Why hasn’t ‘Supergirl’ season 2 renewal happened? We investigate
Tonight, CBS is airing the penultimate episode of “Supergirl” season 1, and there’s one thing off-screen that is a bigger surprise right now than anything that we’re seeing on the show: The superhero show, starring Melissa Benoist as the title character a.k.a. Kara Zor-El has yet to be renewed for another season. The same goes for many CBS first-year shows, but given this one’s preseason hype and extensive press coverage, it’s one that you would certainly expect to get a green light earlier than others.
So what gives? Let’s look first at the claim that ratings have been a little bit disappointing given the hype. Is that true? Probably. Despite premiering to a 3.2 rating in the 18-49 demographic, “Supergirl” has averaged a 1.7 for the season. That number is probably slightly inflated by its numbers the first couple of weeks when curiosity was high, but quality was much lower than it is now. The show found its legs for the most part, but it’s hard to convince viewers who tuned out early to give it another shot.
Even with expectations potentially not met here for many, “Supergirl” still rates far better than many other shows. Its average easily surpasses many new CBS shows including “Limitless,” “Code Black,” “Rush Hour,” and “Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders,” and its average rating is better than such veterans as “Elementary,” “The Good Wife,” “Blue Bloods,” “Hawaii Five-0,” “NCIS: Los Angeles,” “Madam Secretary,” and “CSI: Cyber.” It’s barely behind such hits as “Criminal Minds” and “NCIS: New Orleans,” which are each averaging to date a 1.8 rating.
One other thing to consider here is median viewer age. If CBS is looking to diversify its portfolio, renewing “Supergirl” is a great way to do that. It shakes up its reputation as a network known for just catering to older viewers and fans of procedural crime shows. It also has the capability to have huge events happen like the crossover with “The Flash.”
We do think, one way or another, that the future of “Supergirl” is bright. Maybe there are considerations about moving the show to The CW, but we really doubt it. There’s too much value for the show on CBS, at least for now. Maybe there are also concerns about the budget, but once again, we doubt it. Sure, this is an effects-heavy show, but you’re not paying a Mark Harmon or a Thomas Gibson. These guys command enormous salaries on “NCIS” and “Criminal Minds.” It all should balance out.
In the end, the theory we’re going with over the lack of a “Supergirl” renewal for now is that maybe there’s a debate over episode count, or maybe the network just wants to wait until the end of the season to make a larger announcement about a renewal. We just think that if they’re going to bring back a show like “Elementary” that is not even averaging a 1.0 this season, “Supergirl” has to have another chance to fly again.
You can preview Monday night’s new episode “Myriad” now by heading over to the link here! Also, sign up over here in the event you want some more TV news on all we cover, sent right over to you via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: CBS.)
CLAY FOR AMERICA FHG
April 16, 2016 @ 10:47 pm
No freshmen shows have been renewed except CEG, Lucifer and Rosewood.
Belaam
April 15, 2016 @ 6:50 am
Supergirl is better than the angst-fest of Arrow, but not usually as fun as Flash. And Legends will be a mess until someone sits down and writes out what their actual rules of time travel are. The writers really can’t seem to decide.
But for me, it comes down to I like the show, but my daughters freaking adore it. Like stand in front of the tv bouncing up and down during every even partially intense scene. We’ll keep watching so long as that is the response.
AnnihilationGaming™
April 14, 2016 @ 5:54 am
This show is way! Better than Legends of Tomorrow on the CW and “it” has already been renewed for a second season 0_o Let’s not forget it did win a People’s Award for Favorite New TV Drama and it was “honored” at the Critics Choice Awards as “Exciting New Series”
Darren35
April 13, 2016 @ 2:54 am
Supergirl must return and have a full 22 episode season, or even a 24!
Scifiartist
April 12, 2016 @ 5:04 pm
I liked the pilot. But then it descended into every bad guy beat up the pretty girl episode. Really? I’m so tired of the bad guy-good guy beat up scenes over and over I had hopes that because we had a young woman as the star we’d have more interesting plot lines to get around so no one would beat her up. But there are big burly guys, robots, whatever beating her up. Week after week. Maybe the writers should go back and look at the comics from the 50’s -and 60’s when the Supers actually solved solved murders, went back to Krypton to save it (never could), met mermaids, met multi-dimensional beings, the Bizarro world was the opposite world, red kryptonite cause random effects, and every story wasn’t bash-bang-oof! One of my favorites was Lois Lane trying to stay awake or unseen aliens would take over her mind like Perry, and Jimmy’s were. How she stayed awake till Superman returned was hilarious. If it’s not too late Supergirl can be more interesting than one more super…
Cory
April 13, 2016 @ 1:35 am
If you don’t like bad guy good guy beat up scenes why the hell are you watching a comic book show? Like seriously?
