Cancellation Watch: Hannibal Suffers Big Drop, Has the Death Spiral Started?

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NBC's late season entry Hannibal--based on the notorious serial killer from the books and movies--experienced a significant drop with its latest episode this past Thursday.  The show slipped to a 1.0 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 2.4 million total viewers.  The series had actually performed relatively well in its rather brutal Thursday 10 PM EST timeslot for its first couple of episodes, but then two weeks ago it dropped to a 1.4 rating and this last week it dropped even further.  With numbers like that, the future of this show is definitely in doubt now and I am raising its Cancellation Alert status to Medium.  If it can get back up to a 1.4 rating or higher, then I will ease off from that because those numbers might be good enough to keep it alive on ratings-challenged NBC, especially in that timeslot.  But if it stays in the 1.0 range, or drops further, I have a hard time seeing the network bringing this show back (and they really should move this one to Tuesday nights instead of Grimm to give it more of a chance).  Keep a close eye on the show's numbers the next two weeks because they will be crucial.  NBC announces their schedule for the upcoming season on the morning of May 13th, and they will have to have made a decision on Hannibal's future by that point.

Elsewhere on Thursday, Person of Interest also took a hit in the Nielsens as it only mustered a season low 2.4 rating in the 18-49 demo with 13.2 million total viewers.  I have to believe that was the ratings gods striking the show down after CBS put out a press release claiming Person of Interest to be a Top 5 show.  That was all just spin and I'm couldn't figure out what sort of math they were using to justify that statement--it's regularly in the Top 20, but has never made it to the Top 5 that I am aware of.  Over on The CW, Vampire Diaries was still flying low with a 1.0 rating and 2.2 million total viewers and Beauty and the Beast slipped to a 0.5 rating with 1.2 million total viewers (but it still got a renewal because it airs on the ratings-challenged fifth place network).

On Wednesday, Arrow and Supernatural returned up after two weeks of repeats. The former pulled a 1.0 rating with 3.1 million total viewers, and the later also had a 1.0 rating with 2.4 million total viewers.  On Friday, Nikita continued to barely register with a 0.3 rating and 1.2 million total viewers and Touch continued to fade with a 0.5 rating and 2.3 million total viewers.  Grimm slipped some as well, pulling a 1.3 rating with 4.9 million total viewers.

And for those few fans out there of cancelled shows Do No Harm and Zero Hour, their networks have announced the Summer burnoff runs for both of those.  The latter will begin airing out its episodes starting on Saturday June 15th at 8 PM EST, and the former will also run on Saturdays in the 10 PM EST hour starting June 29th.

Below are the full numbers from last week and I covered the Sunday/Monday shows in my mid-week column.  I also covered the renewal announcements of Revolution, Grimm, and Beauty and the Beast at this link.  And keep an eye on the Cancellation Watch Twitter Site for the early returns from Sunday thru Monday shows from this week.  You can see the Cancellation Alert status of all the shows currently airing plus the final results from prior seasons at my Cancellation Watch page.  And for questions on how the ratings work and my Cancellation Alert statuses, you can see the Cancellation Watch FAQ.

Ratings Results for the Week of April 20:
Once Upon A Time (ABC Sun 8 PM) Rating: 2.1 | Trend: Down | Cancellation Alert: Moderate
Game of Thrones (HBO Sun 9 PM) Rating: 2.6 | Trend: Up | Cancellation Alert: Renewed
The Following (FOX Mon 9 PM) Rating: 2.4 | Trend: Up | Cancellation Alert: Renewed
Defiance (Syfy Mon 9 PM) Rating: 0.8 | Trend: Down | Cancellation Alert: Low
Bates Motel (A&E Mon 10 PM) Rating: 1.3 | Trend: Up | Cancellation Alert: Renewed
Revolution (NBC Mon 10 PM) Rating: 2.0 | Trend: Down | Cancellation Alert: Renewed
Arrow (CW Wed 8 PM) Rating: 1.0 | Trend: Up | Cancellation Alert: Renewed
Supernatural (CW Wed 9 PM) Rating: 1.0 | Trend: Down | Cancellation Alert: Renewed
Vampire Diaries (CW Thu 8 PM) Rating: 1.0 | Trend: Steady | Cancellation Alert: Renewed
Person of Interest (CBS Thu 9 PM) Rating: 2.4 | Trend: Down | Cancellation Alert: Renewed
Beauty and the Beast (CW Thu 9 PM) Rating: 0.5 | Trend: Down | Cancellation Alert: Renewed
Hannibal (NBC Thu 10 PM) Rating: 1.0 | Trend: Down | Cancellation Alert: Medium
Nikita (CW Fri 8 PM) Rating: 0.3 | Trend: Up | Cancellation Alert: Moderate
Touch (FOX Fri 9 PM) Rating: 0.6 | Trend: Steady | Cancellation Alert: High
Grimm (NBC Fri 9 PM) Rating: 1.3 | Trend: Down | Cancellation Alert: Renewed

Ratings Source: TV by the Numbers

Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2013 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved.

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