Good Girls season 3 renewal debate: Will more stories come to NBC?
Good Girls is a show that clearly entered this season with a challenge. It’s airing at the same Sunday-night midseason timeslot that doomed Timeless when it aired there, and it doesn’t even have the same super-active social community that Timeless has. While it’s got a good cast and a creative premise, it unfortunately doesn’t really have that appointment-viewing label to it. There are a lot of people out there who’d love it but probably just assume they can stream it later, not really understanding that their viewership is the very thing that could actually keep it on the air for a while longer.
Clearly, Good Girls is a bubble show, but just how hopeful are we for its future? Let’s take a larger look now — at the bottom of this article, there’s a poll where you can share your own thoughts on the show’s future.
The case for a renewal – Sooner or later, NBC has to take a chance on some original shows that aren’t necessarily killing it in the ratings. Good Girls is one to consider doing that for. It’s got a great cast, a solid mold of genres, and the ability to be somewhat of a self-starter. It’s performing as well as it is without a flurry of promotion and it can be that utility player for them. It’s always good to have a couple of middle-of-the-road shows in the ratings that you can use at midseason following Sunday Night Football … or to replace another show that isn’t working all that well.
One thing that Good Girls benefits from that Timeless did not is that NBC does have more ownership behind the scenes. That means that they don’t have to share the profits with anywhere near as many people — which, in turn, may mean they can pocket more per episode even with smaller ratings.
The case for cancellation – No matter how you try to gussy it up, we’re still talking about a show drawing a 0.6 rating on average in the 18-49 demographic. That’s down big from the season 1 average, and about even with what Timeless was drawing in the timeslot last year. Since Timeless was canceled, it’s fair to assume that this one could be as well. Good Girls is NBC’s lowest-rated drama currently on the air save for Blindspot in the demo, and it’s actually performing worse than Blindspot in total viewers. Some other midseason shows, including The Enemy Within and The Village, are currently performing a little bit better — they are supported by some better lead-ins, but still.
Our current prognosis
While Good Girls isn’t dead in the water, we’re more pessimistic than optimistic right now. Because NBC has a lot of other successful shows including Manifest, New Amsterdam, One Chicago, This Is Us, and Law & Order: SVU, they have less stuff that they’re really able to cancel. Good Girls could just end up being an unfortunate casualty of success elsewhere.
What are you hoping to see when it comes to a Good Girls season 3 renewal over at NBC? Be sure to share right now in the attached comments! (Photo: NBC.)