While receiving favorable reviews from critics, A to Z premiered to mediocre numbers in its 9:30 p.m. Thursday period following fellow freshman comedy Bad Judge. NBC announced in October that the the romantic comedy, starring Mad Men's Ben Feldman and How I Met Your Mother's Cristin Milioti, would not continue beyond its initial 13-episode run.
The second-year Jason Katims comedy, based on the Nick Hornby novel and starring David Walton and Minnie Driver, was one of only two scripted half-hours to return to NBC's lineup this season. While a critical darling, the series was never a ratings hit and was recently pulled from the schedule in favor of a multicamera block.
The freshman season of the crime dramedy starring Rainn Wilson averaged a middling 1.5 rating in the key demo and 5.6 million viewers. The series was a consistent performer over the course of its 13-episode run, but for a network that's slipped to No. 4, those numbers weren't enough to justify a second season.
Headlined by Kate Walsh, Bad Judge opened to 5.9 million total viewers and a 1.2 among adults 18-to-49, on par with lead-in The Biggest Loser's haul. However, NBC opted not to order additional episodes beyond the initial order in October along with fellow short-lived Thursday comedy A to Z.
Despite the pedigree of creator Vince Gilligan, the broadcast follow-up to Breaking Bad (which also counted House's David Shore as showrunner) was more or less dead-on-arrival with a just a 1.0 rating in the key demo in its debut. Time-shifting did little for the Sony Pictures Television drama, which nears the end of its initial order with just a 1.2 with adults 18-49.
The DC Comics adaptation of Hellblazer starring Matt Ryan completed its 13-episode run in February to little fanfare. The David Goyer drama marks a rare miss for DC., and Warner Bros. is expected to shop the series elsewhere.
Starring, created, written and produced by stand-up comic Cristela Alonzo, Cristela was on the bubble for a second season for a variety of reasons. The multicam sitcom averaged just a 1.2 rating with adults 18-49 and was produced by outside studio 20th Century Fox Television. However, the comedy's largely Hispanic cast was one of the most diverse on network television at a time when diversity is high on every broadcaster's wish list.
A breakout hit when it premiered midseason 2013, the Kevin Bacon-headlined series has steadily lost its audience and the third season seemed to solidify that its viewership would not be bouncing back. With timeshifting, it pulled in 5.5 million viewers and a 1.9 rating among adults 18-49, but same-day showings have dwindled — even with a lead-in from hit Gotham.
The freshman procedural, starring Ioan Gruffudd and Alana De La Garza, endured tough competition on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. opposite proven dramas Chicago Fire and Person of Interest. Produced by Warner Bros. TV, Forever averaged a 1.7 rating in the demo. Despite a loyal audience, the supernatural medical examiner series did not live to see a second season.
Several months after the sudden passing of star Cory Monteith, co-creator Ryan Murphy revealed that season six would be the last for the Fox musical. After the ratings plummeted in season five, Fox cut the show’s final order down to 13 episodes and moved the struggling series to Fridays at 9 p.m.
The adaptation of the British series Broadchurch opened to an underwhelming 1.2 rating and failed to get any kind of notable time-shifting boost. The crime drama went off the air quietly in December, pulling a 0.9 rating.
Arguably NBC's most critically acclaimed drama, the Silence of the Lambs prequel series was also one of it's lowest-rated. The network moved the Bryan Fuller-produced series to summer for season three, but the series still hit a series low opposite the NBA Finals. Another contributing factor to Hannibal's demise may have been a rights issue as Fuller had wanted to introduce Clarice Starling in season four, the rights to which are said to be unavailable.
Starring Rachel Bilson, Hart of Dixie had been bounced around the schedule in its third season, where it shifted to Fridays as a midseason entry as the younger-skewing network gave its freshman fare its prime real estate. Season four returned in January with an abbreviated 10-episode run before going on hiatus and returning with its final three episodes in March.
Prolific TV chef Gordon Ramsay has five series on Fox including Hell’s Kitchen, Hotel Hell, MasterChef and MasterChef Junior. So his June 2014 announcement that he "decided to stop making” Kitchen Nightmares, an international hit that first launched in the U.K. in 2004, didn’t come as too much of a surprise.
Don’t remember this one? That’s because this romcom was the first broadcast series to get the ax from ABC after debuting to a tepid 1.3 rating in the demo. When the series dropped to a 0.7 in the key demo in week three, it was only a matter of time.
David Caspe's semi-autobiographical series enjoyed a solid premiere in October. Despite a solid lead-in from The Voice, the Casey Wilson comedy ended up failing to make an impact on Tuesdays, averaging just a 1.5 rating in the demo. After upping the Sony Pictures Television series' first-year order to 18 episodes in November, NBC then pulled the show off the schedule in February in favor of a multicamera block, leaving four episodes that have yet to air.
