Renewal Prospects For Shows Undecided

With the current television season winding down fans are rallying behind their favorite new series, with some needing a miracle, in hopes of having it renewed. This year saw the release of some critically praised shows and instant fan favorites that are struggling to maintain interest among mainstream viewers.  There were some sure fire successes this season, like Fox’s New Girl and CBS’s 2 Broke Girls, but for every success there are two or three shows that fall flat on their faces, and then the ones that linger, with fans not sure what to make of it.  This season has had it’s fair share of flops (CBS’s How To Be A Gentleman, Fox’s I Hate My Teenage Daughter), but taking a look at the struggling shows it is easy to pinpoint why they are considered “on the bubble”.  Lets start with ABC’s new series Missing, starring Ashley Judd.  The premise of the show see’s Ashley Judd searing for her teenage son who was kidnapped.  With the title of the show being Missing and the premise, it is more suited for a miniseries or a film (oh wait, Taken already came out) than a continuous show.  You know at the end of each episode she isn’t going to find her son, or else the show would be over, or have to change its name to “Not Missing Anymore”.  Then there is NBC’s Awake which critics love, and I am quite fond of myself.  With an interesting premise that sees a detective able to toggle between alternate realities after being involved in a crash.  In one reality his wife survived the crash and in another his son.  With this original concept not yet explored, it is being put to use as a police procedural where the main character uses information from one reality to solve crimes in another.  As a viewer, there doesn’t seem to be much resolution offered in the way of which reality is real or how will the story end.  Then there’s Fox’s Touch that serves up another original premise, that everyone is connected by a sequence of numbers that certain children have the ability to see.  With each episode being a stand alone affair, there is little in the way of viewer loyalty since if you missed an episode it doesn’t effect any kind of overarching narrative.  Finally there was the heavily hyped NBC musical Smash.  The biggest problem with Smash (other than being on NBC) is that nobody cares about the characters or what they want.  Besides, there are so many shows on Monday that Smash didn’t stand a chance.  Fans of any of the shows I talked about should look up how to rally behind their favorite shows (a la Chuck) in hopes of keeping it alive, otherwise enjoy the next few episodes, because they may be the last you get.