Which ABC TV series will be renewed or cancelled for the 2011-12 season? In large part this depends on a series’ ratings, particularly the 18-49 demographic. The lower a show’s ratings, the more likely it is to be cancelled.
Before we get to the season-to-date averages, here are the winners and losers from February 11th until February 17th — based on the coveted 18-49 demographic, as measured against the last original episode. As was the case with all of the networks, nearly every show saw a decrease.
Week-to-Week Gains: V (+5.6%)
No Change: 20/20, No Ordinary Family
Week-to-Week Losses: America’s Funniest Home Videos (-9.5%), Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (-40.7%), Desperate Housewives (-12.9%), The Bachelor (-9.4%), Castle (-12.0%), Detroit 1-8-7 (-7.7%), The Middle (-11.5%), Better with You (-14.3%), Modern Family (-15.7%), Mr. Sunshine (-29.7%), Off the Map (-21.1%), Wipeout (-13.6%), Grey’s Anatomy (-5.1%), Private Practice (-11.5%)
You can see a complete list of the cancel/renew standings of this season’s shows by checking the ABC cancelled/renewed post.
Below is a list of the regular ABC TV shows and their 2010-11 season average ratings to date. It only incorporates the ratings for original episodes that have aired this season (no repeats). The data is sorted by the 18-49 demographic averages, the group that advertisers will pay the most to reach and, therefore, how the network measures success. The “compared to” column reflects whether the demo average has gone up, down, or stayed the same since last week.
| Demo rank | Scripted TV Shows | Average viewers (millions) |
Average 18-49 demo |
Compared to last week |
|
| 1 | Modern Family (renewed) | 11.83 | 4.7 | --- | |
| 2 | Grey's Anatomy (renewed) | 11.65 | 4.3 | --- | |
| 3 | Desperate Housewives | 11.90 | 3.8 | --- | |
| 4 | Mr. Sunshine | 8.73 | 3.2 | down | |
| 5 | Private Practice (renewed) | 7.95 | 2.9 | --- | |
| 5 | Cougar Town (renewed) | 6.91 | 2.9 | --- | |
| 7 | The Middle (renewed) | 8.79 | 2.6 | down | |
| 8 | Castle (renewed) | 10.07 | 2.5 | --- | |
| 8 | Brothers & Sisters | 8.43 | 2.5 | --- | |
| 10 | Better With You | 7.01 | 2.2 | down | |
| 11 | No Ordinary Family | 6.96 | 2.0 | --- | |
| 12 | V | 5.70 | 1.9 | --- | |
| 12 | Off the Map | 5.62 | 1.9 | down | |
| 14 | Detroit 1-8-7 | 7.03 | 1.6 | --- | |
| 15 | My Generation (cancelled) | 4.49 | 1.4 | --- | |
| 16 | The Whole Truth (cancelled) | 4.39 | 1.2 | --- | |
| Demo rank | News or Reality TV Shows | Average viewers (millions) |
Average 18-49 demo |
Compared to last week |
|
| 1 | Dancing With The Stars | 20.61 | 4.3 | --- | |
| 2 | Dancing With The Stars results | 17.85 | 3.7 | --- | |
| 3 | The Bachelor | 9.20 | 2.9 | down | |
| 4 | Wipeout | 8.44 | 2.7 | down | |
| 5 | Extreme Makeover: Home Edition | 8.18 | 2.3 | --- | |
| 6 | America's Funniest Home Videos | 7.43 | 2.0 | --- | |
| 7 | 20/20 | 5.65 | 1.6 | --- | |
| 7 | Primetime: What Would You Do | 5.05 | 1.6 | --- | |
| 9 | Supernanny | 4.43 | 1.2 | --- | |
| 10 | Skating with the Stars | 4.99 | 1.1 | --- | |
The closer a show is to the bottom of the list, the closer it is to being cancelled (if it hasn’t been cancelled already like The Whole Truth and My Generation). If it’s closer to the top of the list, it’s more likely to be renewed. Shows that are in the middle (“on the bubble”) can be a little tougher to call. Their future typically comes down to other factors like overall costs, contracts, who produces the show, and what new shows are on the horizon.
