A Look Back at my 2016-2017 Cancellation Predictions

I honestly don’t know yet which order I’m going to write future posts in, how long these new posts will stay on Saturdays, or what other changes will happen in this blog’s future. What I do know is that I may blog about summer show’s reviews more than once, using a special new way of doing them. Something I want to be sure to do is look back at my predictions from the previous season of what I thought would be cancelled and see if what I guessed was right. Let’s get to it, shall we?

First, in case you are confused by any of the asterisks that I have, I should explain them before going any further. They mean different things the last time I did this so I might as well explain them this time before I do them. If it has one asterisk, that means that it was de facto cancelled by virtue of not being brought back for another season, at the moment at least. Some of them may reappear in the future a la American Grit. But when they make no decision on a show, it is practically cancelled even if they never do bring it back. The only thing marked with two asterisks this time is a show that was actually a miniseries and wouldn’t have lasted anyways.

What I got right: Conviction, The Real O’Neals, Last Man Standing, Dr. Ken, Secrets and Lies, Imaginary Mary, Time after Time, The Catch, Beyond the Tank *, When We Rise **, Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders, Pure Genius, Training Day, Ransom, Doubt, The Great Indoors, 2 Broke Girls, The Odd Couple, Reign, No Tomorrow, Frequency, The Vampire Diaries, Bones, Scream Queens, Son of Zorn, Sleepy Hollow, 24: Legacy *, APB, You’re Back in the Room *, Kicking and Screaming *, Prison Break *, Making History, My Kitchen Rules *, Caught on Camera *, Grimm, The Celebrity Apprentice *, Powerless, First Dates *, Emerald City

Conviction: This timeslot just doesn’t work long term. I knew that going into the season and was able to get this prediction right as a result. This show could have done better in the long term, but it was pretty much dead when they never ordered more episodes for it.

The Real O’Neals: I hated this show from the moment that I first saw a promo for it. That alone was reason for me to put it in my predictions. I saw it and hated it even more. This network ordered only a few new episodes for it and it was gone before the season ended.

Last Man Standing: I didn’t have that much of a reason for putting it here other than declining ratings. Honestly, its cancellation ended up being a surprise in the end, subject to an ongoing controversy and is even being shopped around to other networks. Don’t count on anything if you were a fan of this show. Honestly, this show was quite bad as it progressed and I stopped watching it years again.

Dr. Ken: Once again, we have a show that was on here simply because I hated it. But I was right. The show was a surprise cancelation in the end. It can be hard to tell for sure what went down and it might have ended up being because it was multi-camera and nothing else.

Secrets and Lies: It was highly unusual that a network show, especially a scripted one, would go on hiatus for over a year. What was more unusual was the fact that there was no reason why this had even happened. I was honestly surprised that it was coming back and had almost written it off as cancelled entirely. But it came back and I figured that it wouldn’t stay around long anyways. I was right.

Imaginary Mary: Knowing nothing about it but its name going into the season, I thought that it would be cancelled and it ultimately was. The show was good, but it never got any good ratings and it ultimately ended as a result.

Time after Time: This is the one that I really wish wasn’t cancelled. If only it comes back and airs future episodes, that would be all that I want. I do think there are bootlegged versions of the unaired episodes on www.dailymotion.com, although I’d be careful using that site. Ultimately, this was not a good season for time travel shows and this one just never did well with ratings, ending as a result.

The Catch: They tried to change this show, but it ultimately didn’t work. The ratings for the previous season were the reason why I thought that it might not last this time around, should the ratings stay that low. Since it didn’t do well this time around either, it ended.

Beyond the Tank: It’s worth noting that this show didn’t even air this season as my prediction was more that it wouldn’t come back than that it would come back and be cancelled. It could actually reappear in the future, but I don’t think that it ever will come be.

When We Rise: This was only a miniseries and that wasn’t something I knew going into it. Regardless, I still thought that it wouldn’t last simply because I thought it had a bad title. This show was about gay rights and I’m honestly not sure why we need so much gayness on television.

Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders: When a show quickly takes over a cancelled show’s old timeslot, it is actually in danger of cancellation itself. Honestly, while I expected it to get the short end of the stick, I might have thought it would stay around for next season and get bad treatment then. Ultimately, it didn’t work as a show anymore, but I don’t care cuz I never watched it in the first place.

Pure Genius: Once again, this show didn’t last because they never ordered more episodes for it, which is a death sentence for most fall shows. Also, CBS has Code Black as a medical show that lasts (for now, at least), so I don’t know why they needed to combine that and Scorpion into its own show. It was still a good show, outside of possibly confusing recurring plots.

Training Day: When the star of this show died, this show’s chances were practically dead as well. The show got low ratings from the very beginning and was soon isolated to Saturdays after March Madness ended. I’m honestly not sure that they would have aired all the episodes if the star hadn’t died. I saw the show and it was quite terrible so I’m glad that I got this one right.

Ransom: It aired on Saturdays for no good reason. Why not just put it on during the summer instead? It was good while it lasted, except for ending on a cliffhanger for no good reason. Are the last few episodes really when you want to suddenly introduce a recurring plot?

