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TV renewal week: Which shows will make the cut? Several shows from the big networks including “30 Rock,” “Community,” and “CSI: New York” are in a state of television limbo, as casts wait to see whether ratings and fan fare are enough to earn another season.
"Nikita"
CW’s decision to move this online-fan fave from Thursdays, following “Vampire Diaries,” to Friday did it no favors this season, ratings-wise.
Ben Mark Holzberg
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The CW
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"Ringer"
Sarah Michelle Gellar’s TV series comeback averaged just 1.8 million viewers for CW this season (compared with 2.8 million for “Vampire Diaries”). Meanwhile, rumor has it Gellar, who plays twins on this series, is pregnant, which means working two pregnancies into the already mind-numbingly complicated storyline — or one twin spending about half the season behind a potted palm.
Michael Desmond
“Cougar Town”
Creator Bill Lawrence hoped to gin up interest in his quirky comedy’s midseason return with an open-bar news conference this past January, but even the endorsement of well-lubricated TV critics couldn’t trump death by time slot. ABC moved the single-camera comedy to immediately follow Tim Allen’s retro multi-camera laugh-track sitcom where – guess what – it’s not doing as well as it did when if followed “Modern Family.” Lawrence’s camp has contacted TBS to see whether it’s interested in “Cougar Town” if ABC takes a powder.
Richard Foreman
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ABC
“Gossip Girl”
Once CW’s signature show, “GG” was not among the shows to get an early pick-up, because its ratings are WAY off in its fifth season.
The CW Network
"Don't Trust the B--- in Apartment 23"
The midseason ABC comedy is no slam-dunk, but James Van Der Beek’s exercise in self-deprecation is doing a better job retaining its “Modern Family” lead-in audience than did “Happy Endings” this season.
Richard Cartwright
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AP
“GCB”
Campy chick dramedy clearly is not going to fill “Desperate Housewives’” shoes but it’s faring better for ABC on Sundays at 10 than did other series. Plus it’s beating CBS’s drama in its Sunday slot among younger viewers, which is maybe damning with faint praise.
Bill Matlock
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ABC
“Scandal”
ABC’s Washington caricature is attracting more viewers following “Grey’s Anatomy” than had “Grey’s” spin-off “Private Practice.” There’s some talk of a half-season order of 13 episodes.
Danny Feld
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ABC
“Alcatraz”
Fox has renewed Kiefer Sutherland’s number-crunching drama, “Touch,” dimming the prospects of JJ Abram’s new drama.
James Dittiger
“Rules of Engagement”
On the bubble every year, “Rules” is a valued utility player, but it never quite makes the starting lineup.
Ron P. Jaffe
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CBS
“Community”
This NBC comedy’s ratings wouldn’t normally merit consideration for next season, but can NBC do better with anything else in the time slot that also includes both Fox’s “American Idol” and CBS’s “Big Bang Theory”?
Justin Lubin
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NBC
"CSI: Miami"
CBS chief Leslie Moonves recently indicated one of the CSI spinoffs is going to get it in the neck. The New York version seems to be the odds-on favorite, but “Miami’s” also feeling the heat.
Mark J. Terrill
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AP
“CSI: NY”
Back in February, CBS chief Leslie Moonves told investors it would shutter one of its aging procedurals to make room for new programming and while he did not point the finger at any one show, odds-on fave is “CSI: NY” or “CSI: Miami.” “To use a sports term, we’re going to take a player off the field a year early rather than a year late,” Moonves said.
Cliff Lipson
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CBS
"Unforgettable"
One year ago CBS moved “The Good Wife” out of the Wednesday 10 p.m. time slot because it was strong with viewers overall, but soft with key demographic groups and did not capitalize on its twin “NCIS” lead-ins. This season, its replacement, “Unforgettable,” has been strong among viewers overall, but soft with key demographic groups and did not capitalize on its twin “NCIS” lead-ins — fading in the second half of the season.
Giovanni Rufino
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AP
“Whitney”
Not an outright hit, but it is NBC’s top performing multi-camera comedy and NBC wants to get back into that business again.
Jordin Althaus
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NBC
“Parks & Recreation”
Amy Poehler’s comedy attracts a small-ish crowd, but of all the shows NBC scheduled to follow “The Office” this season, “P&R” has done the best job retaining “The Office’s” audience.
Tyler Golden
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NBC
“Parenthood”
NBC’s ensemble drama lost momentum when it took a six-week break, and it has a large – read, “pricey” – ensemble cast, but it’s the youngest-skewing 10 p.m. drama on any broadcast network, and it refreshingly breaks the stranglehold that cops/docs/lawyers/desperate women have on the genre.
Chris Haston
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NBC Universal
“30 Rock”
Part of NBC’s Thursday comedy lineup once famously known as Must See TV, but now better known as Self-Referential TV, star Alec Baldwin may have spilled the beans when he recently tweeted he was leaving the network in the nick of time after spying a “Today” show crew camped outside his apartment to cover his stalker story.
Nicole Rivelli
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NBC
“Harry’s Law”
In recent weeks, Kathy Bates’s NBC drama has been the network’s second-most-watched franchise – behind only its two nights of “The Voice.” On the other hand, it’s attracting fewer 18-49 year olds – the currency of NBC ad sales – than Betty White’s “Off Their Rockers.”
Lewis Jacobs
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NBC
“Up All Night”
Betty White’s “Off Their Rockers” is pulling in a bigger crowd on Wednesday than this freshman NBC comedy did earlier in the season — but it’s a newer, fresher comedy from “30 Rock” exec producer Lorne Michaels.
Trae Patton
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NBC
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