Axiom’s Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy

By John J. Joex

ABC has announced early pickups for next season, and to no one’s surprise Lost was on the list. Even though the series has slumped in the ratings in its fifth season, it was pretty much a sure thing going in that the show would continue into is sixth and planned final season. I only hope at this point that ABC executives do not tinker with the show in order to bolster the ratings. Networks are notorious for such hijinks and they could ruin Lost’s chances of going out on a high note. For now, though, let’s assume they will leave it alone.

The only other genre show on ABC still waiting for word on its fate is Cupid. We can pretty much assume this one won’t survive to another season, though. The series debuted with marginal, though not terrible, numbers. But its ratings went downhill from there and the network has already started shuffling it around the schedule to give more promotion to their latest cop show The Unusuals (with little success). The alphabet network never seemed to have much faith in Cupid anyway (why did they greenlight it in the first place), and they seem content to let it fade away.

The Hollywood Reporter chimed in with their opinion on several “bubble” shows this week and for the most part I agreed with their assessments, though I’m not certain why they dismissed Reaper as “gone”. They may have some insider information, but from what I am seeing from other sources, the show is still clinging to life, if tenuously. True, the show’s creators will leave after this season and Tyler Labine is working on a pilot for FOX, but this does not necessarily indicate that the show is sunk.  We will have to continue to wait on this one and keep our fingers crossed.

TV Guide broke in today with an announcement that NBC would cut the episode order of Heroes for its fourth season to between 18 and 20 vs. the 25 it had this season.  But then we’ve known this since Angela Bromstad promised the show would return over a month ago.  Fans should note that this series still has not received an official pickup for next season and its numbers have really slumped over the past couple of months.  Still, it should return for at least one more outing.

Kings seems like a goner now that it has been exiled to Summer. The producers are trying to get DirectTV to save, a la Friday Night Lights, but Kings was not around long enough to pick up much of a following, so its prospects seem grim.

Dollhouse’s chances seem to be slipping as well, though Joss Whedon still holds out hope that FOX will see its way to bringing the show back. We can only hope, because this show gets stronger with each episode, but I can’t say I’m too optimistic at this point.

The networks will issue more announcements over the next few weeks, so stay tuned. In the mean time, you can check the status of all your favorite shows at our Cancellation Watch page.

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