‘Nikita’: Season 3 episode replaced by ‘America’s Next Top Model’ special

It was admittedly a surprise to see “Nikita” season 3 really happen based solely on the ratings alone; now, it is looking as though The CW may be regretting their own decision to renew the struggling series, which does have a fiercely loyal following nonetheless.

According to TVbythenumbers, The CW has decided to not air the planned new episode set to air on November 16, and in its place they are going to broadcast a special episode of “America’s Next Top Model: College Edition” that chronicles some of the best moments over the course of the season. These sort of specials are common for the show, but the implication in scheduling it here is that the network obviously thinks it will fare better than “Nikita” during the key November sweeps period.

The issue here for the future of “Nikita” is the same one that it has always been: there’s just not enough viewers, and you can blame it on everything from a bad timeslot to an unrelated lead-in to even it not getting enough promotion. The end result here is still the same. Regardless of how entertaining the show is, the idea that The CW would renew it for a fourth season to get it to the 88-episode syndication threshold also seems a little overblown. If few people aren’t watching it now, who’s going to be willing to buy it in syndication? If the network does opt to keep it until that point, they will probably air it on offseason months such as the summer or the months of January, March, and April.

Do you think this is indicative of “Nikita” season 3 being the end, even if there are syndication benefits to bringing the show back?