Ratings Debate: Does ‘Elementary’ season 3 have more cases left?

At one point in time in television, there was a general rule in regards to syndication: Make it to a third season, and you were almost sure to make it to a fourth. This biggest reason for that is simple: Syndication. It was extremely valuable for a show to get to the 88-episode threshold, where it can then be sold to cable networks or other broadcasters to run in repeats. Does this still matter? It does, but not as much as it used to, since Netflix has in some ways opened the gates to other forms of enjoying old shows. Why sit there and watch commercials unless you really have to?

This why “Elementary” is in part in such an interesting position at the moment. This is a show that does okay-at-best ratings, but it does have the fourth-season potential ahead for it. Given that it is also a procedural through and through, it may play better in syndication than most others. CBS may actually have already made up their mind here and is waiting to make an announcement.

The case to keep it – We’ve already stated it, but we understand that it does in some ways bear repeating: Syndication. It is extra money that comes easily, and if you don’t want to use a good timeslot on the show, just move it to Friday nights. We have heard many times of networks burying shows in bad spots, just to make sure that they have the episodes needed.

Aside from episode count, this is still a Sherlock Holmes adaptation, and that name does carry a certain amount of wait with it. Not only that, but you do still have two great leads in Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu. When looking at the source material, there are still so many great Holmes characters you can adapt.

The case to cancel it – The biggest one we can make right now is strictly that the ratings are not that great, and to go along with that, this is a show that generates zero buzz and did not even benefit much long-term from airing after the Super Bowl. Also, for whatever reason the show has never been quite as good as we feel like it could be. It needs more truly epic cases, and at times even a little bit more humor.

Verdict – We cannot imagine CBS giving the show the boot just because of where it is in its run. However, we do foresee it either getting moved to Fridays, or it airing at a time where ratings expectations are not particularly high.

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