Doubt: This seemed to have very little to almost no chance of succeeding given its short run on the air. I don’t know if it will air the rest of its episodes, although it might since it was owned by the network that cancelled it. Let’s hope that they at least put it on CBS All-Access. There are weird things about it since a show that starts in February is almost never the first new thing cancelled (which just might be a record late first cancellation), although others were already as good as dead and it wasn’t called cancelled by CBS although no one bought that it was anything other than cancelled.

The Great Indoors: Knowing little about it other than that it looked bad and had a bad title, I predicted this as being cancelled at the end of the season even though The Big Bang Theory would lead into it and I can’t think of something cancelled before it that had that lead-in. Regardless, we may never really know for sure why it was cancelled, but I hope that it was the Millennials that did it.

2 Broke Girls: This long running show was popular with some people although I hated it. I thought that it would be cancelled as CBS seemed like it would suddenly turn on any show that it didn’t own. That seems to be what happened here.

The Odd Couple: I figured that this show would be dead without the Big Bang Theory as its lead-in. I was right. They never ordered more episodes for it even though this was the first time that it aired in the fall for a change. The stars of the show announced it was cancelled before the network owned up to it at the upfronts. It was never any good anyways.

Reign: All of the warning signs were there. If this wasn’t cancelled by the end of this season, then the CW must be really short on alternatives. Even a CW show couldn’t have this bad ratings and they announced before its season started airing that it would be the end. Now we have to find a new show to marvel at its survival every season.

No Tomorrow: This and the next show were the first ever shows on the CW to air in the fall and not get any additional episodes ordered. While it may have worked for a ratings challenged network, even the CW has a limit for just how bad a show can do and this show was part of it.

Frequency: I liked this show a lot, although it seemed to work better in the beginning than as it went on. I still didn’t have high hopes for it going into the season and the CW never ordered any more episodes of it. It must suck when even the CW thinks you are too low rated.

The Vampire Diaries: I don’t know when this was mentioned as cancelled, but I learned that this would have a final season order at some point. Regardless, if I didn’t know that heading into the season, I still thought that it would it.

Bones: This was already renewed for a final season going into the next season so I knew that it was going to end going into this season. I like freebies, even though they don’t always happen that much going into a season. Of course, I can get a lot right without them since I always list too many shows that I think will get cancelled. Should I be mentioning those as a different type of wrong prediction?

Scream Queens: This show had low ratings going into its second season and things never seemed good for it into its new season. It didn’t last because nobody cared about or liked this strange show. Do you know someone who actually thought this was good?

Son of Zorn: Shows that air after The Simpsons seem to do badly in terms of ratings quite often. I also had no idea if this would be just another strange show or not. I liked it outside of its weird and stupid lack of an ending. If only it did better in the ratings.

Sleepy Hollow: This always seemed to struggle with the ratings time and time again. People didn’t like it for whatever reason they had. Ultimately, it struggled for far too long and ended up cancelled as a result. At least not too much went unresolved.

24: Legacy: This might make a reappearance in the future like The X-Files did. But the fact remains that it does not appear on the schedule for the upcoming season and should be considered cancelled because they haven’t made a decision about it.

APB: Once again, I knew very little about it going into the next season that I ultimately had it on my list as a result. I might have been interested in it, but it had low ratings its whole run and I correctly thought that it wouldn’t last as a result.

You’re Back in the Room: When I looked back and saw that this was in my cancellation predictions, I had to wonder what happened to it. I couldn’t find any proof that its name had changed. Ultimately, I’m pretty sure that they never made it in the first place and now we have a show with even less of an existence than a lot of them that weren’t ever officially cancelled.

Kicking and Screaming: I had no idea what this show would be like going into the season. I just knew that there was an unrelated movie of the same name that I thought this might be an adaptation of. It turns out that this was actually a lame looking reality show that featured survivalists with beauty queens. They haven’t actually made a decision about this, but they didn’t do that with Bullseye and we all know that show isn’t coming back either.

Prison Break: Here’s another show that’s cancelled by virtue of them making no decision about it. Maybe it will return, but it is probably cancelled and can stay that way for all I care. Why would they make such a long show about breaking out of prison anyways?

Making History: This and nearly all the other time travel shows probably wish that they could go back to the beginning of the season when they might have had a chance of staying around. This didn’t seem to look all that good although it did wind up being fairly decent.

My Kitchen Rules: Once again, there was no decision made about this show so it can be considered cancelled for now and stay that way outside of any potential returns. FOX has more than enough cooking shows so I don’t know why they would need more anyways. I don’t think that Gordon Ramsey was on this so that alone might be why it failed.

Caught on Camera- This show looked like it was probably really lame. Why would we want a TV show to show us a bunch of web videos when we have the internet to do that itself? As you might have noticed, there was actually no decision made with this show so I’m declaring it as good as dead.

Grimm: It seemed like there was some danger going into its next season and they announced a reduction of episodes, never a good sign for a long running show. Ultimately, they didn’t start airing it until sometime into the next year and they made its cancellation official before it started airing. I’m not sure why they suddenly felt the need to get rid of it, but here it is now.

