The Gifted sadly isn’t a surprising cancellation by FOX
The Gifted has been canceled after two seasons. Unfortunately, it’s not a surprising casualty of the 2018-2019 season and I’m sure there will be more to come soon.
Hearing the news that The Gifted has been canceled after two seasons isn’t all that surprising. It’s sad but it’s something I’ve suspected would happen since around the third or fourth episode of the season. In fact, FOX put it in a difficult position from the start and I wondered whether it would stand a chance in the 2018-2019 season from the very beginning.
In terms of live viewers, the first season was mediocre. It had a passionate fanbase online but people weren’t tuning into the series live every week. When FOX announced that the second season would air on Tuesdays at 8 p.m., I immediately feared cancellation. At the time, it was going up against NCIS and Roseanne. Granted, Roseanne was canceled but ABC put the spin-off The Conners in its place.
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The first timeslot on a Tuesday is always highly competitive. It’s hard for any network to sustain good ratings against CBS and ABC. The CW does well to keep its fanbase but then we’re looking at a completely different demographic. The idea that The Gifted could go up against the usual suspects in that timeslot was ludicrous in the first place and it told me FOX didn’t have much hope anyway.
Even when it moved to the 9 p.m. slot in the new year, it was up against some major competition. NBC’s This Is Us is one of the highest rated dramas on TV, especially in the demo. CBS’ FBI took off extremely well. There was simply too much against it.
If FOX really wanted to give The Gifted a chance, it would have been best keeping it on a Monday night. Or maybe moving it to a Wednesday night would have been better.
Low ratings are never good on FOX. It’s a network that will take quick action instead of moving shows to Fridays (where Last Man Standing has been performing exceptionally well, so why change that?). We just have to look at the cancellations of Lucifer and Brooklyn Nine-Nine to see what bad timeslots can do to popular shows.
The Gifted became a victim of poor scheduling decisions. This wasn’t about the storyline — although there were some weaknesses but they’re not solely to blame — but about a network making a bad decision.
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I don’t see The Gifted being saved by another network like Lucifer and Brooklyn Nine-Nine were. However, maybe it could move over to the Disney+ service if licenses would allow.
On another note, Rel has also been canceled after just one season. Considering the live ratings, it’s another show that I’m not surprised has been axed by FOX.
Next. 30 TV shows in danger of being canceled in 2019. dark
What do you think about The Gifted‘s cancellation? Do you think FOX needs to rethink its scheduling plan? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
The Gifted Seasons 1 and 2 are available to stream on Hulu.