Midseason 2011-2012 TV Cancellations and Renewals

This article covers ratings, cancellations and renewals for Midseason 2011-2012. For new shows, ratings, cancellations and renewals for the entire 2012-2013 season, click here.

Ratings 101 - How do TV ratings work?

Upcoming TV Series - Fall 2012:

- Comedy

- Drama

- Sci-Fi

Follow Me:

- Twitter

- Facebook

Cancellations and Renewals of TV Shows that first premiered in other seasons:

With this Hub keeps you up to date on all developments around the series that first premiered in Midseason 2011-2012. This includes renewals, cancellations, but also ratings and my predictions for the future of these shows.
Is your favorite show cancelled? Do you agree with my predictions? Or is there something else you'd like to share? Let me know in the comments section below!

Cancelled

Rob Schneider's 'Rob!' premiered Thursday, January 12, to 13.5 million people, with a 4.1 rating in the all-important demographic. These numbers are actually quite good, though keep in mind that this is CBS, and also that next week, 'Rob!' is facing the season premiere of 'American Idol'.

Update (01/19): On its second airing, 'Rob!' lost 12% to a 3.6 in the 18-49 demographic. Total viewers went down to 11.7 million viewers, which is a loss of 13%. Considering that it was programmed against the Thursday premiere of 'American Idol', retaining this much is quite good.

Update (01/27): 'Rob!' was a tenth down versus last week's airing, reeling in a 3.5 in the demo, and 11.5 million viewers; which is a loss of only 3%.

Update (02/05): Losing another 6%, 'Rob!' was down two tenths to a 3.3 and 11 million viewers. Versus 'Rob!'s premiere, this episode was 20% down.

Update (02/18): Among widespread decline, 'Rob!' lost a tenth to a 3.2 rating. A little more than last week, 10.9 million people were watching.

Update (03/03): After a quite steady run, 'Rob!'s season finale (there were only eight episodes) dropped 19% to a 2.6 in the all-important demo. In terms of total viewers the show also dropped about 18%, to just under 9 million. Being CBS's lowest rating comedy show, it is possible that 'Rob!' gets axed to make room for new comedies next season. However solely based on its ratings, the show should be renewed.

Update: Not being among CBS's renewal fest on March 14th, 'Rob!' might just get canceled.

Update (05/14): It doesn't come as a surprise that on May 13th CBS announced to cancel Rob!.

Programmed after an NFL game, 'Napoleon Dynamite' drew the expected huge numbers for its premiere. While approximately 8.7 million people tuned in, the animated show rated 4.4 in the 18-49 demographic. Just before the premiere, 'The Simpsons' aired right after football and was 269% (not a typo) up versus last week. The second episode of 'Napoleon Dynamite', which was aired an hour later, still got a 3.3 in the demo and 6.8 million viewers. However, with such a lead-in, about any show can do well in the ratings. What FOX did achieve this Sunday night is sampling, so the important question is how many people will return next week.

Update (01/30): In its second week, 'Napoleon Dynamite' rates a 2.1 in the demo, with 4.4 million viewers. This is both less than half what the premiere rated.

Update (02/24): This week, 'Napoleon Dynamite' rated a 2.0 in adults 18-49 and got 4.41 million people to tune in. That's steady with the last four weeks, and it seems that the show has found a home in FOX's animation domination Sunday night.

UPDATE (05/13): Today, FOX announced the cancellation of 'Napoleon Dynamite', alongside the renewal of 'Bob's Burgers'.

The highly anticipated sci-fi show 'The River' on ABC premiered a lot lower than some expected, rating only a 2.5 and a 2.2 in its first and second episode, respectively. Moreover, in each consecutive half hour, the rating dropped a little, indicating that more and more people (in adults 18-49) tuned out. During the first episode, 8.2 million people were watching, while the second got 6.8 million viewers. One could call it modest, or just plain bad; either way, I'm wondering how many of these people were just finishing the premiere out of politeness and won't tune in next week.

