Blindspot has been a (surprising?) hit for NBC this fall, as one of the highest performing series across the board (although maybe not all that surprising since the pilot was Lady Sif crawling naked out of a duffle bag). Because it’s been driving huge ratings for NBC, it’s not a surprise that the peacock network has chosen to give the green light on the season, giving it a “Back 9 pickup,” which means basically that it’s been given a full-season 22-episode order.
Not only has Blindspot been performing well in the live ratings, but it’s also been picking up huge gains in the Live+3 ratings, which take into account delayed viewing (that can include DV-R numbers and streaming). On average it’s brought in a 2.7 rating in the key 18-49 adult demographic, and 9.6 million viewers, while growing 4.6 million viewers throughout the week in those delayed numbers, which is pretty big these days.
For those unfamiliar, Blindspot stars Jaimie Alexander as a mysterious, tattooed woman who has lost her memory, and whose tattoos are clues to crimes for the FBI to solve. More intriguingly for me, Francois Arnaud (the best thing about Showtime’s The Borgias) is set to join the series, which is great news.
Admittedly, I haven’t been watching Blindspot or Fox’s Minority Report, both of which Chris reviewed for us (Blindspot here and Minority Report here). Though Chris thought more of Minority Report’s pilot, Fox has a complicated history with sci-fi programming, one that often ends in tears for fans of its shows. And despite Minority Report’s high profile (as a kind of sequel to the 2002 Tom Cruise movie), it seemed beset by issues from the start, since the pilot was re-shot fairly closely to the premiere to separate Stark Sands’ twin characters into two separate roles (bringing in Nick Zano).
The series also debuted to really low ratings, and has only sunk from there, hitting a low of 0.7 in the key 18-49 demographic for its live numbers. Though it has risen some in the L+3, notching around a 1.3 rating, that’s still not probably strong enough for Fox to keep it around. For now, Fox has reduced the episode number to 10, which will serve as the fall finale (and possibly season finale). Should it continue, it will have backup episodes ready to continue in the winter.
Also, Halle Berry’s summer drama Extant has been cancelled by CBS after two seasons, but Berry will continue working with CBS with the upcoming drama Legalease, which she will executive produce. With Under the Dome also gone, only Zoo remains as CBS’s lone returning summer drama for next year.
There will likely be a lot more renewals and cancellations as the fall premiere season wears on, and you can keep up with all of the latest survival news via our TV Lifeline.
