The CW’s Tomorrow People Teeters On The Verge Of Cancellation

By Brent McKnight | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

The Tomorrow PeopleFor fans of the CW’s reboot of The Tomorrow People, and there must be some of you out there somewhere, though not as many as the network would like, we have a bit of potential bad news for you. It doesn’t look like the first year show is long for this world, and it sits teetering on the verge of cancellation.

The show hasn’t officially been cancelled, and will continue to air in its usual Wednesday night timeslot, for the moment, but the outlook for continued survival is not particularly good at this juncture. Now that we’re in the middle of the television season, where shows often take a hiatus or are superseded by season-specific specials, TV By the Numbers has done some looking at the ratings so far, and The Tomorrow People is in trouble. According to their approach—a formula that takes in ratings and other factors—The Tomorrow People only has a 20% chance of being renewed, and has been categorized “Cancelation Predicted.” Again, this is far from official, but TV By the Numbers has a pretty good track record with this sort of thing.

There are, however, a few glimmers of hope, so don’t throw in the towel just yet. Starting next spring, after the March 12 episode, The Tomorrow People will jump from Wednesdays to a Monday night position, a slot that has traditionally been kind to genre shows in the past. It will unfortunately face stiff competition, up against The Voice and Sleepy Hollow. Airing at 9pm, perhaps sci-fi fans will flip networks to continue their genre fix after they’re done watching Almost Human on Fox at 8.

The CW is also not exactly a juggernaut when it comes to ratings, and they may be more inclined to take a risk on a low-rated show that they believe in, despite a lack of public response. This may be a pipe dream, but stranger things have happened. While the overall viewership of The Tomorrow People hasn’t picked up—in fact it’s been bleeding out over most of the season—the show has progressed and found more of its own voice. When it began, the series was a standard you’re-not-weird-you’ve-got-powers kind of story, but it began to come into its own as the season has gone on. It isn’t great, but it has continued to improve. Maybe if the show can pull in even slightly higher numbers it could manage to survive.

The Tomorrow People is based on a British kid’s show that aired during the mid to late 1970s, and has already seen a couple of adaptations over the years. It follows a group of youngsters who are the next stage of human evolution, and have developed powers, like telekinesis and the ability to teleport. Of course, there are powerful people out there who are afraid of these kids and will do terrible, terrible things to stop them. From this description you can see why it has garnered comparisons to the X-Men.