Is my show safe? Four simple words on the minds of every TV fan this time of year. With most series passing the halfway mark for this season I thought I would weigh in on what I thought the survival chances of all the network TV shows are for next season. I decided to use medical categories to gauge the life and death of each series. Shows that have not aired yet ( Parenthood, Sons Of Tucson, Miami Medical ) are not on this list.
Perfect Bill Of Health = Already Renewed
Stable Condition = Positive Outlook
Life-support = Needs Help
No Pulse = Already Canceled
ABC:
Perfect Bill Of Health:
Cougar Town, The Middle, Modern Family
Stable Condition:
V, Brothers & Sisters, Castle, Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, The Bachelor, Dancing With The Stars
Life-support:
FlashForward, Better Off Ted, The Deep End, The Forgotten, Scrubs
No Pulse:
Eastwick, Hank, Lost, Ugly Betty
What If I Ran ABC? : My first scheduling move would be to get Cougar Town out of its Wednesday night slot. Cougar Town is wasting the Modern Family viewer lead-in and ABC would be foolish not to try a new comedy out of Modern Family this fall. I’d do a 90 minute Dancing With The Stars into Cougar Town capping it off with Castle on Monday nights. That leaves two scheduling holes. Thursday at 8PM and Wednesday at 10PM. I’d go bold and move Brothers & Sisters to Wednesday at 10PM. This woud free up Sunday nights at 10PM for a new series to get a bounce out of Desperate Housewives. This move also gives 10PM on Wednesdays a much more reliable option then either Eastwick or Ugly Betty provided. I’m not a believer in launching new series late in the season ( The Deep End ) so I would give Thursday nights at 8PM to a buzz worthy new series. To me, the pairing of FlashForward and Grey’s Anatomy never made sense so i’d pick a show that fits into that Grey’s/Private Practice Thursday night vibe. FlashForward is a gone IMO, but I think ABC will give V a second look. FlashForward, The Deep End, The Forgotten, Scrubs and Better Off Ted should all expect pink slips.
CBS:
Perfect Bill Of Health:
Amazing Race, The Good Wife, How I Met Your Mother, NCIS Los Angeles, Survivor, The Big Bang Theory
Stable Condition:
Criminal Minds, CSI, CSI Miami, CSI New York, NCIS, The Mentalist, Two And a Half Men, Ghost Whisperer
Life-support:
Cold Case, Medium, Numbers, Gary Unmarried, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Rules Of Engagement, Accidently on Purpose
No Pulse:
Three Rivers
What If I Ran CBS? : CBS has lot of tough comedy decisions to make. My bold pitch to CBS would be to move The Big Bang Theory to Wednesday nights at 8PM. I believe CBS still wants two nights of comedies and Gary Unmarried and The New Adventures Of Old Christine aren’t pulling in enough viewers to keep either around. Moving The Big Bang Theory to Wednesdays frees up the slot after Two And A Half Men for a new comedy and it allows CBS to position a new comedy to air after The Big Bang Theory on Wednesdays. I also expect to see a new comedy airing after How I Met Your Mother. – Sorry Accidentally On Purpose. On the drama side new shows would be needed for Friday and Sunday nights at 9PM and 10PM. My gut tells me Numb3rs is gone and Cold Case needs a miracle. I think Ghost Whisperer still kicks off Friday nights, but wouldn’t be shocked to see CBS pull the plug on Medium due to slipping numbers. However, they may take the safe route and not shake up Friday night too much and just dump Numbers this year saving additional Friday cuts for another year. If that’s the case Friday night would only need one new series ( The Hawaii Five-O reboot would seem like a perfect fit). Sunday nights could kick off with the Amazing Race followed by two new series. I’d use the Criminal Minds spin off out of Amazing Race to springboard another new series. Pinks slips to Numb3rs, Cold Case, Gary Unmarried, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Rules Of Engagement and Accidentally On Purpose.
Perfect Bill Of Health:
Stable Condition:
Vampire Diaries, Gossip Girl, 90210, Smallville, Supernatural, Life Unexpected
Life-support:
Melrose Place, One Tree Hill
No Pulse:
The Beautiful Life
What If I Ran The CW? : I’d bring back Smallville and Supernatural and put them both on Friday nights. Vampire Diaries is the lone hit for the network and Supernatural ( despite being in a tough time-slot) is wasting the Vampire Diaries lead-in. I’d find a new show in development that is very compatible with Vampire Diaries ( how about a series with a Vampire girl as the lead?) and slot it into Supernatural’s vacated time slot. Melrose place is done. One Tree Hill in my opinion has overstayed its welcome and is not bringing in any new viewers at this point. I’d renew Life Unexpcted, but it needs a less crowded timeslot to live in. It’s no secret the parent company wants the CW to finally branch out a little more demo wise in fall 2010 so i’d expect to see them take some chances in scheduling next year. Can’t imagine a better year for The CW to pickup a show discarded from another network. Pink slips to Melrose Place and One Tree Hill.
FOX:
Perfect Bill Of Health:
American Dad, American Idol, The Cleveland Show, Family Guy, Glee, Bones
Stable Condition:
Fringe, House, Human Target
Life-support:
Lie To Me, Past Life, 24
No Pulse:
Brothers, Dollhouse, Sit Down Shut Up, Til Death
What If I Ran FOX? : House is safe. After that probably some of the toughest decisions this off-season belong to FOX and what to do with their shows that are caught between success and struggling. Fringe, Human Target, Past Life and Lie To Me are all straddling that over/under achiever line. 24 with its rocketing costs and declining viewers should be concerned as well. With the amount of DVR/Hulu plays Fringe gets I think Fringe is a safe bet for return. Much like Bones I think FOX feels Human Target is one of those rare shows that might be able to grow year to year in terms of viewers so I would award a second season to Human Target ( Although I would expand the cast. Human Target is very cast claustrophobic ). I believe Past Life will be let go so that leaves Lie To Me and 24. A lot like Lost I think 24 has earned the right to go out on its own terms. In my book it gets one more year to be billed as the final season of 24. Just a guess, but I think because it does so well internationally and because it has a star in Tim Roth that FOX orders a 3rd season of Lie To Me. Pink Slips to Past Life, Til Death and Brothers.
NBC:
Perfect Bill Of Health:
Parks & Recreation
Stable Condition:
30 Rock, Chuck, The Office, Law & Order, Law & Order SVU, Mercy, The Biggest Loser
Life-support:
Heroes, Community, Trauma
No Pulse:
The Jay Leno Show
What If I Ran NBC? : Jay Leno failing in the 10PM slot means 5 new hours of TV had to be added back into the weekly schedule. Sundays this fall will be Football so NBC has to come up with 15 hours of programming. Parks & Recreation has been renewed and it shouldn’t be too long before we see renewals for 30 Rock and The Office. Unless NBC development finds a few can’t miss comedies I think they will say yes to at least one more season of Community. Things are trickier with Heroes. The show is beyond done, but in a PR move I think NBC will announce some sort of wrap up 2 hour mini-series to air in the fall. The Law Order shows will be back. At this point neither Mercy or Trauma have earned a slot on the fall 2010 schedule, but my gut says with Leno failing and the need to slot in some scripted drama at 10PM that one of them will stick around and I’m picking Mercy. Chuck will get another season, but it won’t surprise me one bit to see it in a crummy time slot. Network folks feel that any day, any time slot Chuck will tread just above water with around 6 Million Viewers. Pinks slips to Trauma and Heroes.
