Second Life for Some TV Shows

Two of the TV shows I watch regularly, Elementary (Sherlock Holmes in 21st-century New York) and Agents of Shield (part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe), have poor ratings.

Under the old rules they would have been cancelled [bold added]

But other factors are increasingly at play, including whether shows can generate revenue as reruns on streaming services and other digital platforms, or from international sales.

Networks are also favoring shows they own—meaning those produced by their parent companies’ in-house studios—because the owner of a show can tap into those nonadvertising revenues.

Elementary reasoning:

Latter day Watson and Holmes (CBS)

The show has been on for six seasons, and its ratings appear to be in an irreversible decline. It is the least-watched of all the network’s dramas. But revenue from a deal with Hulu plus the show’s success overseas has made “Elementary” a very profitable show for CBS, and it will be back next season.

Concerning Agents of Shield,

The show never lived up to expectations on ABC, but it does well on Netflix Inc. and has international appeal that justifies keeping it around.

Not wanting to invest time in storylines that are cancelled abruptly, I don't watch new fall shows contemporaneously but record a dozen of them that seem promising. After a few weeks I'll check out the reviews and the ratings and delete those that do not pass muster. (In the future I'll have to look at international ratings and whether the network owns the show.) I'll watch the three or four that made the cut and after a month pare the list further based on my subjective taste.

I don't always pick the right horse---for example, I've been watching Lucifer, which is about Satan living as a consulting detective in Los Angeles (yes, it sounds crazy). It played three years, only to be canceled by Fox this month, leaving the viewers dangling with a major cliff-hanger that would have been resolved next season.

With two out of three favorites granted second life under the new rules, though, I can't complain.