Let’s Predict the First Cancellation of the 2015-2016 Season

November 13th, 2015 Update:

According to Deadline Hollywood, ABC has cancelled Wicked City after three very low-rated episodes. Production on the eighth episode will be completed but no additional episodes will be filmed.

Original Post:

It’s time! The 2015-2016 television season officially kicks off tonight and that means the networks will be rolling out a few dozen new shows over the next few weeks, although quite a few won’t debut until October or even November. This is my 7th annual “predict the first cancellation of the new season” post.

Here is a look back at the first cancellations of the past six seasons:

2009-2010The Beautiful Life: TBL (The CW, 2 episodes)
2010-2011Lonestar (FOX, 2 episodes)
2011-2012The Playboy Club (NBC, 3 episodes)
2012-2013Made in Jersey (CBS, 2 episodes)
2013-2014Lucky 7 (ABC, 2 episodes)
2014-2015Manhattan Love Story (ABC, 4 episodes)

(The only one of these shows I actually watched was The Playboy Club back in 2011 on NBC.)

So what will be the first cancellation of the 2015-2016 season? The Player on NBC? Minority Report on FOX? Dr. Ken on ABC? Personally, I feel this a particularly difficult season to predict which show will be cancelled first. There are certainly a number of shows I think look really awful but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll flop and with premieres staggered through mid-October and beyond it’s entirely possible that we won’t see a cancellation for quite a few weeks.

ABC has a lot riding on Blood & Oil and Quantico so I doubt either will be pulled unless literally nobody is watching. Life in Pieces on CBS is pretty much guaranteed a huge sampling initially because it follows The Big Bang Theory although it may ultimately lose too much of that audience to survive. NBC will stick by Heroes Reborn until the bitter end regardless of its ratings because it would be too embarrassing for the network to pull it.

Hit the comments with your predictions and stay tuned as we wait to learn what the first new obscurity of the 2015-2016 season will be.


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20 Replies to “Let’s Predict the First Cancellation of the 2015-2016 Season”

  1. I think the networks won’t cancel anything too quickly. Dr. ken looks awful but I think Minority Report or The Grinder will be first to go. I just watched Life In Pieces and it will not make it to Thursday.

  2. I think Rosewood will be the fall’s first cancellation. It’s a hokey police procedural with a main character so unlikable that even Morris Chestnut can’t save him.

    Minority Report would have been a good prediction prior to last night. The pilot got only a 1.1 in viewers 18-49 so it’s probably DOA.

  3. The ratings for FOX’s “SCREAM QUEENS” weren’t that good and the reviews for CBS’s “LIMITLESS” aren’t any better.

    If NBC’s “PEOPLE ARE TALKING” was premiering this week I would’ve made that my first cancellation of the season.

  4. I thought Fox was actually going to axe “Minority Report” after just one telecast (the September 21 premiere).

    As I’m writing this, it’s Wednesday the 23rd, so there’s still a chance the cancellation may come before the end of this week, but it now seems likely the show will live to see it’s second episode.

    But unless the ratings improve for the second week, the show won’t live to see October.

    1. I only got around to seeing the premiere today, but Jofus is absoluitely right about this show. Although it will live to see the end of the month, it won’t make it into November. Basically, there are 2 strikes against this show: (1) The concept of stopping crime before it happens has already been taken by Person of Interest and The Player. (2)Unlike other current sci-fi shows, it has no sense of humor. The only thing that made me smile was the Simpsons’ 75th anniversary joke, and that was leaked by Fox early. Tomorrow is the moment of truth when Jane the Virgin premieres. If CW can beat Fox in any demo, particularly 18-35, game over. And yes, I am aware that Fox cut the order to 10 episodes.

  5. Supposedly, “People Are Talking” has had it’s title changed to “Truth Be Told”, supposedly because CBS complained that there were local talk shows with that title in the 1980s and 1990s at what were then Group W/Westinghouse stations that are now CBS O&O’s.

  6. Last year four of the five first cancelled shows were sitcoms. The other was a reality show that had started in the summer. In fact most new shows last year got at least half a season before being dropped, and those that were dropped were slow to be dropped.

    This year it’s difficult because networks don’t seem to be paying attention to ratings. NBC is more likely to let a show run a full 13 episodes before dropping it. They just don’t have the shows to replace them with. I also suspect they’re selling advertisers 13 episode packages so the show is covered for the full run regardless of ratings.

    Dr. Ken would seem to be the easiest to drop but ABC used it as the centerpiece for it’s promo show so it might be a bit embarrassing for it to be the first cancelled show. It’s also airing on a Friday. This makes it easier to replace with reruns but also makes it harder to judge ratings. ABC could keep it until Christmas even with lousy ratings.

    FOX should cancel Minority Report and replace it with Sleepy Hollow. Waiting until the new year to air the show is like waiting until New Year’s Day to eat your Halloween candy.

    1. Sleepy Hollow is already back on the air, Patrick. It was delayed only to avoid facing off against the return of Heroes.

  7. Well, it looks like we might have our loser. Supergirl totally destroyed Minority Report in the overnights and the Fox listings for November 9th show a Bones rerun at 9 PM, so this is the last nail in the coffin. However, don’t be surprised if NBC doesn’t show Truth Be Told on Friday. By the way, the show everyone here hated (Dr. Ken) has already gotten a pickup, so it just goes to show you can’t always be right.

  8. What month was “MANHATTAN LOVE STORY” canceled?

    Will 2015 go down in TV history as the year of no cancellations?

  9. If ABC cancels Blood and Oil I will NEVER watch another show on their channel. To cancel a show after only 3 episodes is ridiculous!!!!!!!

  10. ABC’s “WICKED CITY” might earn the honor of being the first non-trimmed and actually cancelled series of this season.

    1. You are on the money, BOB!! Wicked City was cancelled yesterday after only 3 episodes. I should have known the
      ABC Tuesday night curse was going to kick in. This was the third time in the last 5 years [after Lucky 7 and Manhattan Love Story].

      1. I should have said this is the third consecutive ABC Tuesday cancellation. Interesting irony that the first show went down on Friday the 13th!!

  11. Before the year runs out ,let us clarify 2 things about this year’s cancellation status: (1) Although Wicked City was the first announced cancellation of the season, the first fall show to actually go off the air was Best Time Ever. Yes, NBC didn’t make it official until this week, but Truth be Told, the last episode ran a full week before Wicked City’s end. Also, ABC plans to run the last 5 episodes virally. (2) Despite what Entertainment Weekly said, the worst thing on TV this year was the non-cancellation trend. It was clear from day one that 4 series were horrible (Minority Report, Blood & Oil, The Player, and Truth Be Told) and yet none of these shows have been officially cancelled even though their network orders were cut from 13 to 10 (in the Player’s case 9 ). If you’re going to run a bad series, at least admit to it!!

    1. The last TRUTH BE TOLD episodes (9 & 10) aired Christmas night and BEST TIME EVER wasn’t scheduled for any additional shows.
      WICKED CITY is still the first “official” cancelled show of 2015.

      1. Yes, I did see the final episodes of TBT and they were just as bad as expected. Officially, BTE was only intended as a limited series, but Neil Patrick Harris did acknowledge on Twitter that there will be no more shows last month, So, yes as far as actually being pulled off before finishing then WC is the only canceled show.

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