The list has been separated into two sections. Of the two, scripted programming is the most expensive. News and reality TV shows are less expensive to produce but the networks can’t program just news/reality (though they might like to since they are less of a financial risk).
It should be noted that Friday and Saturday nights are the least watched evenings of television so ratings for shows on those nights are lower. The networks understand this and take it into account. However, regardless of when a show is aired, its production costs remain the same. Ultimately, it must still be profitable enough for the network to keep ordering more episodes.
Raw data: © The Nielsen Company via Media Week.
What do you think? Do any rankings surprise you? Which shows do you think won’t survive to see a new season?
Image courtesy ABC.
I hope ABC keeps my new 2011 favorites, “Detroit 1-8-7”, “Off the Map” and “No Ordinary Family”. The 18-49 aren’t that great but they’re doing well over all. “Off the Map” is a much better show than “Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior”. “Detroit 1-8-7” has the potential to be the “Grey’s Anatomy” of police dramas, its even better than “Southland”, CBS’s “Burden of Proof” and “NCIS: Los Angeles”. What makes “No Ordinary Family”, “Off the Map” and “Detroit 1-8-7” like the great shows on ABC “Grey’s Anatomy”, “Castle”, “The Middle” all of the main characters are a likable ensemble, and the… Read more »
I hope that ABC will not cancel “V”. The show had a great season finale. It is worth exploring all the options you have available to you. Watch the original episodes and continue the story from there. Do not get too technical with confusing story lines that go no place. It was a mistake to kill Diana so free Lisa and she will take Diana’s place in the resistance. There needs to be a war. Tyler dead, and incredible war between Erica and Ana. Do not cancel this series yet, there is an opportunity to give viewers what they want.
Well like many here I got hooked on ABC’s V, this show’s got everything, Adventure, Drama,Action. Yes, it’s a very expensive show to produce but they knew this going in. ABC has changed the airing of this show several times, each time pinning it against a very popular show on CBS. Granted I know it’s all about competition but against NCIS?…Noway not even Castle would do it. So now they’ve cut V’s original 13 ep. to 10 and judging from the ratings guess what is about to happen……Cancellation. Which means they are going to leave us in a Cliffhanger. If… Read more »
why do you cancell a show without warning to the viewers you start a series than cancell maybe we should no longer get interested in then because we do not know how long it will last and we do not know how it will end
Such aggravation, Networks draw me in, as the spider did the fly. They tease me, with 10 episode. Wine and dine me without no happy ending..I feel like they played with my emotion. Hunted down, killed cupid and broke my heart. Networks decided to cancel 90 percent of the shows I was watching. So I’m switching to Netflix, all the movie you can watch for $9.99. I never in all my years of television seen such drastic chopping of shows. I found they are not discriminate on which type of show I’m watching, rather it to be Sitcoms, Drama or… Read more »
It is my hope that ABC will not cancel “V”. It is a program which is very entertaining. Its got a lot going for it, action, adventure, romance, suspense and of course an element of violence. Also worth noting is that the past few weeks has shown an increase in the number of viewers. So to ABC I say, please bring “V” for another season. Thanks for reading my comment.
Personally, I’m sorry to see Detroit 1-8-7 ranked so low, though considering its competition (The Good Wife) perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised. More’s the pity: this is a great drama that needs time and a different slot to grow on people. I hope Detroit 1-8-7 survives into a second season, because I find it to be both credible and compelling. It’s one of my favorite new shows. I’d be happy to lose every single ‘reality’ show on all three broadcast networks if it meant keeping Detroit 1-8-7 (especially American Idol – GAH! – though there’s no chance of that, unfortunately)… Read more »