Which Canceled TV Shows Had the Highest Ratings This Broadcast Season?
Some broadcast TV dramas and comedies are still awaiting judgment for the 2023–2024 season, but the guillotine has fallen on more than a dozen others.
And some of those cancellations came as surprises. CBS canceled East New York, for instance, even though the freshman drama got better ratings than the network’s renewed shows So Help Me Todd and CSI: Vegas. And the same network axed the long-running NCIS: Los Angeles, which also had CSI: Vegas beat.
Over on Fox, meanwhile, The Resident met its end, despite being the network’s third-best scripted series in terms of total viewers.
Here’s how the average ratings (from TV Series Finale) stack up for this season’s canceled TV shows, with the exceptions of those whose final seasons have yet to air.
16
13
12
9
8
5
4
3
2
1
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CyanMagnet
East New York was the only one of these shows that I watched-- it was unfairly cancelled.
GreenElephant
Can’t understand cancelling of the Resident, New Amsterdam and Alaska Daily. Excellent acting in all three. Networks seem to cancel at random and don’t give shows like Alaska Daily a second chance. The topic matter of this show was especially relevant in todays society. Bring it back.
OliveGrapes
I'm sorry to see NCIS LA canceled but can understand why. I'm excited to see what the cast (Chris O'Donnell especially) will do next. But East New York was the best of their new shows. Why keep CSI Las Vegas but cancel East New York?
OliveHelmet
You canceled east new York. Why,someone needs to start a petition for East New York
Jena
I'm a bit surprised about the East New York numbers.... especially as compared to NCIS-LA. It does make me wonder why the network cancelled it.
OrangeGuitar
They really need to come up with a new term for shows that are concluded and not truly canceled - e.g., New Amsterdam was not "canceled," it had a planned series finale. It doesn't belong on this list. The Resident saw it coming and made sure their season finale could act as a series finale if they got canceled. I wish more shows did that and stopped ending with cliffhangers - it's not the 1980s and the "Who shot J.R." cliffhangers are past their prime.
Michael P Powers
Stargirl was a terrific series. Unfortunately it was on at the time Nexstar purchased the CW, which was built on its superhero TV shows. Once I read that Nexstar wanted "To go in another direction," I realized they were going to purge the network of all superhero series. And that's just what they did. I don't watch anything on the CW nowadays.
RedCloud
I hate that that New Amersterdam and The Resident were cancelled. "Too Hip for The Room" I guess.
It's "Life Life in Pieces" or "B Positive..." too hip for the room? Especially "Life In Pieces!" And where is "Smash??.."
Oh well.... you Win few, you Loose a lot!!
Allan Mason
Fantasy Island no loss at all. Can't compare to the Original [not even close].
OliveFlower
Resident was my favorite Medical Show and NCIS LA was one of my favorite shows on TV period! Glad to hear that LL Cool J will at least be on NCIS HAWAII [Hopefully permanently]. Also liked Big Sky and The Winchesters a lot.