CSI, The Good Wife, Madam Secretary Could Get Canceled by CBS at This Point

CSI, The Good Wife, Madam Secretary Could Get Canceled by CBS at This Point
(John Paul Filo/CBS)
Zachary Stieber
10/19/2014
Updated:
10/19/2014

CSI, The Good Wife, and Madam Secretary are among the shows that could get canceled by CBS due to early ratings.

The Good Wife, which kicked off season 6 back on September 21, has averaged over 10 million viewers across its first four episodes.

But Zap2It, which analyzes ratings and other factors, says that it’s a “toss up” at this point whether The Good Wife (along with the two other shows) will get canceled as opposed to renewed for another season.

There have been rumblings that season 6 of The Good Wife could be the last season due to reasons other than ratings, but co-creator Robert King said in September that there’s a seven season plan.

King told E! Online that there is a “plan for seven years, but I don’t want to say it ends there because CBS may have other plans.” He also said that there’s a contingency plan in case there’s not a season 7, meaning the writers and producers could wrap it up neatly by the end of season 6 (or that they would seek out another network for a season 7).

CSI started season 15 a week after The Good Wife season 6 started. CSI has been extremely popular over the years, reaching over 30 million viewers in some earlier seasons, but started a gradual drop after season 6. All three episodes in season 15 have fallen short of 9.4 million viewers, with the most recent two falling short of 8.8 million.

Unlike the other two shows, Madam Secretary is a rookie program. It kicked off on September 21 with 14.7 million overall viewers (2 million in the key 18-49 demographic) and has since dropped each episode to 11.5 million (1.4 million) in episode 4 on October 12.

(CBS)
(CBS)

 

TV Series Finale noted that even the show’s highest demographic rating is “mediocre.”

“Those aren’t very encouraging numbers for a new series and CBS was surely expecting a lot better. Low-rated, The Good Wife brings the network some prestige but CBS needs more shows with better numbers,” it said.

“If Madam Secretary’s ratings stay at this level or continue to decline (particularly in the demo), this new show will be in very real danger of being cancelled. On the positive side, the network is likely to be patient — at least for awhile. The ratings could go up, especially if the show starts getting some positive word of mouth.”

The ratings might look pretty good but CBS is known as one of the--if not the--strongest networks, and new shows have a notoriously tough time getting renewed--not to mention older shows that have rating drops.

Zap2It also says that Blue Bloods and Hawaii Five-0, which air on Friday nights, are a “toss up” in terms of being renewed or canceled.

On the positive side, all the other shows on CBS are looking good so far.

Stalker, NCIS: New Orleans, and Scorpion-all new shows--are labeled “more likely to be renewed than canceled” while Person of Interest, NCIS: Los Angeles, NCIS, Criminal Minds, and Elementary are labeled “certain to be renewed.”