Television. It’s a very risky game. You think your favorite network execs are a bunch of geniuses and maybe they are. Perhaps your favorite show is the best thing on television since Falcon Crest, however, you and your core group of Facebook friends are the only ones who think so. The rest of the viewing public would rather use an acid eyewash than watch that tripe you think is so entertaining. Hence we have what the industry calls “Shows on the Bubble.”
Let’s take a look at the latest cropping of Bubble shows. Get your Facebook petitions ready!
Now according to TV By the Numbers, “on the bubble” basically means certain shows are toss-ups and based on the ratings, the renewal decisions could go either way and not be surprising. Yet and still, some may be surprised at what could be on the chopping block!
Community: What? This show is awesome! Who isn’t watching Community? Don’t you just want to smack them across the face a little bit? Wait. They’re probably watching The Big Bang Theory which airs at the same time, and well, if you put Sheldon and Leonard against Abed and Troy…we’re not sure who would win. It may end in some sort of nebulous geek explosion or a brain-to-brain fusion. Like a cross-network Leviathan. This could be fantastic, or the work of demonic Gremlins high on monosodium glutamate. Anyway, you guys, start watching Community!
Odds: Some are saying the show has peaked and the shtick is old. It’s not adding new viewers and it’s losing the ones they already have. Renewal chances look bleak.
CSI Miami and NY: As NBC can attest, there only needs to be one criminal-based franchise show in rotation at one time. And really, how many shows about forensics and the like are needed? If you’ve seen one, haven’t you seen them all? Murder, Search the Crime Scene, Investigate, Stir, Repeat. Does it matter if we’re in Miami or NY? No. Probably no one will miss one of these, or they could join them together and make it CSI: MIANY. Six of one. Either way, both won’t survive.
Odds: One is sure to go.
Grimm: Well, ho! Here we thought this show was being touted as “One of the Season’s Best.” Apparently not. And it’s no wonder. The premise is stupid, the storyline silly and predictable, and there’s nothing edgy or risky enough to rival shows like The Walking Dead, or patently purist to rival Once Upon a Time. Therefore it just sucks.
Odds: After two episodes, the last generating poor ratings, it probably has about one more episode to improve before the ax rumors start. NBC does not suffer poor performers gladly, so basically something magical will have to happen to save this show.
Gossip Girl: OMFG! Has 2007 ended already? The CW was able to rebrand itself with this risqué show about cavorting teens, but since then the network has added a full stable of teen-based shows that do the same thing and may even push the limits further. So Gossip Girl, the show about headbands, may actually be swallowed up by its more lucrative and compelling offspring. And now that there’s word of a Sex and the City scripted prequel happening…well, there may not be room for this once hailed pioneer.
Odds: With the rise of The Vampire Diaries and The Secret Circle, this show could find itself looking like last season’s Prada.
Hart of Dixie: This long sprawling, fish-out-of-water drama starring Rachel Bilson has had a hard time finding its footing. And it’s no wonder. The CW has really cultivated the teen and young adult market. This show skews just slightly older, but at the same time has a bit of a hokey Hallmark Channel vibe about it. And that’s not a good thing for a network whose top shows are about vampires and witches. It’s probably a bit too namby-pamby without enough action or supernatural elements to make it resonate.
Odds: It’s a new show that doesn’t really have a good hook with its core demographic. Good Luck.
House: After eight seasons (of revelations! epiphanies! And Aha moments!) it’s certainly possible that the medical drama genre has run its course. Hugh Laurie has won ALL THE AWARDS and we’ve witnessed his saving the unsaveable for nearly a decade. Surely it’s time for him to put down his cane and just settle into a nice, easy retirement full of Vicodin and booze. That is what Dr. House does, right? I’ve lost track of this show. Wait! He’s in prison or something! Well, that’s interesting. Not really.
Odds: If the show manages to limp along and get renewed they should probably think of making next season its last. There’s nothing classier than knowing when to make an exit.
Nikita: Yawr, this show is probably suffering from the same fate as Hart of Dixie. The core demographic of the CW isn’t interested in the lives of these late twenty and early thirty-somethings. That’s just so old. That’s like nursing home pudding old. Sure, yeah, the judo chop thing and operative assassin thing can be interesting — on maybe the USA network, but on the CW, we’d like to discuss why Stefan is all of a sudden a bad vampire, and Caroline and Tyler — sooo cute! Squee!
Odds: Probably dropped for being a show about old people in rocking chairs who join a knitting circle.
Person of Interest: The new pre-crime JJ Abrams offering isn’t reaching viewers. Could it be the time slot? Maybe. I couldn’t tell you when this show is on. Even though it got a lot of great buzz, and Jim Caviezel (Jesus himself) is in it, it may be too complicated for the typical viewer. It’s not your fault, guys! But really, we kind of like our thinking man’s shows on cable. CBS is where we go for NPH macking on random ladies, and Kat Dennings dressed as a waitress in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Odds: Survival depends on CBS’ willingness to not just be the network Charlie Sheen built. Maybe they’ll stick with their possibly only cerebral drama. Or, Ashton Kutcher will smile and then they’ll forget where babies come from.
Private Practice: Spun off into boredom. This is a Grey’s Anatomy spin-off, right? So, yes, a doctor show with more drama between the sheets with all those furtive glances as one person realizes that oops they’ve boned monkeys with someone else’s husband, oh, and maybe they’ll cut out a tumor or two. Is this the gist? Okay, whatever. No one cares anymore. Even Shonda Rhimes is moving on. She’s producing some sort of period show about a hotel in the 50’s or 1890 as commenter DorothyBarker has told me!
Odds: Hey, Private Practice cast, it’s time to start making calls to your agent.
Terra Nova: You know what expensive show about alternate universes and dinosaurs are boring the pants off of everyone? Yeah, this show. I watched last week’s episode (on DVR) and had no earthly idea what it was about, or why I should care. A dinosaur used as a murder weapon. Okay. Stupid Terra Nova Hipster Cop’s Son wants to go back to polluted earth to save his girlfriend. Have a good trip! And that’s it. I have no idea what else happened.
Odds: To say that this show has largely been a disappointment is an understatement. Yet, its chances of survival aren’t as bleak as one might think. Fox has spent a lot of dollars and time making this thing happen. They may not be ready to walk away quite yet.
Unforgettable: HA! You’ve written your own tombstone with that title. Seven episodes in and many of us have forgotten that it comes on. It’s too much of a mish-mash of things. It’s a police procedural, but with supernatural and/or gifted person stuff thrown in. That’s been done so very much. We don’t care about how this Medium, Psych, Mentalist person plans to fight crime. Sorry, but it’s just not interesting enough.
Odds: Not good. It’s an aged trope and no one in the cast is charismatic enough for CBS to continue making the case for it.
So those are the shows that may not make it. Stay tuned for the list of definite contenders for renewal, and some that are destined to join Charlie’s Angels (Awful. Why was this a good idea, Drew Barrymore?), How to be a Gentleman (Canceled after one episode. Crikey!), Free Agents (The Brits did it better), and the Playboy Club (Don Draper laughs in your general direction.)
