Star Trek, Cagney & Lacey, Battlestar Galactica, Roswell, Family Guy, Futurama, Firefly, Jericho, Designing Women, Friday Night Lights and Quantum Leap.
If you are wondering what these primetime TV series have in common, think of the fans. All of the series were prematurely canceled, and each found a new lease on life (in an era where there was no social media) thanks to passionate viewers.
Star Trek, of course, is the proverbial poster child for why the fans matter. After three seasons of the original run on NBC in the 1960s, and the countless TV and movie spinoffs ever since, the Star Trek universe continues to surge. Others, like Cagney & Lacey, Designing Women and the animated comedies, were extended thanks to the viewers. And, if fans have their say this time (which, in this era of social media, gives everyone a voice), the legal dramedy So Help Me Todd, starring the Oscar winner Marcia Gay Harden and Skylar Astin, could be the next canceled TV series to return.
After CBS opted against a third season, a petition on the change.org website, titled “Save So Help Me Todd on CBS,” requests that CBS “reconsider canceling So Help Me Todd. “The show is so entertaining and it is family oriented . It can be enjoyed by all ages,” the petition says.
Fans of So Help Me Todd, meanwhile, are using social media to lobby for a reprieve.
A Surprise Cancellation
Unlike most axed series, viewers were caught off guard by the unexpected sophomore cancellation of So Help Me Todd. By the numbers (according to Nielsen), So Help Me Todd is averaging a respectable 6.2 million total viewers per week, which is consistent with its first season.
For any broadcast network other than CBS, this Top 25 occupant would likely have been renewed. But CBS, at present, is home to 14 of the Top 20 most-watched TV series.
Recent (and renewed) dramas Tracker and Elsbeth further limit the shelf space on the Eye network. And, like any legal-themed hour, the audience skew for So Help Me Todd tends to be older (over age 50).
Even so, ABC. Fox and The CW are hungry for scripted hits. The endless streaming services offer an option. Remember when Netflix picked up the sci-fi drama Manifest for a fourth season after being canceled by NBC? Or when SEAL Team on CBS moved to Paramount+? And for a platform like Paramount+, original episodes of So Help Me Todd could give CBS’ lackluster streaming partner a shot of much-needed adrenaline.
As the broadcasters prepare the blueprints for their strike-free primetime lineups for next season (the official announcements will be the week of May 13), the fans are the voices that matter. And the more attention these viewers give to So Help Me Todd, the better the chance of it continuing.