Update (02/15): I can answer my own question with "almost two million people"; last night's episode of 'The River' drew just under 5 million viewers. In the all-important demographic, it rated a 1.7, which is 32% down from the first episode and 22% down from the second. I think that is enough to say that it is positively crashing. I can imagine that watching 'The River' is not the perfect Valentine's Day date, but does that really explain this plunge?

Update (02/24): Perfectly stabilizing just one week later, 'The River' rated another 1.7 in the coveted 18-49 demographic. 4.8 million people tuned in, but will they all return next week?

Update (02/10): 'The River' dropped another 12% last week, to a 1.5 in the demo. This week's airing was even with that, and both episodes drew about 4.2 million viewers. These really aren't good numbers, and with only a couple of episodes left for the first season, 'The River' might just dry up fairly soon.

Update (03/14): Yesterday's episode of 'The River' gets a 1.3 in the demo, which is 13% lower than last week's. Just over 4.1 million people tuned in. With just one week left, these ratings are bad news.

Update (02/21): The season finale of 'The River' got exactly 4 million viewers, and rated a 1.4 in the all-important demographic. It is quite ambitious to put a horror series in prime time broadcast TV, though I think too little people liked it to give the show a second season. Rumors are that Netflix is trying to save the show. But then again, that's what they're saying about 'Terra Nova' as well.

UPDATE (05/12): No surprises here, but 'The River' got cancelled too.

ABC's action adventure drama 'Missing' premiered on Thursday, March 15, to 10.6 million people. However it rated only a 2.1 in the 18-49 demographic, indicating that many of those viewers were over 50. Given the premise of the series, a mother looking for her missing son who is in his late teens, that is not really that surprising. However, will it be enough to keep the show alive?

Update (03/23): In its second week, 'Missing' drops almost 25% to a 1.6 in adults 18-49. Apparently, the show is not really catching on in that demographic. Total viewers were 8.7 million, which also is a drop of 18%. I guess it won't be long before 'Missing' is missing from ABC's schedule.

Update (04/02): This week's 'Missing' episode rated a 1.5. That is quite steady versus last week, though still really bad. Still 7.8 million people tuned in.

Update (04/23): Dropping even lower, the last episode of 'Missing' rated a 1.3 in adults 18-49. The show is still skewing old, with little over 7 million total viewers.

Update (05/06): 'Missing' was down to a 1.2 rating in the all-important 18-49 demographic. 6.3 million people tuned in. All in all, things aren't looking that good for 'Missing'.

UPDATE (05/11): Another one that doesn't surprise, 'Missing' got cancelled by ABC.

'GCB' premiered with a 2.2 in adults 18-49 while 7.6 million people tuned in. That is a lot better than its predecessors final numbers; 'Pan Am's finale got a 1.2 and 3.77 million viewers. On the other hand, it is a lot worse than 'Pan Am's premiere, that got a 3.1 and more than 11 million viewers. NBC points out that it is a 3% rise versus a year ago, when 'Brothers & Sisters' was still on. The second episode of 'GCB' rated a 2.3 in the demo and got 7.1 million viewers. That is a growth of one tenth or 4.5%. Not much, but most second episodes of new series go down. Is that a good sign?

Update (03/21): 'GCB's third episode rated a 2.0 in the all-important demo, and attracted little over 6 million viewers. These are not really impressive numbers, but they're not horrible either.

Update (05/06): While dropping to a series low of 1.5 in the middle of April, 'GCB' is now up again to a 1.8 in adults 18-49. Total viewers now lie around 5.5 million. With these numbers, 'GCB' is still a toss up for renewal.

UPDATE (05/11): While still a toss up for renewal, ABC decided to cancel 'GCB'. This comes just before the upfronts, where networks announce their Fall schedules. Many other shows were renewed or cancelled today and yesterday. Check this and other hubs for more info on that. What do you think of 'GCB's cancellation?

