Last year, Fox was a bloodbath. Of 24 shows, they cancelled 11 and renewed 13. And so this year, they kind of need those 13 to keep delivering.

Returning shows that I think are safe for renewal:

• Bob’s Burgers
• Brooklyn Nine-Nine
• Empire
• Family Guy
• Gotham
• Lucifer
• New Girl
• Star
• The Exorcist
• The Last Man on Earth
• The Mick
• The Simpsons

Returning shows I think will be cancelled:

• Lethal Weapon – I have to think they were desperate to renew SOMETHING last year to keep this one around…it or The Exorcist should have died, and I’m betting on this not making it past S2;

New shows that I think will make it:

• The Gifted – Fox wants to expand into the superhero world too, after their relative success with Gotham;
• The Orville – I’m totally on the line with this one, but they do like pseudo comic shows, even sci fi spoofs;
• The Resident – A medical show with hot actors? Yeah, they’ll try real hard to keep it;

New shows that I think will get cancelled:

• L.A. to Vegas – Workplace comedy? Sure. Airlines to Vegas? Umm, no;
• Ghosted – Men in Black, weekly? With extra comedy? Yeah, that’s going to need a lot of work to keep it fresh;

As always, red indicates shows I watch or will give a chance.

Last year, of 26 scripted shows, CBS cancelled 8 and renewed 18. However, of the 8 cancelled, 7 were new shows. Brutal. In other words, they cancelled only 1 of their pre-existing shows. Of the 18 renewals, only 2-3 were newbies; the rest were roll-overs. So, looking at CBS for this year, I want to try and take that approach into account — most existing shows are likely to make it, few newbies.

Returning shows that I think are safe for renewal:

• The Big Bang Theory
• Scorpion
• NCIS
• NCIS: New Orleans
• NCIS: Los Angeles
• Madam Secretary
• Bull
• Blue Bloods
• Kevin Can Wait
• Superior Donuts
• Criminal Minds

Returning shows I think will be cancelled:

• Hawaii Five-O – it has to die sometime;
• MacGyver – I was sure it would die last year and didn’t;

New shows that I think will make it:

• Young Sheldon – well, duh, it could die a 1000 times and it will likely get renewed just to keep tweaking it until it works;
• S.W.A.T. – With H50 and MacGyver not strong enough to continue in my view, I’m going to bet on another throwback continuing with this one;

New shows that I think will get cancelled:

• 9JKL – I love the main star, and everyone wants their family sitcom to work, but not this one about moving to New York and living between parents and siblings;
• Me, Myself and I – The time stamp world of three different times in one’s life sounds intriguing, and I love John Larroquette, but doesn’t look like it will gel quickly;
• Seal Team – It was a toss up with S.W.A.T., but I’m not convinced David B is right for the series;
• Wisdom of the Crowd – Tech approaches to crime fighting, similar to a dozen other shows that have tried and failed to merge the two in the last five or six years;

Ones shown in red are ones that I either watch or will give a chance.

Every year, at the start of the TV season, I try to predict the outcome of the new shows — renewal for another season, or cancellation. Let’s see how I did this past year…Of the shows I picked for renewal:

• Correct: Great News, Kevin Can Wait, Riverdale
• Incorrect: Doubt, Emerald City, Powerless
• Still uncertain: 24: Legacy, Chicago Justice, Midnight: Texas, Still Star-Crossed

Which basically means I was 50/50 for the shows I thought would get renewed but didn’t.

Of the shows I picked for cancellation:

• Correct: APB, Blacklist: Redemption, Conviction, Frequency, Great Indoors, Imaginary Mary, Making History, No Tomorrow, Pitch, Notorious, Pure Genius, Shots Fired, Son of Zorn, Time After Time, Training Day
• Incorrect: American Housewife, Bull, Designated Survivor, Exorcist, Good Place, Lethal Weapon, MacGyver, The Mick, Man With A Plan, Speechless, Star, Taken, This Is Us, Timeless, Trial & Error
• Still uncertain: Downward Dog, Marlon, Prison Break

Again, I was 50/50.

Heck, I could have probably done just as well or better assuming they would all be cancelled. Good thing I don’t do this for a living!

Overall, there were:

• Ten shows cancelled by ABC, and I won’t miss any of them;
• Eight shows cancelled by CBS, and I won’t miss any of them;
• Four shows cancelled by CW, and I won’t miss any of them;
• Nine shows cancelled by Fox, including Rosewood, which never found it’s groove, and Pitch + Sleepy Hollow, no great losses; and,
• Four shows cancelled by NBC, including Grimm and BlackList: Redemption, but both were ready to go;

For renewals:

• Fourteen shows were renewed by ABC, none of which I watch regularly, and only SHIELD / Designated Survivor / Quantico on catch-up eventually;
• Eighteen shows were renewed by NBC, and it makes a big difference for me — Blue Bloods, Bull, Elementary, NCIS are all ones I watch the same week, and Scorpion and Big Bang Theory I bingewatch to catch up;
• Eleven shows were renewed by CW, including Arrow, DC Legends, Supergirl, and The Flash, all of which I watch same week;
• Thirteen shows were renewed by Fox, and I like two of them a lot — Gotham and Lucifer; and,
• Fourteen shows were renewed by NBC, including Blindspot, The Blacklist, and Timeless.

Nothing cancelled that I really cared about, and 18 that I do like were renewed. Not a bad outcome…