TV networks being secretive about fate of shows

On Feb. 8, CBS announced that its freshman comedy, “Angel From Hell,” was pulled from the schedule. While the show hasn’t officially been canceled, it seems to have ended its run on the network.

The show stars Jane Lynch as Amy, a guardian angel claiming to be looking out for someone since she was seven years old.

But at a time where networks start looking at what shows to renew for the next TV season and what shows to end when the season wraps up, getting pulled from the schedule is never a good thing.

The pulling of “Angel From Hell” is just another example of how secretive TV networks have been during this current TV season about the fates of shows.

Usually, when a show is underperforming on a network, it will get canceled after a few episodes as a way to see if ratings eventually improve. However, this past TV season, the first network show cancellation didn’t happen until Nov. 13, 2015.

The show, ABC’s crime anthology series “Wicked City” was canceled after three episodes due to low viewership. The show also premiered to considerably low viewership when it premiered on Oct. 27, 2015.

When the show’s last episode aired (Nov. 10, 2015), the episode was rated with a 0.4 in the Nielson ratings, which is the lowest rated episode on the four major broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC) at that point in the season, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The remaining episodes that had been filmed were subsequently released on Hulu.

What’s even stranger about the current TV season is that a show was renewed for a second season before a show was canceled. The first renewed show for the 2016-2017 season is NBC’s “Blindspot.”

Instead of networks outright canceling shows early in the season, they trimmed the number of episodes ordered. According to The Hollywood Reporter, four shows that premiered had their episode orders trimmed down instead of the networks canceling the shows immediately.

On ABC, “Blood and Oil” went from 13 episodes to 10 episodes.

On NBC, “The Player” went from 13 episodes to 9 episodes and “Truth Be Told” went from 13 episodes to 10 episodes.

On Fox, “Minority Report” went from 13 episodes to 10 episodes.

Once the shows aired the final episodes, that was it for the shows and they were all ended after one season.

CBS hasn’t said whether “Angel From Hell” has officially been canceled. This past Thursday, a repeat episode of “The Big Bang Theory” aired in the 9:30 timeslot, which is the timeslot “Angel From Hell” aired. Starting Feb. 18, new episodes of “Two Broke Girls” will air in the 9:30 timeslot.

Lauren Fitz: Lauren is a graduating senior at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio, who is majoring in multiplatform journalism and is minoring in popular culture. She has been a member of the mxdwn Television team since February 2016 and was promoted to editor in October 2016. In addition to being part of the mxdwn team, she is a columnist and general entertainment reporter for her college's student-run paper, The BG News. In her free time, Lauren likes to read, watch TV and meet up with friends over coffee, where she will inevitably end up talking about TV. You can reach out to Lauren by email: lauren@mxdwn.com.
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