Welcome to cold tight grip of Death Watch, Bubble Show Edition! Time to check the status of freshman shows and the less-than-certain fate of returning ones. Here’s the rundown:
ABC
Cougar Town: 1.8 rating, 4.9 million. Status: It’s tied with NBC’s Community, but ABC isn’t so forgiving. Those awesome winos tried hard, but we don’t expect the Alphabet bosses to show mercy after this season.
Revenge: 2.8 rating, 8.9 million. Status: Not a bubble show, but we know people are curious: Definitely coming back.
Pan Am: 2.3 rating, 6.9 million. Status: Not officially cancelled but don’t expect Pan Am to make a return trip.
The River: 2.2 rating, 6.7 million. Status: A surprisingly weak opening for the horror thriller, and ratings keep going down. Probably dead in the water.
UPCOMING
GCB: Debuts March 4. Status: It looks like a replacement for the outgoing Desperate Housewives, but this serialized drama about a group of shrewy women in Texas has the potential to be funnier (or more annoying).
Missing: Debuts March 15. Status: This Ashley Judd starrer is a heavily serialized show that’s kind of similar to the Liam Neeson movie Taken. If you believe Judd to be an ex-CIA butt-kicker, than this should work for you.
Charlie’s Angels (ABC): 1.8, 7.4 million
Work It: 5.6 million.
Man Up!: 6.9 million
FOX
Alcatraz: 3.6 rating, 10.4 million viewers. Status: Tricky at this point. The prison break will finish its initial run, but it might be the first show to break J.J. Abrams’ recent streak of having shows that earn a second season.
Fringe: 1.5 rating, 3.9 million. Status: Ratings are low, even for Fridays. The best-case scenario is a short order final season. If Fox goes another round it will mostly be to keep fans happy. We lean toward the net closing the portal to both universes.
The Finder: 2.7 rating, 8.1 million. Status: Doing okay on Thursdays, but it’s squandering an American Idol lead-in at the same time. Judging this show’s performance is like trying to determine the height of a man wearing platform shoes.
Terra Nova: 3.6 rating, 10.1 million. Status: The network has yet to decide whether the dino drama will get a second season. The rumored fate on this show has gone back and forth so many times it literally swung again 5 minutes after posting this piece so … just wait and we’ll tell you.
I Hate My Teenage Daughter: 2.5 rating, 6.4 million. Status: Where is this show? It was on, then off, now it’s supposed to come back. Needless to say, nobody misses it and it likely won’t be on next fall.
Napoleon Dynamite: 2.7 rating, 5.7 million. Status: It’s final two episodes posted ho-hum ratings.
Allen Gregory: 4.5 million
House: The doctor is out!
Touch: Status: Kiefer Sutherland returns in this drama from Heroes’ creator Tim Kring. Solid ratings for last month’s preview episode, and Fox just gave it a prime berth after Idol.
NEXT: CBS, NBC and The CW