Thursday's premiere of NBC's new supernatural drama 'Awake' did pretty good, for NBC standards anyway. It rated a 2.0 in the all-important 18-49 demographic, which is pretty good considering its NBC and in the 10pm hour. In total, 6.4 million people tuned in to the first episode of the Jason Isaacs show.

Update (03/16): In its second and third week, 'Awake' rated a 1.6, which is 20% down from the premiere. Last week drew 4.3 million viewers, while this week 5.1 million people tuned in. It did stabilize this week, though a 1.6 is quite low, even for NBC.

Update (03/23): Yesterday's new episode of 'Awake' lost an enormous 25% in the demo, going down to a 1.2 rating. That immediately moves the show to the danger zone, so stay awake for next weeks ratings if you care about this show. Everyone says they love 'Awake', yet nobody is watching it anymore? What's going on?

Update (04/02): 'Awake' is down to a 1.0 in the all-important demo this week and 3.18 million people tuned in. Therefore, I have no choice but to move the show to the certain cancellations.

Update (04/24): The latest episode of 'Awake' rated an 0.8, while the previous one rated an 0.9. Total viewers were down to 2.7 million, which makes it extremely unlikely to get renewed.

Update (05/06): This week's 'Awake' was again down, now to an 0.7 rating in adults 18-49. In terms of total viewers the episode rated 2.15 million. The little chance the show had of getting renewed is now getting even smaller.

UPDATE (05/11): As predicted, NBC cancelled 'Awake' today, even though yesterday's episode went two tenths up in the ratings. But that wasn't enough for the show to get saved. For me personally, that is a real bummer (though expected), what do you think? Let me know in the comments section!

'Are You There, Chelsea?'s debut drew 6.18 million viewers and a rating of 2.3 among adults 18-49. On NBC, those are quite pleasing numbers. The question is how much of that remains in next week's head-to-head with 'American Idol'.

Update (01/19): As expected, the ratings for 'Are You There, Chelsea?' went quite a bit down for its second episode. Among adults 18-49, it rated 1.7, which is a loss of 26%. Losing almost a third (32%) in total viewers, 4.2 million people tuned in.

Update (01/27): This week, 'Chelsea' fell another 18% to a 1.4 rating. With an audience of only 3.8 million, the show is positively tumbling in the ratings. While not horrible yet, the axe is always waiting around the corner for shows that can't maintain their audience.

Update (02/11): Not unexpected, 'Chelsea' was down to a 1.5 from last week's 1.7, with more competition. Also, only 3.6 million viewers tuned in; things are not looking good for 'Chelsea'..

Update (03/10): 'Are You There, Chelsea?' rated another 1.5 in the demo this week. Even though this is NBC, those aren't good ratings so Chelsea might just not be there anymore next season.

Update (02/23): This week's episode of 'Chelsea' lost a tenth versus earlier episodes to a 1.4 in adults 18-49. The show is positively struggling and it's getting more and more likely that it will get canceled.

Update (03/29): 'Chelsea's season, and probably series, finale dropped to a 1.2 in the ratings. With 3.1 million people tuning in to this episode, only a miracle (and the horrible state NBC is in) could still save the show.

UPDATE (05/11): As expected, NBC cancelled 'Are You There, Chelsea?' today. That shouldn't come as a shock to anyone following the ratings.

The premiere of 'Alcatraz' over on FOX topped 'Terra Nova's premiere in September by 0.2 with a 3.3 in the adults 18-49 demographic. The double episode drew just over 10 million viewers. Also, it tied 'Revenge' as second best drama premiere of the season ('Once Upon A Time' keeping its title).

Update (01/25): Losing 9%, 'Alcatraz' rated pretty decent in its second week, with a 3.0 in the 18-49 demographic and a total of 8.95 million viewers. If it manages to retain these kinds of numbers, we might be stuck on that island for a while. (Wow, did I just refer to that other J.J. Abrams show, 'Lost'?)