Darren35
April 13, 2016 @ 2:56 am
He’s the type that hates girl on boy fight scenes. Guess he wouldn’t have liked Xena and the fight scenes she had with Ares the God of war. Supergirl has been terrific. I like to see who they’ll get for a Superman, maybe. They keep teasing us.
Cory
April 13, 2016 @ 6:29 pm
Agreed. And I am hoping for a Tom Welling Superman appearance in Supergirl or in The Flash.
Dave and Jen Crepault
April 13, 2016 @ 8:50 pm
With the flash crossover, it would be pretty unlikely that Tom Welling’s superboy/man to show up.
Darren35
April 13, 2016 @ 11:46 pm
I keep hearing Tom Welling might be on the Flash’s season finale. There’s been talk of a crossover to Flash, then something about a cross over to Smallville where Kara thinks the Supergirl of Smallville is really Indigo playing a trick!
Scifiartist
April 14, 2016 @ 12:32 am
because like seriously I grew up on comics and they didn’t beat the hell out of each other for most of the plot. At least D.C. if you had read my entire discussion you might have read other actual plot lines rather than beating scenes. Not to mention Cory this was my first post and the first thing I get is you. I thought this was a discussion list.
Mikey Bigfoots
April 12, 2016 @ 5:59 am
Some of the veteran shows you mentioned get a pass because they are already generating money through syndication (NCIS, Elementary, Criminal Minds). If they viewership numbers don’t equal what they want in terms of production costs, then I could see them cutting the show. They could also give it a second season to see if it will perform better.
Matt Carter
April 12, 2016 @ 7:15 am
I know it’ll never happen, but it’d be fun to get graphs on budgets for most shows with cast, effects, and everything factored in. Effects may be heavy for Supergirl, but cast may be affordable compared to others.
Darren35
April 13, 2016 @ 2:58 am
How can Supergirl be that expensive to some people? I think each actor/actress is paid fairly. A show has to have some kind of graphics to make a fight scene exciting, like Supergirl vs. Maxima.
Mikey Bigfoots
April 13, 2016 @ 4:28 am
But they are comparing it to shows like NCIS, Elementary and Criminal Minds which use little to no money on CGI, The actors on these shows make more, but the viewership is also mostly higher. Criminal Minds is slightly higher, Elementary is about the same to lower, and NCIS is around double. All 3 are also in syndication which is bringing in even more money. Also add the fact that CBS is probably having to share some of the profits with DC.
Darren35
April 14, 2016 @ 12:00 am
Well I saw something that the Supergirl show scored a 6.2, not sure, and they beat Gotham that scored a 4.
Mikey Bigfoots
April 14, 2016 @ 5:59 am
According to wikipedia, the last episode of Supergirl to air (4/11/16) had a viewership of about 6.12 million viewers, while NCIS’s last aired episode (4/5/16) had a viewership of about 15.67 million viewers.
Darren35
April 15, 2016 @ 3:51 am
OK, but I know Gotham got a 4 something so Supergirl beat Gotham.
Mikey Bigfoots
April 15, 2016 @ 10:45 pm
Gotham is a different network.
Cory
April 13, 2016 @ 1:36 am
Those 3 shows all cost more than Supergirl in terms of paying their actors.
Mikey Bigfoots
April 13, 2016 @ 4:22 am
But they are also pulling in a lot more money. Also, just quick checking on wikipedia, NCIS has double the viewers that Supergirl has.
Cory
April 13, 2016 @ 6:28 pm
Wrong again. Nice try though.
Mikey Bigfoots
April 14, 2016 @ 6:00 am
Wrong again? Actually I am not. According to wikipedia, the last episode of Supergirl to air (4/11/16) had a viewership of about 6.12 million viewers, while NCIS’s last aired episode (4/5/16) had a viewership of about 15.67 million viewers.
The 3 shows given as examples in the article are all in syndication which means that even without dvd/BR, if the show were to be cancelled today, it would still be making money. Therefore on top of the money the network is making on advertising, they are making more money in syndication and making more episodes will bring in more syndication money.
IamNERD
April 12, 2016 @ 5:50 am
Supergirl really had developed a lot since the pilot. The interaction between the characters especially Cat, Supergirl and Alex had become so enjoyable to watch. Even on their worst rating episode, Supergirl is still doing well compared to other super hero shows in other channel. I wish CBS can make the right choice to renew for season 2. The show has given them so much boost from online streaming and also much younger demographic. The press has been very positive as well. I really wanna see more!!!
leitgo65
April 12, 2016 @ 8:58 am
I just hope they won’t pull a Fox.
