NBC Halts ‘Constantine,’ Series’ Future Unknown
The “Keep Constantine On-Air Watch 2014″ is nigh here at Geekscape HQ (aka, my desk at home). According to Deadline, NBC has halted production on Constantine after work on the initial 13-episode order was completed. The network will still air the remaining episodes at its usual time slot while they decide what to do next. Renewal or an episode order past thirteen episodes is a possibility at this moment, but the situation is delicate.
I like to imagine NBC executives are now pacing around the room, with an intern scribbling on a yellow legal pad with “PROS” and “CONS” written on opposite sides.
From Deadline:
NBC had to make a decision whether to keep Constantine in continuous production with little ratings information. While the series began production on a standard fall premiere production schedule, its launch was delayed until late October when NBC’s Friday genre block usually debuts, so the network had to make a call whether to order additional episodes after only four episodes had aired vs. at least seven, which is the norm for freshman series.
Constantine has not been a breakout the way fellow NBC Friday genre drama Grimm was in its debut. But NBC brass were probably encouraged by the freshman’s +38% week-to-week ratings jump for Episode 5 this Friday to a 1.1 among adults 18-49 in Live+Same day, the show’s highest mark since the series debut, and by its best retention of the Grimm lead-in, also since the series debut. Additionally, Constantine, based on the DC property, has strong fan base because of its comic origins and has seen big DVR lifts, most recently rising +81% in Live+3 for Episode 4, regarded by fans as a possible creative turning point in the series.
I don’t know what to blame should Constantine be canceled. I’d like to blame something, because that’s just how I pathetically occupy my time, and I point the finger at timing or lack of week-of promotion. Friday nights might be a “death slot” but that hasn’t stopped shows from finding an audience. It seems no one paid attention in the week it premiered, no matter how many ads they bought on YouTube, and definitely no one paid attention in week two which was Halloween night. That has left just the last few weeks for the show to build an audience — and it has! — but on the executives’ end of things it may not have come soon enough. All the summer hype seemed to fade when it came to the week of the premiere. Who in the marketing department slacked off?
It still baffles me how The Walking Dead succeeded premiering on Halloween night in 2010.
Deadline had some additional information that made me chuckle:
NBC has been supportive of the show, running a marathon of episodes on cable sibling Syfy this weekend and slating Constantine cast members to appear on the network’s broadcast of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade next week.
Having the cast show up on one of the biggest daytime television events of the year? That just might do the trick! If not, at least we’ll have the memory of an Alan Moore creation smiling next to Santa Claus in the most corporate of carnivals in the 21st century. That’s a scary enough thought to last a lifetime. See? Constantine IS a horror show!
Speaking of the cast, remember when I spoke to executive producer David S. Goyer and actors Matt Ryan and Angelica Celaya about the show at this year’s New York Comic-Con? Good times.
My fellow Constantine fans should hope for the best, but after my heart was broken with the cancellation of Selfie (I’m serious) I’m preparing for the worst. Still, hope is not lost! If you want the show to remain on air, show support and watch live (ESPECIALLY you bastards who are in Neilsen homes) and flood your social media as much as possible. No one cares about that Mumford & Sons lyric anyway, so tweet #Constantine instead!
Meanwhile, “Danse Vaudou” was last week’s episode, and was also probably the best of the season (so far).
http://youtu.be/ELBDBua4k3w?list=UUwLw7wMt6ra3yIdSd8EK8FQ
(Psst. If you haven’t seen Constantine yet, allow me from a few weeks ago to convince you why you should!)
