Late last week, it was revealed that ABC had cut the first season of their new Blood & Oil TV show, from 13 to 10 episodes. Does this mean that the series has been cancelled or does it still have a shot at being renewed for a second season? How are the ratings?

On Blood & Oil, young couple Billy (Chace Crawford) and Cody LeFever (Rebecca Rittenhouse) move to Williston, North Dakota to seek their fortune. Billy’s drive attracts the attention of oil barron Hap Briggs (Don Johnson) and Hap takes him under his wing, much to the dismay of Hap’s son Wick (Scott Michael Foster). The rest of the cast includes Amber Valletta, Adan Canto, India de Beaufort, Miranda Rae Mayo, and Delroy Lindo.

The series debuted on September 27th and attracted a 1.36 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 6.36 million viewers. It was a disappointing start for the new drama. Both Once Upon a Time and Quantico (Blood & Oil’s lead-in and lead-out programs) did much better which could mean that some viewers specifically tuned out for the new series.

The ratings saw a reasonable drop in week two but then saw a huge tumble in week three — falling to a 0.86 in the demo (down 31%) with 3.91 million (down 26%). Viewership dropped another 11% in week four.

While some new ABC series have received full season orders (Quantico and Dr. Ken), the network has cut Blood & Oil’s episode order. While the network hasn’t officially cancelled the series, it’s clear they have no intention of making any more episodes unless there’s a surprise upturn in the ratings.

Word is that the cast and crew are currently filming episode eight. Episodes nine and 10 are likely in pre-production.  Hopefully there’s still time for the writers to give the series some semblance of a satisfying conclusion.

What do you think? Do you like the Blood & Oil TV show? Do you think that it should be cancelled? Would you keep it on the air if you ran the network?