I said this because I kept reading from fans that HBO should care about the ratings and only look at the quality and that would never watch the network if they cancelled the show.

You'd never think to see that said about HBO unlike say, network tv .

It's a shame about Enlightened. I think it was too 'awkward' for most viewers to watch.

But I felt it was very true to life, and the main character was very good at portraying someone who had high ideals but was always wanted to be someone.

I'm so glad 'The Neighbors' has been renewed. It was a real funny series with so much potential.

I just hope it keeps its audience up.

looking forward to this

I agree, very true to life. One of those shows that make you think.

Im glad too, as far as the shows that are coming out of the states, this has a distinctive feel about it. It has 'fish out of water' like 3rd From the Sun, but with a much more fresh feel to it. However if it did get cancelled, the finale did end with satisfaction. How the characters knew that the show was ending on the last episode was very funny. Its a show that can poke fun at itself, like people, I like it if you can laugh at yourself. The saying, If you cant laugh yourself, then you shouldnt laugh at anyone else comes to mind.

NBC are killing me holding off on making a decision about Hannibal. It's a shame the ratings have been so poor. I reckon it could be in with a good shout of an Emmy nomination or two though, and that could boost ratings for season 2.

I'm alright with pretty much all decisions this season. Nothing I'll miss too much (Body of Proof maybe, but not into it this season).

But really sad about Southland's cancellation. It's easily one of my favourite police shows to watch, some excellent acting and stories. And the season's were never that long, so it didnt get boring. But oh well!!!

I'm taking it as a good thing

If they were unhappy with the 1.1s and 1.0s it has been recieving they'd have killed it already.

There must be other factors (cost, critical reception, international sales, airing over the summer, 13ep seasons) which are helping it. So I reckon (/hope) they are just waiting to make sure it doesn't drop any lower and then they'll renew it.

It's co-produced by Gaumont and AXN Asia (a Sony-owned network of channels), so it might not be up to NBC to renew it...

Cables getting as trigger happy too. Rather than what cable has always done of producing quality and giving it time to grow naturally they seem to more and more want a massive hit from off which is the mistake network TV fell into during the 90’s

FX haven't been. They'll renew just about any of their comedies, presumably because they're all fairly cheap to produce so it doesn't matter if they flunk...

USA (somewhat bravely) renewed Suits before it had even gone on midseason break though with episodes averaging between 3 and 4m (and the finale got a 1 in the demo, which is good for cable) I imagine they'll have no problem with the show's performance...

I've made a rule now of refusing to watch any new shows until they've completed a second season and been renewed for the third. I'm not prepared to sink my time into a story that won't be finished.

Can't just survive on carriage fees alone

You should like Starz however. One of it's shows only gets 400,000 viewers a week and still got renewed for another season :eek.

Smaller cable channels like Starz sometimes don't care about ratings as long the show develops some sort of following, and they can sell abroad.

Starz is the most subscribed to premium cable network in the US, it's just that HBO has had more success with original programming...

I've heard that HBO has a tendency to cancel shows after 2 season if the ratings don't improve...

I guess that's better than networks cancelling after 3 episodes.

HBO gave Enlightened a second season and I think with ratings not improving, there was not much reason to renew it, they may be subscriber base but they cannot keep a show which is watch by less than 1% of their subscriber base.

Southland lasted three additional season on TNT and while it was critically acclaimed, the ratings were lower than most TNT shows and they need to make room for new series like Legends, Lost Angels and The Last Ship. I have a feeling if Franklin and Bashs ratings don't improve this season, it'll get axed too.

I wish another network would pick up Southland. Starz, AMC, FX or somebody. The fact each season was so short as it only lasted around 10 or so episodes means they could at least get another couple of seasons worth out of the show. It was the only cop show i watched and there's nothing else like it on tv.

Shows however aren't always breakout hits immediately. How I Met Your Mother was always on the bubble for the first 4 seasons as was Castle for the first couple. Even NCIS was far from a monster hit at first yet reached a point where it was regularry the hightest rated scripted show each week and spawned a spin off that was a ratings smash out of the gate. Going further back a Friends, Cheers and X-Files were all low rated at first and all went on to be major smashes.

With network TV enough shows just aren't given time to grow and find an audience and the few that have its been little more than dumb luck. Networks need to have more faith in shows and give the a chance to build an audience via word of mouth, summer repeats and DVD/Home Media. Also imho they would all do better as well if they guarentee a TV Movie or Mini Series if its cancelled to wrap everything up like Prison Break did (Although that wasnt Fox's doing as they didnt air 'The Final Break' It was the decison of th e producers mainly as they hadn't produced enough episodes to fulfil their international networks agreements) Audiences would then have more faith committing to a series.

In 10 years time I really do see Cable being in the state that Network TV is in (Unless ofc streaming and On Demand has killed broadcast TV by then)

Actually, that isn't true. Encore is #1 (34.8 million subscribers), HBO is #2 (30 million subscribers), Showtime is #3 (22 million subscribers), and Starz is #4 (21.2 million subscribers). Encore is actually owned by Starz, and it is only as widely subscribed to as it is because as a no-frills movie channel it is often offered to cable customers on a separate (presumably cheaper) digital tier than the "big boys" HBO, Showtime, and Starz.

I do find it surprising that HBO has remained flat in terms of subscribers whereas Showtime and Starz have seen increases in their subscribers. Its sister channel Cinemax has started showing original programming, I assume to compete with Starz as well as increasing its own subscriber base.

I think there is such as a thing as a "ceiling" for how many Americans are willing to subscribe to a "premium" cable package, and the closer a company gets to that ceiling, the harder it is to add the next new customer. If HBO is not at that ceiling yet, it is not that far away. Starz has had amazing growth in its subscriber base over the last few years, but that is because its subscriber base was small to begin with and they only recently made the shift into original productions that HBO made long ago.

Or it could be that Starz and Showtime have recently upped their game original content wise. Showtime got Dexter and Homeland, which were unmissable. Starz got Spartacus.

Though I imagine it's a mix of both, only a certain amount of people are willing to subscribe to premium cable, but those that do will sign up for more than one if they feel the content is good enough...

Well, in the case of Starz that's essentially what I said. Their making original content is so recent that that in and of itself was "upping their game." And while Showtime has grown its subscriber base impressively, Starz's growth has been far more dramatic. They used to be pretty far behind Showtime.