The Blacklist: Redemption season 2 renewal odds, hopes

Before tonight’s finale airs, why not take a further look at The Blacklist: Redemption season 2 renewal odds? It’s a show that probably premiered with low expectations in terms of ratings, but it has performed well enough at times to make us wonder what NBC is thinking in terms of its future.

Let’s start here by looking at its overall live+same day numbers. To date, the show’s averaged close to a 0.8 rating in the 18-49 demographic and close to 4.1 million viewers. These numbers compare to the flagship The Blacklist averaging close to a 1.1 rating and close to 5.5 million viewers. In both cases, you’re seeing the spin-off keep about 72% of the demo and about 76% of the main show’s total viewers. When you consider that Redemption may not have much appeal beyond the viewers for the regular show, that’s not all that bad. Unfortunately, there are two issues that compound this slightly:

1. The divide between the two widens when you include DVR data — while live+same day is more important because you’re getting guaranteed eyeballs on commercials, it’s still worth pointing out.

2. The most recent episode of Redemption drew a series low, and rounded up to a 0.7 rating in the demo. Therefore, momentum is not on its side. (The lowest rating we’ve seen for the main series so far this season is a 0.9.)

Are there going to be interesting ideas floating around out there for a season 2 of The Blacklist: Redemption? We have to hope so, given that this first season is only eight episodes, and we could easily see this being something that NBC opts to do again. After all, what other benefit are they going to get out of this timeslot? The only other thing they could consider, if they renew the original show for another 22-episode season, is them trying some other new show in here during hiatus, or just structure the schedule differently so that The Blacklist doesn’t air in blocks and you have repeats popping in here and there. We think that so long as you keep the budget low, there’s not a tremendous downside to giving Redemption another eight episodes … unless of course you’re really confident that something else can do better.

If the show is canceled, we believe that Ryan Eggold will be incorporated back in the main show. Even if it’s renewed, that may happen anyway. He could just take off for another eight episodes once more.

Do you want to see The Blacklist: Redemption renewed for a season 2? Vote in the poll below!

Meanwhile, head over here to preview the finale further. (Photo: NBC.)