How was ‘Beauty and the Beast’ renewed? We investigate
There are some surprises that come with every May in the world of TV, but this time around, the surprise was a pretty substantial one: “Beauty and the Beast” is coming back for a third season on The CW!
Let’s try for a second to just frame the situation for a moment here. This may be one of the lowest-rated scripted series in history to get a renewal for another season. It also hasn’t been watched live by more than a million viewers (not that this matters as much as the demo) since the end of this past season. We’re not hating on the show, as we’ve enjoyed covering it; we’re just trying to provide some historical context here into why this show managed to escape cancellation despite the predictions of basically everyone. When the final episodes where shelved until June, that felt like a nail in the coffin. It almost typically is.
Well now, we’re going to put on our Sherlock Holmes caps and try to get to the bottom of this mystery.
1. The biggest reason we believe the show is coming back is because it benefits The CW to have CBS TV programming on the network, and it helps to keep some of the balance between this and Warner Bros. show. In a sense, this studio’s lack of huge hits on the network benefited Kristin Kreuk and company.
2. It does fare well internationally, as it airs on Showcase in Canada and prominently in other countries. However, you’re getting into license-fee debates here, and that is all so sketchy that it is difficult to know how big of a role this ultimately played.
3. Fan support certainly never hurts.
We suspect that this renewal, as it has been rumored, will be for around 13 episodes, and this show will be used to fill in for something that doesn’t work out in the fall. If there isn’t a gap, we actually would not be opposed to it being a summer show in the future. It would fare much better without the competition.
Regardless of the reason, congratulations to the show! You can also sign up now for further TV scoop via our CarterMatt Newsletter.
Photo: The CW
Jess
May 12, 2014 @ 10:27 am
You forgot one important reason. The CW boss Mark Pedowitz stated in an interview, that he loves the show and it was the first show, that he apprroved of, when he became boss, so it’s like important to him.
Ruth Cassidy
May 11, 2014 @ 4:21 pm
Thank you both for always being so positive about the show and not unkind to the very passionate fan base that we are! enjoy following you both on twitter & receiving your newsletters!