How is the TV Season Doing Now (March and April Edition)

In three weeks’ time, the major networks will make their upfront presentations in New York City to the advertisers. This is a crucial time for viewers, who are waiting in anticipation for the final announcements of what shows will be returning this fall and which shows have been canceled (beyond the shows that have already received early renewals or have already been pulled from the primetime line-up, of course).

While NBC started off very well in the fall, the network faltered greatly at the start of the new year. The new shows Deception and Do No Harm faltered quickly with the latter being pulled after only two episodes aired while the former was able to air its entire run, but will be a long shot for renewal this fall. The other new show, Hannibal, has only been on a few weeks so it is too soon to determine if the show will be back or not. Whereas, it is a safe bet that Grimm and Revolution will be back while Chicago Fire, Parenthood and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit are all a safe bet for returning in the fall. The one NBC drama that will, more than likely, not make it onto the fall schedule is the musical drama Smash that got relegated to Saturday nights at the beginning of April. That is never a good sign of faith by the network.

As for CBS, the network is still holding onto its number one status; and recently announced the renewal of most of its dramas, including Blue Bloods, CSI, Elementary, The Good Wife, Hawaii Five-0, The Mentalist, NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles and Person of Interest. The long-running spin-off series CSI: NY and the new dramas Golden Boy and Vegas are considered long shots for timeslots this fall while Criminal Minds is being touted as a “sure thing”.

ABC and FOX are neck-in-neck in terms of being in second place among the major networks.

So far ABC has not officially renewed any of its dramas, but fans can feel secure that Castle, Once Upon a Time, Revenge and Scandal should be back in the fall. It is likely that Nashville and Grey’s Anatomy will return too. The fate of Body of Proof could go either way so fans should be prepared for that while the new drama Red Widow is a long shot for renewal. And, the new drama Zero Hour was pulled after only two episodes.

And while I normally don’t mention comedies in my columns, it is interesting to note that the USA Network just might be picking up the comedy Happy Endings should its home network – ABC – not pick the show up, but that is NOT confirmed.

Meanwhile, FOX has renewed Bones, their new drama The Following as well as (shockingly) giving the musicomedy Glee a renewal for two more seasons (WHY??!!). The fate of the network’s other drama Touch is a long-shot so fans should not hold out hope.

Over on the last placed network, The CW, the dramas Hart of Dixie and Nikita are being touted as a “safe bet” while The Carrie Diaries and fan-favorite Beauty And the Beast (selfish fan moment: C’mon CW pick Beauty And the Beast, okay?) both could go either way.

The new drama Cult has not been officially canceled, but given the fact it was relegated to Friday nights and then pulled from the primetime line-up with no plans to air any further episodes, it’s pretty obviously what is going to happen.

On the cable front, several new shows received renewal notices including A&E’s Bates Motel, the Starz new period piece Da Vinci’s Demons and the History Channel mini-series Vikings. More established cable series Justified (FX), Game of Thrones (HBO) and Lost Girl (Syfy) have all been given an additional season order while the HBO comedy Enlightened has been canceled.

Needless to say, it’s been an interesting couple of months for the major and cable networks, but what awaits us (and them) in May with the upfront presentations will, hopefully, make for an exciting fall. What TV shows are you hoping to see back? Please share your thoughts about the season below.