Update (01/31): In its third week, 'Alcatraz' loses another 7% to a 2.8 in the coveted 18-49 demographic, while attracting 8.4 million viewers. And that was opposite repeats; what will happen if CBS starts airing all-new 'Two And A Half Men' and 'Mike & Molly' episodes next week, and 'The Voice' premieres over on NBC?

Update (02/07): Opposite 'The Voice', 'Alcatraz' fifth episode rated a 2.3 in the all-important demo. That is 18% down from last week, and even though this isn't really surprising ('The Voice' rated a 6.7), it is still quite worrying.

Update (02/14): Unstoppable in its decline, 'Alcatraz' rates a 1.7 this week, which is another 17% down from last week.

Update (03/09): With a double episode, 'Alcatraz' was steady at a 1.9 and a 1.8 in the 8/7c and 9/8c hours, respectively. Little over 5.5 million people tuned in. Still, these ratings aren't great at all, so keep your fingers crossed if you want to get to know all the 63s.

Update (03/21): Opposite the second hours of both 'The Voice' and 'Dancing With The Stars', 'Alcatraz' dropped to a series low of 1.6 in the demo. Just over 5 million people tuned in, and with only one week left, the future looks grim for 'Alcatraz'.

UPDATE (05/09): Just a week before the upfronts, where the networks announce their Fall 2012 schedules, FOX has canceled 'Alcatraz'. Now, we'll never get to know what exactly happened to the 63's. Unless,.. Netflix? Not that I want to start a rumor, of course..

Over on FOX, 'Bones' spin-off 'The Finder' had a hard time. Led in by an episode of 'Bones' the show only found 5.45 million people watching and a 1.7 rating among 18-49 year-olds. However, where 'Rob!' will probably suffer next week from 'American Idol', 'The Finder' could benefit from its lead in.

Update (01/21): 'The Finder' was up to a 2.2 rating in the demo, which is an increase of 29%. Lead in by 'American Idol', the show drew 1.3 million extra viewers compared to its premiere, totalling 6.77 million.

Update (01/27): Getting another boost from 'Idol', 'The Finder' won another 27% to a 2.8 rating in the demo. Total viewers were up to 8.4 million, which is 3 million more than its premiere, only two weeks ago. Superfluously, these are great results and as long as its coupled with 'Idol', expect 'The Finder' to keep finding an audience.

Update (02/05): Back down to a 2.4 in the all-important demographic, 'The Finder' loses 14% versus last week. It also lost roughly 1.5 million viewers, drawing an audience of almost 6.9 million people.

Update (02/11): Losing another 8% in the demo, 'The Finder' rated a 2.2 this week. 6.2 million people tuned in to the 'Bones' spin-off, and I'm wondering how long it's going to last, because a show that has a 5.8 lead-in and retains only a 2.2 is quite bad news.

Update (04/02): Starting this week, on April 6th, 'The Finder' will return from its hiatus and air on Fridays. FOX moving the show to a death slot means it will certainly get cancelled after this burn-off.

UPDATE (05/10): It took FOX another month to announce it, but today they finally cancelled 'The Finder'. I'm sorry for the few people that were still watching.

'The Firm' premiered weakly on January 8th to 6.3 million viewers, rating an average 1.4 in the all-important demographic. This makes it the lowest rating in-season drama debut on NBC ever. Even worse, 'The Firm' rated 1.0 in its first run in its original timeslot on Thursdays, falling 29% from its premiere, while only 4.24 million people tuned in. NBC has already ordered 22 episodes for this series, so a quick cancellation would be surprising. A move to, say, Saturday night would definitely be in the picture if ratings won't go up quickly, though.

Update (01/21): 10% down from last week, 'The Firm' now rated a 0.9 in the demo, with only 3.4 million viewers.

Update (01/27): Inching up, 'The Firm' is back to its 1.0 ratings in the 18-49 demographic. 3.77 million people tuned in. However, these are still horrible numbers and an intervention from NBC is still needed, will even become inevitable in the near future if nothing changes.