The multicam comedy about a loud, sports-loving family Boston family didn't get a full season, the network ordered two additional episodes in December despite soft ratings. The series, which averaged a 1.9 rating in the demo, went off the air in favor of Big Bang Theory repeats in February.
The first-year ensemble drama from CBS Television Studios was held for a mid-April Friday premiere and opened to little fanfare — and a paltry 1.18 million total viewers and a 0.3 in the demo. It marked the lowest-rated in-season scripted series premiere on the network since the canceled Cult bowed with the same demo and 940,000 viewers in February 2013.
Heralded as the new Seinfeld, hype was high for the former Saturday Night Live writer’s comedy, which received an order for 10 additional episodes before it premiered. When the show debuted to a dismal 1.0 rating, its episode order was reduced back to 13 and it was eventually moved from Sundays at 9:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
From executive producer Ellen DeGeneres, One Big Happy was part of NBC's midseason multicamera push. The Warner Bros. Television lesbian-themed family comedy, which opened to lackluster reviews, finished its short six-episode run in late April with 3 million total viewers, losing nearly half the audience from its premiere.
It wasn't that NBC was necessarily ready to say goodbye to the Bravermans. They were just ready to say goodbye to the show's skyrocketing costs. The sprawling ensemble cast of 15 was asked to take a pay cut in order to make the family drama "more economically feasible" for its final, abbreviated run of 13 episodes and several of the show's biggest stars, including Peter Krause, sat out several episodes to help keep the budget tight.
Despite constant acclaim from critics, the Amy Poehler single-cam comedy was a perrenial bubble show throughout its run on the Peacock. So the fact that the show received advance notice that the shortened season seven would be its last was a tiny miracle in itself. The series went off the air in February.
The ABC Studios drama from Tara Butters and Michele Fazekas was one of only two freshman dramas last season to earn a sophomore run at ABC. While the series about the dead returning to life had a flashy first season — averaging 4.0 in the demo with DVR — season two did not fare nearly as well as the show finished its expanded 13-episode run in January with 3.7 million total viewers. That was less than half of where it ended its freshman season.
Although ABC officially announced the end was nigh only weeks ahead of the May series finale, the decision to end Revenge surprised few. The four-year-old show has been creatively wrapping up its ongoing mythology, and ratings had dwindled since the drama’s breakout start four years ago.
The Karen Gillan–John Cho comedy debuted to a soft 1.6 rating and followed its time slot companion Manhattan Love Story to TV purgatory in November. The comedy was pulled after seven episodes, but the remaining six aired on Hulu to the delight of the show’s small but loyal fan base.
The latest drama from uber-producer Kevin Williamson was hardly a flop, averaging a 2.5 rating among adults 18-49, but it never seemed like a priority for the network. The series, starring Dylan McDermott and Maggie Q and produced by Warner Bros. Television, earned a confusing 20-episode freshman season, not a traditional abbreviation or a full 22, and it disappeared from the schedule for months. The move to Mondays, for what basically amounted to a burn-off, did little to boost its ratings.
The much-hyped TV return of Grey's Anatomy alum Katherine Heigl from Universal Television underwent a showrunner change ahead of its premiere. With a massive marketing push opened to 8.6 million total viewers and was a modest performer when factoring in seven days of DVR. However, the series co-starring Alfre Woodard as the president ended its run with just 4.5 million total viewers.
Getting even a third season out of culinary competition The Taste seemed like a stretch. The reality show featuring Nigella Lawson and Anthony Bourdain migrated to December for its latest run — but it languished in the ratings, pulling an unfortunate 1.0 rating in the key demo (that's with time-shifting) and 3.6 million viewers. It marks the latest in a long line of failed attempts to bring food over to the Big Four, something only Fox has managed to do successfully with its suite of Gordon Ramsay shows.
Once the top-rated comedy on TV, viewership dipped in recent years, particularly post-Charlie Sheen and post-“half man” Angus T. Jones. CBS announced at the 2014 Upfronts that the show’s 12th season would be its last. The Chuck Lorre comedy ended as one of TV's longest-running multicamera comedies in history.
Utopia was anything but an ideal experience. The social experiment debuted to low ratings in September and failed to add eyes with time-shifting. The network first dropped weekly Tuesday episodes to draw viewers to Friday in October, but ultimately pulled the plug after two months.
The rookie single-camera comedy starring Zachary Knighton and Becki Newton never stood a chance. Despite hailing from sister studio 20th Century Fox TV, the half-hour landed with a thud in the post-New Girl time slot in late March and never improved its showing.