April 30, 2012 at 5:52AM EST Reply to CommentI'll let you in on a little secret. If CBS wants the new comedy block next fall, either Undercover Boss or one of the already-renewed dramas WILL HAVE TO BE HELD FOR MIDSEASON. CBS will not do that twice in the same season. The CSI spinoffs are both dead.
War Chief Shake Zula Same goes for Unforgettable.
April 30, 2012 at 5:56AM ESTWar Chief Shake Zula
April 30, 2012 at 6:00AM EST Reply to CommentIs Phoebe Tonkin pictured in the Secret Circle entry? I'm intrigued by your insistence that she deserves to be recognized as something beyond "CW hot".
dan War Chief Shake Zula - Phoebe Tonkin is second from the left, slightly sideways, in the "Secret Circle" picture...
April 30, 2012 at 11:52AM EST-Daniel
Tausif Khan Phoebe Tonkin was on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on Friday last week (4/27/2012).
April 30, 2012 at 6:17PM ESTWar Chief Shake Zula
April 30, 2012 at 6:04AM EST Reply to CommentI'm not sure how I should feel about Alcatraz's cancellation. It's not even inspiring the same degree of furor I usually have when I get a season ending mind-screw-meets-life-or-death cliffhanger that I know won't get resolved...
Kreso
April 30, 2012 at 9:16AM EST Reply to CommentHey Dan. Nope, Missing is not massive in Croatia. Apart from a few tv ethusiasts, nobody is aware of it's existance and those of us who are, mostly know it from American press.
We rarely have big foreign productions filming here, but even the press weren't at all interested in Missing.
Game of Thrones completley upstaged it here.
dan Drat! I took a stab in the dark. I didn't know I'd have a Croatian reader to set me straight...
April 30, 2012 at 11:34AM ESTWell, in that case, "Missing" probably won't be back...
-Daniel
Kreso I'm running a Croatian television site and the channel who was airing it sent us press package for Unforgettable (!), but promo material for Missing was... absent.
April 30, 2012 at 1:35PM ESTJon88
April 30, 2012 at 9:17AM EST Reply to Comment"The Middle" should return, if only for that photo. Cracked me up!
M
April 30, 2012 at 9:31AM EST Reply to CommentDan, can you please explain how Deadline "forced" Fox into renewing "Breaking In?" I followed their coverage last year and it seemed like they were just reporting on the news of the show's potential renewal and not the ones beyond it as you seem to be asserting.
dan M - Deadline played studio mouthpiece for SPTV basically pushing a story that barely existed and completely ignoring the facts regarding the ratings of the show. Websites OFTEN take advocacy positions regarding shows, but rarely websites that pride themselves on general impartiality.
April 30, 2012 at 11:37AM EST-Daniel
Tausif Khan My favorite part of this story is that when it came to Men of a Certain Age Maureen Ryan, Tim Goodman and Alan Sepinwall wrote open letters to the network to save it and they still canceled it. But Deadline just posted stories about Breaking In's come back and the show was brought back after being canceled. Now we know where power is in Hollywood.
April 30, 2012 at 6:20PM EST
April 30, 2012 at 6:33PM EST-Daniel
Tausif Khan I don't think Deadline is even allegedly impartial.
April 30, 2012 at 7:14PM ESTDeadline posts entertainment news items with the facts of the story and then offers some speculation.
Moreover Deadline also takes editorial stances. It takes openly political stances in publishing labor news. Not only have they published labor news but have depicted labor positively in giving their grievances public space to be read. Labor news is not something I even see while watching national news or even prominent "serious" news blogs.
So I don't find Deadline to be impartial at all.
Sir Ingenious
April 30, 2012 at 9:54AM EST Reply to CommentAny "Parenthood" and "SouthLAnd" news or predictions?
dan Sir Ingenious - Well, the "Parenthood" prediction is in the gallery. And I continue to expect "Southland" to be renewed, though it's taking a loooooong time at this point.