Update (02/05): After this week's 0.8 in the demo and not even 3 million viewers, NBC has moved 'The Firm' to Saturday nights at 9/8c, starting on February 11th. In network jargon, this means that the show is effectively canceled, but that the remaining episodes will be aired, simply because the network has already paid for them.
The Thursday 10/9c timeslot will be filled with repeats of 'Grimm', until March 1st, when 'Awake' will premiere.

Even though this is the second season for 'Breaking In', I think it's worth mentioning here since it was cancelled after its first season, but resurrected after all. Some changes have been made; only Christian Slater, Bret Harrison and Alphonso McAuley return as regular cast members, and Megan Mullally ('Will & Grace') and Erin Richards ('Being Human') are added to the main cast. Though it not really attracted the viewers in its first season, FOX hopes that 'Breaking In' will be breaking out the second time around.

While the first season of 'Breaking In' premiered to almost 10 million viewers, with a 3.5 in the 18-49 demographic, its penultimate episode drew almost 7 million viewers and got a 2.3 rating. Its final episode, which was the only one not lead in by 'American Idol', tumbled to a 1.4 in the demo and 3.1 million viewers.

The second season premiere rated a 1.7, and drew 3.6 million viewers. This is higher than the first season's finale, though not really great at all. Stay tuned.

Update (03/14): 12% down, 'Breaking In' rated a 1.5 in its second sophomore episode, while almost 3.5 million people were watching. How much lower can it go before it will be canceled yet again?

UPDATE (04/12): Just a month later, FOX has decided to cancel 'Breaking In' once again. The episodes in between rated a 1.4 and a 1.3 and little more than 2.5 million people were still watching.The show was supposed to be on hiatus until April 24th, but FOX decided not to wait it out anymore. 'New Girl' repeats will air in the timeslot starting April 24th.

The series premiere of 'Luck' drew 1.1 million viewers last Sunday, and its repeat later on the same evening raked in another 1.4 million viewers. While these numbers are not particularly great, they weren't bad either. And keep in mind that this episode was aired in December already, so possibly, there were folks not watching because to them, this was a repeat. As HBO tends to do when the critics are not too negative, it renewed 'Luck' for a second 10-episode season right after the ratings for the first season came in.

Update (03/15): After a third accident resulting in the death of a horse, the 'Luck' crew and HBO decided to halt the show's production immediately and permanently. Here are some passages from HBO's press statement:

“We maintained the highest safety standards, higher in fact than any protocols existing in horse racing anywhere with many fewer incidents than occur in racing or than befall horses normally in barns at night or pastures.

“While we maintained the highest safety standards possible, accidents unfortunately happen and it is impossible to guarantee they won’t in the future. Accordingly, we have reached this difficult decision.”

Update (03/16): Rumors are that 'Luck's cancellation is not (exclusively) the result of the horse accidents, but that it's rather the disappointing follow-up ratings; all subsequent episodes rated more than 50% lower than the pilot. Also, according to the owner of the race track where filming took place, he wanted to end the agreement because the show puts the horse racing business in a bad light. Of course, these are just rumors and they have come out only after the show was cancelled, but it's still food for thought. The truth? That's something we'll never know.

Even though a reality show, the premiere of 'ReModeled' over on The CW was a drama. It rated only a 0.3 in the all-important 18-49 demographic. Also (prepare yourselves) only 670,000 people watched the show. With these ratings, it's 50% down from The CW's last disaster reality show 'H8R', which was pulled after airing only four episodes. You can imagine what my prediction for 'ReModeled' will be.

Update (01/21): Interestingly, this Friday's repeat of 'ReModeled' equalled Tuesday's aring with a 0.3 rating. As for total viewers, it actually transcends it's original broadcast, with 100,000 viewers, to a total of 720,000. Hopefully some of these viewers will return next Tuesday to 'ReModeled's second original, to enable the show to save face just the slightest bit.

