We hate to say any show is doomed. We know people's jobs are at stake. But we have to be painfully honest.
This has been a great season for comedies, but a tough one for dramas. And so we're preparing our goodbyes for seven shows whose ratings just don't give us much confidence in their futures. (We don't add shows to this list lightly; the last time we made one, we went six-for-six in our predictions.)
Also read: No, Pan Am Is Not Canceled
Here are the shows we think are doomed. May all of them prove us wrong.
The Finder (Fox)
It might seem incredibly presumptuous to predict the loss of "The Finder" (left) after two episodes. We don't think so. The "Bones" spinoff premiered Jan. 12 to a very soft 1.7 rating in the crucial 18-49 demographic and 5.5 million viewers. It improved to a 2.2 rating and 6.7 million total viewers in its second week.
But that second week improvement came after a lead-in from "American Idol," the biggest show on television, which on the same night had a 5.7 rating and 14 million viewers. It's not promising that a show connected to the very reliable "Bones" and following the mighty "Idol" is off to such a slow start.
The Firm (NBC)
We expect "The Firm" to finish out its season. And that will be an accomplishment, given ratings even worse than those of "The Playboy Club," which NBC canceled after just three episodes.
Why do we expect the John Grisham adaptation to soldier on? Because it's cheap for NBC to air. The show's production partners, Sony and Entertainment One, sold "The Firm" to international networks to cover almost the entire cost of production before they sold it to NBC. That means NBC pays a much lower licensing fee for the series than it normally would.
It's an intriguing model that could make sense for future shows. But it's hard to imagine even the fourth-place network signing up for another season of "The Firm," given that it's averaging a mere 1.3 rating.
Also read: Fox Chief Says 'Terra Nova' Was 'Hunting' Creatively, 'Fringe' Losing Money for Network
A Gifted Man (CBS)
CBS has low tolerance for low ratings. And while the Fridays-at-8 time slot for "A Gifted Man" has been anything but a gift, the show's 1.3 average rating is still dismal. Its 8.2 million total viewers are impressive considering how poorly it does in the 18-49 demo, but we're confident that CBS is confident that it can do better with something else next season, if not sooner.
We'd say it's time for CBS to finally schedule the midseason cop drama "NYC 22," from Richard Price ("Clockers," "The Wire"). But we don't want to wish a Friday time slot on any show, especially one that looks so promising.
