Fans vote to save ‘Timeless’
58% of a record 257,000 voters want NBC’s time-travel fantasy to have a third season. Other top finishers in USA TODAY’s Save Our Shows poll include
Designated Survivor and The Blacklist.
Some obsessions are timeless. ❚ In a repeat of last year’s results, NBC’s Timeless topped USA TODAY’s 21st annual Save Our Shows poll: 58% of voters are seeking a third season for the time-travel fantasy. It was the biggest show of support among 30 broadcast series hovering “on the bubble” between renewal and cancellation.
The 2018 poll drew a record turnout of more than 257,000 votes, up sharply from nearly 147,000 last year, stoked by social media campaigning from the series’ stars and producers.
Other top finishers included ABC’s Designated Survivor (44% want Kiefer Sutherland’s reluctant president to stick around) and NBC’s The Blacklist (41% are fans of James Spader’s “Red” Reddington). Rounding out the top five: CBS drama Criminal Minds (supported by 35% of voters), a frequent “bubble” series; and, in a tie, that network’s long-running Elementary and Fox comedy Brooklyn
Nine-Nine, each picked by 33%. (Voters could choose “keep,” “drop” or “don’t care.”)
Brooklyn finished especially high among voters younger than 40. ABC’s Fresh Off the Boat was another sought-after comedy: 27% want it to return.
Which shows are keepers and which are goners will be revealed in the next two weeks, when networks set their new lineups ahead of splashy presentations to advertisers in New York. Last spring, NBC canceled Timeless in early May, then reversed itself days later and renewed it for a 10-episode second season, citing support in the poll as a factor. (Its twohour season finale airs May 13.)
Now, executive producer Shawn Ryan hopes for another reprieve — and an earlier, more family-friendly time slot.
“I think this show is important to a lot of people,” he says. “I would argue that NBC has a history of realizing when they have something that’s really good and sticking with it.”
Will his show become a ratings juggernaut? Maybe not, Ryan says; he just hopes his ratings are enough for a show that “whips up enough passion” to continue.
Lacking passion: a trio of NBC comedies ( Champions, Great News and AP Bio) and CBS sitcom Living Biblically, canceled last week, all of which garnered the least fan support.
And among the most actively disliked shows was Kevin James comedy Kevin Can Wait, which
33% of viewers want CBS to kill (and just 16% voted to continue). Could the decision to kill off James’ TV wife (Erinn Hayes) pave the way for a reunion with his King of Queens co-star Leah Remini be the cause?
Timeless was the favorite among women and voters ages
20 to 50; older folks and men were more eager to see Designated Survivor and The Blacklist return. Brooklyn, the police-precinct comedy starring Andy Samberg, had more support in New York and California than elsewhere, and Boat also sailed well in the Golden State, finishing second behind Timeless.