April 30, 2012 at 11:39AM EST-Daniel
Guess
April 30, 2012 at 9:59AM EST Reply to Comment"Next week"? Wouldn't it be next year, based on everything you've said?
dan Guess - It probably would, but since this is a 50-picture gallery and comments go on the main page instead of on individual gallery pages, I don't have a clue where that typo is... I'd gladly fix, though...
April 30, 2012 at 11:38AM EST-Daniel
David it's on Suburgatory
April 30, 2012 at 1:07PM ESTdan Yup. I missed that the first commenter also pointed it out. Fixed. Thanks!
April 30, 2012 at 1:08PM EST-Daniel
Lorenne
April 30, 2012 at 10:31AM EST Reply to CommentI just want Don't Trust the B and the Secret Circle bsck the most. Also, what episode of Community is that picture of all of them in costumes from?
Tedd That's Contemporary Impressionism, the one where they all have to go to the Bar Mitzvah to pay off Abed's celebrity impersonator debt
April 30, 2012 at 10:37AM ESTLorenne Thanks Tedd.
April 30, 2012 at 1:04PM ESTTedd
April 30, 2012 at 10:35AM EST Reply to CommentHow about cable shows? Which of them are on the bubble?
dan Tedd - Cable networks renew shows entirely on their own schedules, rather than built around a standardized upfronts schedule in May, so while a lot of cable shows are doubtlessly on the bubble, it's a lot harder to judge in bulk...
April 30, 2012 at 11:40AM EST-Daniel
Tedd Makes sense. I'd be curious to see a breakdown of the cable shows at some point though, and what channels want what ratings and so on.
April 30, 2012 at 1:36PM ESTRocket
April 30, 2012 at 12:04PM EST Reply to CommentDan, can you explain 'DVR bump'? If Harry's Law has a larger DVR bump than Community, does that mean that people are time-shifting Harry's Law more than they are Community?
Personally, I prefer to watch all of my TV time-shifted. However, with NBC comedies, the end-of-episode tags tend to get ruined by my DVR ending one recording and starting the next, so I've started watching Community, 30 Rock and Parks & Rec live.
dan Rocket - in the case of that particular "stat," it just meant that Harry's Law has a larger percentage growth in the 18-49 demo in DVR figures, which is largely a factor of "Harry's Law" starting from SUCH a low point. But it also suggests -- and "Community" fans don't want to hear this -- that "Community" fans aren't watching "Big Bang Theory" and DVRing "Community" to watch later, at least not in the numbers some folks would hope...
April 30, 2012 at 12:38PM EST-Daniel
Jason Snyder
April 30, 2012 at 12:31PM EST Reply to CommentThe Community review should not imply that it might not be the greatest show on TV, since, objectively, it is the best show on TV.
watt d fark Objectively, it's streets ahead
April 30, 2012 at 1:47PM ESTmrbilliam It has some pretty vocal internet haters as well.
April 30, 2012 at 5:40PM ESTsrpad
April 30, 2012 at 3:44PM EST Reply to CommentSome comments: There was a show called "A Gifted Man" That was a thing? Never heard of it until this article.
Also I think I need to start watching 90210...
mrbilliam
April 30, 2012 at 5:42PM EST Reply to CommentNBC's Thursday night is absolutely my favorite current block on TV (probably followed by HBO's Sunday night). It's too bad its ratings are so pitiful (and its best rated show, The Office, is its worst one).
Awake is basically a solid cop show with a twist (and good characters), so it's too bad that couldn't find an audience.
John
April 30, 2012 at 5:57PM EST Reply to CommentThanks for the thorough slideshow Dan, and thanks for all your interaction in the comment section.
Darius
April 30, 2012 at 7:18PM EST Reply to CommentNikita is such a good show, really hopes it comes back for a 3rd season.
Monty Jack I totally agree. It's even better than 24 at this point (the "real time" gimmick really bogged the show down in later seasons).
April 30, 2012 at 10:31PM EST