Update (01/25): In its second episode, 'ReModeled' won a third in the ratings. However, a third of 0.3 is only 0.1, so it rated a mere 0.4 in the 18-49 demographic. This time, the reality show drew a little more viewers than in its first airing, 0.89 million to be precise.

Update (02/11): A disaster as this show was, The CW finally decided to pull the plug and cancel 'ReModeled'. Or at least, that is what it looks like, because the network announced the premiere of 'America's Next Top Model' on February 29th in 'ReModeled's timeslot. What will happen with the two remaining episodes is still unclear, but then again, who cares?

ABC's new comedy series 'Work It' premiered to 6.1 million people, drawing a 2.0 rating in the adults 18-48 demographic. Thereby, it is rating 17% lower than the premiere of 'Man Up!', the cancelled show it is replacing. The second time around, 'Work It' lost 25% in the demo, rating only 1.5 while 4.9 million people tuned in. Already rumors of cancellation are buzzing around, and the be honest, that wouldn't surprise me at all.

Update (01/14): ABC has announced the cancellation of 'Work It', after airing only 2 episodes. For the rest of January, repeats of 'Last Man Standing' will fill the 8:30/7:30c timeslot on Tuesdays.

Renewed

Following 'The Voice', 'Smash' premiered in quite a comfortable position. Its first episode rated a 3.8 in the coveted 18-49 demographic and 11.5 million people tuned in. This means it was only topped by 'The Voice' and CBS' comedy lineup (except 'Mike & Molly'). All in all, great result for NBC and so far, and I'm hearing only positive reactions to last night's show. Stay tuned.

Update (02/14): 'Smash' drops a quite unexpected 26% to a 2.8 in adults 18-49. That means it has lost a whole point from last weeks 3.8. It still was the #1 in its timeslot, though just a little ahead of 'Hawaii 5-0'.

Update (02/24): This week's episode of 'Smash' lost another 0.5 or 18% in the all-important 18-49 demographic. That means it rated a 2.3, and in total viewers it got 6.5 million.

Update (03/09): Last week's episode (Feb. 27th) was steady with the week before with a 2.3 in the demo. 6.6 million people tuned in, which is just a little higher than the previous episode. This week, however, 'Smash' starts rising again, winning 17% in the demo, to a 2.7. Also, the episode drew 7.7 million viewers. Stabilizing and growing, does that mean that 'Smash's future is safe?

Update (03/21): With 'The Voice' losing viewers to 'Dancing With The Stars', 'Smash' is losing too. This week's episode rated a 2.2 in the demo, with 6.5 million people watching.

UPDATE (03/23): As its highest rating scripted show, NBC unsurprisingly renewed 'Smash' for a second season. After 'Grimm', it is the second renweal by the peacock network. 'Smash' will get at least a 15 episode second season, and word is that a key player from the first season will step down. Who might that be? Do you have any idea? Let me know in the comments!

'House Of Lies' over on Showtime premiered to 1.6 million viewers for the night, over three consecutive airings. The pilot episode had been available via On Demand since the day after Christmas, and including online views, that gathered another 1.2 million viewers. In total, the debut of 'House Of Lies' drew 2.8 million viewers, making the show another Showtime hit freshman series, after 'Episodes', 'The Borgias' and 'Homeland', among others.

Update (01/19): The second episode of 'House Of Lies' drew almost 900,000 viewers on its first airing. This may seem a disaster, but for Showtime, these are actually quite good numbers for a single airing.

Update (02/02): This Sunday's airing of 'House Of Lies' drew over a million viewers in its first airing, which is an uptick of over 10%. Clearly, Showtime is very happy with the ratings of this Don Cheadle show, as it renewed 'House Of Lies' for a second season. Also on Showtme, 'Shameless' gets a third season and 'Californication' can start filming its sixth season in the near future.

Now that all these shows have been cancelled, you might want to take a look at what new shows are coming to your TV instead of them:

Summer 2012:

- Comedy

- Drama

- Reality

Fall 2012:

- Comedy

- Drama

- Sci-Fi