The Celebrity Apprentice: This might not actually be cancelled as it could be going on another, long hiatus. But it appears that there is no further future for this show. I don’t hate it, but I never cared enough to watch it or know what might be going on with it. I guess celebrities will have to find real work for a change instead of this show. Although, were real celebrities really on this?

Powerless: So many comic book shows do greatly, but I didn’t have high hopes for this one. Maybe it failed because it was a comedy instead of a drama. Maybe it didn’t offer as much as it should. Another problem could be that it seemed to follow plots running parallel to the comic books that some people wouldn’t care enough about as a result. There are still three unaired episodes that we’ll hopefully see at some point in the future here in America.

First Dates: Okay, this came out recently enough that it might not actually be cancelled like I think that it is. It could reappear in the future like American Grit did. I might have been interested in it, but I wasn’t interested enough to ever give it a chance.

Emerald City: There was so much turmoil over the production of this show that we are lucky that it made it to the air at all. It went from being cancelled before it was made to finally coming out sometime this season. Production problems are always a sign of danger for long term chances and while it did good in the ratings at the very beginning, it just didn’t last long enough besides it and it ultimately ended. At least it wasn’t a dream and was actually made, although it was really strange.

Now I have to make a note regarding another show that seems similar to Jesus as it was dead for three days and then came back to life. That show is called Timeless which didn’t seem to be that much in danger ratings wise, but might have had other, lesser problems. I did have it predicted as cancelled, but that doesn’t really matter since I only count things wrong if I thought they would be safe. Speaking of that, it’s time to get to that section where I didn't think something would be cancelled that was.

What I got wrong: Notorious, Rosewood, Shots Fired, Coupled, Home Free *, Chicago Justice, The Blacklist: Redemption; Wrong by default (shows I didn’t know would exist): Hunted *, Big Fan *, You the Jury, The Toy Box *

Notorious: Even though The Catch was TGIT and something I thought would be cancelled, I didn’t think that this would be. Clearly I was wrong as they cut the episode order long before they messed with any other show, making this the technical first cancellation of the season even though the network didn’t admit to it until May. I wish that it ended better.

Rosewood: Sometimes when I look back into predictions before the last season’s, I end up with stuff there that isn’t on the next list, but probably should have been. I had no idea what changed about this that resulted in it getting cancelled other than its isolation to Friday night.

Shots Fired: I’m not sure why I thought that a random police drama wouldn’t fail like I did when I wrote that other post. Tons of those shows end every season because there are a lot of them and almost nothing else to cancel. Not sure what else there is to say about this.

Coupled: This is among the reasons why I shouldn’t predict any summer show as cancelled as I have no idea if they are even renewed in the first place. I don’t know why I had higher hopes for this show that I never saw, but it ended and I thought it would last.

Home Free: I thought that it was renewed and it might have been, only it doesn’t seem like there’s any future for this show. Maybe it did return and I figured that it would last even longer. I don’t know what went wrong on my end.

Chicago Justice: Who would have thought that a part of the Chicago franchise wouldn’t have lasted? I didn’t going into this. It aired on an already full night and didn’t get a renewal at the upfronts when it should have happened. Ultimately, they did cancel it instead of leaving it in limbo like so many other shows end up forever (which is cancellation, let’s be honest).

The Blacklist: Redemption: Simply because it span-off from The Blacklist, I thought that it would last. I must not have been remembering how that happened to Once Upon a Time in Wonderland. Hopefully the main show can resolve what this show didn’t.

Hunted: This might return in the future or it might not. It seems odd that they didn’t make a decision regarding it like you think that they would. This, like the next three shows, are not shows that I knew about when I made my predictions so that is the only real reason why I got them wrong.

Big Fan: If you never saw this show, you might be surprised to learn that it briefly existed for about two weeks on the ABC network. Typically, any show that lasts that short a time was a failure that was cancelled. This show never had its fate revealed, but it seemed more like one-off specials than any real show that would last longer.

You the Jury: It was a bit surprising that this show might have even been an idea to air since nothing in it was legally binding even though they made it seem like we, the viewers, had all the power over people’s fates in it. I almost watched it, but never did, although it sounds stupid now and I’m thinking that I should be glad that I did miss it.

The Toy Box: Again, this show might last into future seasons or it might not. It started too late that a lack of a decision now might not be the death sentence that it normally is. While the show was interesting, it seemed only to be an hour long promotion for Toys R Us.

The next set of shows have all become summer shows (or were that in the first place), so I won’t know yet if any of them will be cancelled like I think that they would be. I admit that I could be waiting until later to do this blog post, but I figured that I wouldn’t this year, although I might in other years. I need to write more posts in the future and should hopefully be back with them every week like they have been since December. I'm not writing as quickly as I should be.

Still could be: Downward Dog, Still Star-Crossed, The Carmichael Show, Midnight, Texas, American Grit, Marlon, Superhuman, So You Think You Can Dance?

Well, there’s not much else to say regarding this post. It can actually be quite fun and interesting to look back at all the shows that are over. I’ll admit that some of these might actually be wrong, but most of them probably aren’t. We’ll see what future changes could await this blog. These Saturday updates will continue for now, but they are subject to change in the future.