Cory
April 13, 2016 @ 1:37 am
If they do I hope Berlanti will take it to CW
Darren35
April 13, 2016 @ 2:59 am
Me too.
Darren35
April 13, 2016 @ 2:59 am
Alex and Kara are terrific sisters. Winn and James are great friends. Cat has respect for Kara and Supergirl. CBS has to renew the show.
Gene Steinberg
April 14, 2016 @ 12:53 am
It appears there may be a death, however, in the last episode of season one. I predict Maxwell Lord. He is the character whose focus on gray areas of legality and morality caused Kara no end of grief. Even Myriad used his satellites to turn citizens into zombies.
Yes, they’ve come together now, but it would be a fitting end. He redeems himself and he dies.
Among the lead characters or regulars, he seems most likely. Lucy Lane is too critical to the canon, and I do not see and end to Martian Manhunter. Obviously, I may be proven wrong in a few days.
Peace,
Gene
Darren35
April 14, 2016 @ 5:22 am
There could be 2 deaths, not on the same show but one, it could Non in the final episode and the other death in another episode, Maxwell Lord. I was reading something that Maxwell Lord is killed and the Bizarro Supergirl is framed and Kara wants to help clear her!
Thanks for replying. I’ve been a big fan of Supergirl. There are some terrific SUpergirl sites on Facebook if you have time to visit and talk to fans.
j Masonn
April 12, 2016 @ 3:32 am
i love this showw
Paul
April 12, 2016 @ 1:46 pm
Great show and has evolved nicely! I really did it too!
Paul
April 12, 2016 @ 1:47 pm
Dig it too! ?
The Pool Man
April 11, 2016 @ 11:00 pm
This show wins the funniest all time ‘great recovery’ award. The pilot was TERRIBLE. It was plot hole WTF swiss cheese. But then Berlanti Inc. started patching the holes. One hole per episode. As in “let’s finally explain how Cat doesn’t know ‘Kiera’ is SG’. It took eight or so episodes. Without spoiling — when they fixed the ‘Let’s make Hank way more interesting’ hole the show came to LIFE. It’s been AWESOME ever since.
To cancel a show that fixed itself in this manner is tragic. I’d have more understood if it was gone after episode 4. But not NOW.
Baxter
April 12, 2016 @ 12:24 am
Kind of how I feel. I watched the first 2, and was feeling very “eh” about the show. I came back around 10, maybe? Suddenly the show was good, and kept getting better every week! It’s already a better Superman/DC comics show than Smallville ever was. Only it’s Supergirl. They’re using a lot of actual comic characters, and they’re unashamed about costuming them like a comic, and I like it.
jdwii
April 12, 2016 @ 1:49 am
Lex made smallville one of my favorite shows of all time. So no i do not think we even have someone like that at all on this show.
Christian Chandia
April 12, 2016 @ 8:14 pm
Smallville was ok. Supergirl is better
Smallville came off as the early years of Flash. Ten years of l”no tights no flight” killed it for ne
jdwii
April 12, 2016 @ 11:39 pm
I’ll admit i only liked the show for lex and lionel. Lex to me on smallville was easily my favorite lex on any super man series or movie.
cor2879
April 14, 2016 @ 7:16 pm
Smallville was good while it was taking place in high school. After they got out of school but continued to make it a teen drama show for another six years, it was not so good.
The Pool Man
April 12, 2016 @ 3:35 am
I’m not saying SUPERGIRL is BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (series) quality, but it’s way better than these Zack Snyder features.
The problem is men only like heroes that are bad ass… which is why men went GA-GA over the Red Kryptonite episode. The problem is hero nobility is kinda dead and so SG has an uphill battle not only because of her being female but because she has a heart — which —
— is why SG is a weak choice for bad-ass CBS yet perfect for CW.
Robot Dad
April 12, 2016 @ 8:45 pm
I disagree. The problem is the writing is on the same level as Disney channel kid shows, which is fine because this show is for kids. I’m a DC fanboy, which is why I dislike this show so much (I don’t care for Arrow, Flash, or Legends of tomorrow either).
I have no problem with female heroes. I collected Supergirl, Batgirl, Wonder Woman, etc comics. I gave this show more than a couple of tries. Each episode is worse than the last (save for the pilot…that one is the worst). It feels like they’re trying to crowbar as much DC as they can with little attention to how it will play out. How many friggin kryptonians reside on earth and why haven’t they just taken over already? Hank Henshaw is the martian manhunter? bizarre supergirl…already? There is no imagination or creativity just copied and pasted superhero cliché’s and tropes (flash/supergirl race).
