By mid-May, the broadcast networks must make some tough calls as to which series will return for the 2018-19 TV season, and which… won’t. Civil 3d 2014 xforce keygen.
As that deadline draws near, TVLine is singling out a few “bubble” shows and sizing up their prospects — based in large part on their creative strides (…and stumbles) and future potential, but also with a requisite nod to cold, hard numbers.
Next up is a Fox supernatural drama in danger of getting banished from the schedule.
THE SHOW|The Exorcist (Season 2 aired Fridays at 9/8c)
THE CASE FOR KEEPING| As excommunicated exorcist Marcus and his (increasingly less) naïve protégé Father Tomas, Ben Daniels and Alfonso Herrera, respectively, have one of the most captivating partnerships currently on television. Their relationship, which unfolds as the men of faith explore a new case each season, is rife with love, jealousy, admiration, betrayal and fear; the fact that Marcus fled after killing an innocent man to save Tomas in the Season 2 finale just means that there are even more levels of their fraught friendship to explore in a potential Season 3.
That Season 3, by the way, likely would feel like a different drama — by design. Each tight, 10-episode season is one chapter in an anthology, with only Marcus, Tomas and a few other characters carrying over from year to year. Put simply: Each new season is literally a fresh hell full of opportunities to explore new horror subgenres, which keeps the storytelling from getting stale. The Season 2 addition of Zuleikha Robinson as Marcus’ badass former apprentice Mouse, as well as a severe complication involving Kurt Egyiawan’s Father Bennett, also provide plenty of dark, scary fodder for more episodes of the exquisitely shot drama.
THE CASE FOR CUTTING| There’s only one reason for Fox to strike the excellent Exorcist from its primetime lineup, but that reason’s a biggie: the show’s frightful ratings. Averaging 1.3 million total weekly viewers and a 0.4 demo rating, The Exorcist is down sharply from the 1.9 mil/0.7 that mustered a renewal last year. Worse, it not only stands as Fox’s least watched and lowest rated program this TV season (save for some boxing show that airs on Saturday nights), it possesses the worst numbers of any non-CW drama.
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Fox’s well received but low rated horror drama series The Exorcist has been axed after two seasons.
Your Complete Guide to Pilots and Straight-to-Series orders
The series, which starred Geena Davis in its first season, started off with a lot of promise. “This show is going to turn heads,” Fox chairman Gary Newman said of The Exorcist to a lot of chuckles (and a few groans) in one of the more memorable lines from the network’s 2016 upfront presentation.
The Exorcist was met with some of the best reviews for a new series that fall, and the acclaim continued in Season 2. But, scheduled on Friday nights, the series adaptation of the classic 1973 movie never got traction. In its most recent second season, it averaged a paltry 0.6 adults 18-49 Live+7 rating.
Putting the horror series on Friday nights was “tough for that show,” Newman told Deadline in March. “We had hoped that we would be able to tap into a moviegoing crowd who didn’t want to go out to the movies… and we did get some viewership. Overwatch activation code. I thought the show was incredibly well produced, the stories were great.”
The Exorcist wrapped its second season on December 15 with the bloody and unexpected death of a major character. The finale posted a 0.4 Live+same day 18-49 rating, down 33% from its Season 1 ender of December 16, 2016.
Season 2 of The Exorcist picked up with Father Tomas Ortega (Alfonso Herrera) and a newly collarless Marcus Keane (Ben Daniels) out of Chicago and on the road, searching out evil. Across the Atlantic, Father Bennett (Kurt Egyiawan) attempts to weed out those within the Vatican who have turned against God. Ultimately, Tomas and Marcus are led to Andrew Kim (John Cho), a former child psychologist who runs a group home for five at-risk foster children on a secluded private island off the coast of Seattle. When one of the children under Andrew’s care is targeted by a powerful force, the two priests head west, setting themselves on a collision course with hell.
Hannah Kasulka, Li Jun Li, Brianna Hildebrand, Alex Burima and Hunter Dillon also starred in Season 2.
Created by Jeremy Slater, The Exorcist hailed from Morgan Creek Productions in association with 20th Century Fox Television. Slater, Sean Crouch, Rupert Wyatt, Roy Lee, James Robinson, David Robinson and Barbara Wall served as executive producers.
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