TV fans, your vote still counts
It’s your final chance to vote. The polls close on USA TODAY’s 22nd annual Save Our Shows poll this week, so cast your ballot for your favorites among 26 endangered TV series.
Results from more than 80,000 fans show the top picks remain ABC’s rookie dramas “The Rookie” and “Whiskey Cavalier,” and fifth-season CBS political drama “Madam Secretary,” not necessarily in that order.
They’re among the 26 broadcastnetwork sitcoms and dramas hovering “on the bubble” between renewal and cancellation, as programmers weigh their chances against a crop of pilot episodes for potential replacement series that they begin screening this week.
Several factors determine whether your favorite (or least favorite) shows live to see another season: Ratings, which now include delayed viewing up to 35 days; whether the network owns the program, which enables it to profit from sales to streaming networks or overseas; and how much revenue the show generates compared with its cost.
Save Our Shows helped earn a renewal for NBC’s “Timeless” in 2017, days after it had been canceled, the network’s chief Robert Greenblatt said at the time. The time-travel fantasy series won a second reprieve, after winning last year’s survey, for a two-hour series finale that aired last December.
“The Rookie” star Nathan Fillion’s last series, ABC’s “Castle,” won the 2016 Save Our Shows poll, while CBS drama “Person of Interest” led in 2015. Both shows were renewed after those wins but canceled a year later. And in 2014, “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” proved victorious; that drama, already renewed for a 21st season, next month outlasts NBC’s original “Law & Order,” which lasted 20.
This year marks an especially tumultuous time for the major networks because three of them – Fox, NBC and ABC – have installed new top programming chiefs in recent months. All are looking to put their own stamp on their lineups.
So make your voice heard: Vote here for your favorites now. Networks will set their 2019-20 schedules next month. And visit life.usatoday.com for final results in early May.