Once Upon a Time: Season Eight; ABC Exec ‘Cautiously Optimistic’ About Renewal Chances

Have you diehard Oncers been wishing upon a star? ABC Entertainment President, Channing Dungey, offers a glimmer of season eight renewal hope for fans of its Once Upon a Time TV show. The original storyline largely ended with season six, with the departure of stars Jennifer Morrison, Ginnifer Goodwin, and Josh Dallas. The series was then rebooted for a seventh season, but was also moved from Sundays to Fridays, where its linear ratings declined even further.

An ABC fairy tale drama, Once Upon a Time season seven stars returning regulars Lana Parrilla, Robert Carlyle, and Colin O’Donoghue,  alongside newcomers Andrew J. West, Gabrielle Anwar, Dania Ramirez, Alison Fernandez, and Mekia Cox. Guest stars this season include former series regulars Morrison, Emilie de Ravin, Jared Gilmore, and Rebecca Mader.

Deadline reports:

…Dungey noted after the ABC executive session at TCA that “ratings have been a little bit lower on Friday than they were on Sunday, but in delayed viewing, where we were averaging a bump of about 55% before, this year’s been into the triple digits, so the actual fan base really hasn’t shifted very much. It’s more that they’ve been watching more time-shifted since we’ve been on Friday.”

With that in mind, Dungey said she was “cautiously optimistic” about another season. “It’s always hard at this point in January to know because some of it’s also dependent on your new development and how you feel about some of those things, so that’s part of why it’s really hard at the top of the year to really know what’s going to happen.” she said.

Dungey said Once creators/executive producers Eddy Kitsis and Adam Horowitz “are going to be coming in shortly to talk with us about what they would want to be doing if they had another season. I can’t really say until we’ve had that conversation.”

Once Upon a Time: A Look at the Ratings

The seventh season of Once Upon a Time is averaging a 0.54 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 2.49 million viewers. Compared to season six, it is down by 42% and down by 21%, respectively. We’re currently tracking 18 scripted ABC TV shows, and Once ranks 17th in terms of its demo numbers and 16th, when sorted by average total viewership.

While those aren’t renewal-worthy numbers, Dungey did say Once Upon a Time‘s performance increases in time-shifted viewings. In addition, we understand the show is still profitable for the network and studio. It’s also homegrown advertisement for Disney, which owns ABC, so cancellation, while likely, isn’t definite.

What do you think? Do you still like the Once Upon a Time TV series? Should it be cancelled or renewed for season eight on ABC? Sound off, in the comments.