There is a real lack of female leading superhero shows, and in that respect this show is a definite positive and because of that I’m confident the show will get renewed. I hate it but I can easily just watch something else.
Cory
April 13, 2016 @ 1:34 am
If you don’t like The Flash or Legends you are not a DC fanboy. And you have made that clear with your comment.
Darren35
April 13, 2016 @ 2:55 am
I like the DC shows. Watched Smallville, Wonder Woman, Batman, Hulk. These people are pathetic, they whine over anything they don’t like. I like Supergirl.
LaRue EXE
April 13, 2016 @ 12:57 pm
We live in an age where everyone thinks they are grade a critics who are superior to others when it comes to knowing what makes a good show/movie and they can be unemployed but still tell how writers/directors etc are messing up, as if they themselves are completely educated in the theatrical arts, then there are the people who will never be satisfied then there is the worst group, the group I think robot dad belongs to. That group is people who have no superiority in their own life and because they feel so inferior then they will take a show they actually enjoy and go online bashing it in a manner they believe makes them seem too intelligent to be entertained by such nonsense, the way you know it is somebody from that group is if there message says they quit watching the show or they have no interest in show yet somehow they find themselves posting comments on a random review or news article that someone who has no interest in said show would have a hard time coming by said story/review by accident, lol they hate the show so much and gave up on it early on yet here they are commenting on a review for episode 19. LMFAO!!!!!!!
Darren35
April 14, 2016 @ 5:32 am
I know what you mean. Mick LaSalle on the SF CHronicle would pan a movie that turned out to be a great hit. While Batman vs. Superman to me wasn’t top rated, I still it was good and 255 million spent on it was exciting and kept my interest up at the end where I want to see Justice League part 1 next year when it comes out. I thought the ep of Supergirl was fantastic and great epic at the end. Can’t wait for the finale.
The Pool Man
April 14, 2016 @ 6:55 pm
I enjoy the FLASH but would rate it #3 under ARROW and SUPERGIRL as my least enthusiastic premise. Meaning if all three shows were awesome, I’d likely enjoy SG the most, ARROW next, and FLASH the least. However the execution of FLASH is so fun it’s currently tied with SG as simply ‘fun’.
LEGENDS is garbage. Which breaks my heart — because the trailer made it look fantastic. It’s trash because the stories make zero sense. Every episode feels like a first draft written by someone who has never seen the show.
The Pool Man
April 13, 2016 @ 6:10 pm
“which is fine because this show is for kids”
1. Our entire society is for kids at this point. And a kid is any human who’s not dead yet. It wasn’t just kids packing those theaters with those WRETCHED Harry Potter movies.
2. This show is for the young and light of heart, which includes actual kids but isn’t aimed at them. If you watch any episode with your eyes open there’s always a soap opera romantic angle.
Nicholas Bloom
April 13, 2016 @ 8:22 pm
dude your comment is so invalid
Darren35
April 14, 2016 @ 5:29 am
It takes time for the writing and for the characters to find the footing, but I think what also hurt the show was the ‘pre emptions and then there was the week of what happened in Paris with ISIS that they felt the one ep should’ve been on one week later, but I think to me that kind of killed momentum Supergirl was having. I think not having SUpergirl on and then not promoting it enough or not even putting it on a Facebook or a Twitter page, CBS sometimes hurt the show, though not intentionally, but better preparations should’ve been made in why the show got bumped rather then air out a repeat episode. Despite being up against Gotham on Fox, this show did very well and even beat the show a few times. Maybe Fox might have to move Gotham.
Kiera, ‘Cara’ ‘Kara’, man, I always believed her name was ‘Kara Zor El’, but they keep pronouncing it differently.
I like to see more of 24 like action in Supergirl of a crisis and sometimes resolving it a week later and then add a subplot of another plot coming to life.
The Pool Man
April 14, 2016 @ 8:02 pm
I’m a big fan of these Berlanti shows (except for LEGENDS). The problem is he and his teams never rework the pilots properly. I think they take a funny pragmatic approach and say “Let’s let the fans tell us what to do” which means you can run half a season of MEH until ComicCon feedback pours in and the show actually gets fixed.
My problem is that I’m a creative writer and I simply know there are practices of good writing to follow. And SG and FLASH were weak rushed pilots. They were more examples of what was coming instead of excellent stand alone stories.
The best TV shows always arrived with footing found. This is because often they’d film a pilot that was so bad they wouldn’t release it. STAR TREK did this. GILLIGAN’S ISLAND did this. If you didn’t know the latter search Google for the shocking pilot with a nearly completely different cast. It’s mind blowing.