During this time every year, network television does a little spring cleaning, figuring out which shows to keep and which ones to get rid of in time for the new fall TV season. Some shows leaving the airwaves, like ABC’s Once Upon a Time and The Middle or Fox’s The New Girl, are not surprising, as they have been suspected to finish their runs this year. What is surprising is the number of TV series on the bubble for each network. ABC leads with 15 question marks, CBS has 10, NBC and Fox have six and The CW only has one series, iZombie , that they are not sure whether to keep or dump.
For what had seemed like a sure thing in the win column for Fox’s Lethal Weapon is now anyone’s guess due to the firing of the show’s co-star Clayne Crawford and Warner Bros. scramble to find a replacement. NBC’s Timeless was initially cancelled last year but was given a last minute reprieve by the network to continue on after this year’s Olympic Games. The trouble is, did enough viewers notice in order to bring it back for yet another season? CBS’s Code Black, which has just started its second season, is also in jeopardy.
To date, ABC has the longest list of exiting shows, including Scandal, Somewhere Between, Ten Days in the Valley, and The Mayor, while NBC is only dropping three shows for sure: Law & Order True Crime, Shades of Blue, and The Night Shift , according to The Wrap . Shows safe from elimination include CBS’s 48 Hours (now in its 32nd season) and 60 Minutes (in its 51st season), all three of NBC’s Chicago shows, all three of CBS’s NCIS shows, and ABC’s umpteenth season of The Bachelor .
Here’s the list of shows that have been given a thumbs up to continue on, a thumbs down to stop immediately, and the rest stuck in a holding pattern as it stands right now:
ABC’s Cancelled Shows: Once Upon a Time, Scandal, Somewhere Between, Ten Days in the Valley, The Mayor, The Middle
ABC Renewed Shows: $100,000 Pyramied, America’s Funniest Videos, The Bachelor, Celebrity Family Feud, Child Support, Dancing With the Stars, Grey’s Anatomy, Match Game, Modern Family, Roseanne, The Goldbergs, The Gong Show, The Good Doctor
ABC Shows on the Bubble: Alex Inc., American Housewife, Black-ish, The Crossing, Deception, Designated Survivor, For the People, Fresh Off the Boat, How to Get Away with Murder, Kevin (Probably) Saves the World, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Marvel’s Inhumans, Speechless, Splitting Up Together, Station 19
NBC Shows Cancelled: Law & Order True Crime, Shades of Blue, The Night Shift
NBC Shows Renewed: A.P. Bio, Blindspot, Chicago Fire, Chicago Med, Chicago P.D., Ellen’s Game of Games, Good Girls, Great News, Law & Order: SVU, Marlon, Midnight Texas, Superstore, The Good Place, The Wall, This is Us, Will & Grace
NBC Shows on the Bubble: Blindspot, Champions, Rise, Taken, The Brave, Timeless
CBS Show Cancelled: Living Biblically, Me, Myself and I, Wisdom of the Crowd
CBS Shows Renewed 48 Hours, 60 Minutes, The Amazing Race, The Big Bang Theory, Big Brother, Blue Bloods, Bull, Hawaii Five-O, MacGyver, Madam Secretary. Mom, NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles, NCIS: New Orleans, Salvation, SEAL Team, Survivor, SWAT, Young Sheldon
CBS Shows on the Bubble: 9JKL, Code Black, Criminal Minds, Elementary, Instinct, Kevin Can Wait, Life in Pieces, Man With a Plan, Scorpion, Superior Donuts
Fox Shows Cancelled Brooklyn Nine Nine, The New Girl, The Last Man on Earth, The Mick
Fox Show Renewed 9-1-1, Bob’s Burgers, Empire, Family Guy, Hell’s Kitchen, Star, The Gifted, The Orville, The Resident, The Simpsons
Fox Shows on the Bubble Ghosted, Gotham, L.A. to Vegas, Lethal Weapon, Lucifer, The Exorcist
The CW Shows Cancelled: Life Sentence, The Originals, Valor
The CW Shows Renewed: Arrow, Black Lightning, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Dynasty, The 100, The Flash, The Four, Jane the Virgin, Riverdale, Supergirl, Supernatural
The CW Show on the Bubble: iZombie