It might be time to begin saying our last goodbyes, as Brilliant Minds’ odds of surviving are not looking good at all.
NBC has released the schedule for March, and sadly, there is no trace of Brilliant Minds anywhere on the schedule. This indicates that the show will continue to remain off the schedule and hints that NBC has no sense of urgency to slot the show back into its current programming slate. This lack of urgency to bring fans the final episodes of season 2 suggests the odds of a third season have dropped further and that it will take a miracle for Brilliant Minds to score a renewal.
While disappointing, it’s not entirely shocking to see that Brilliant Minds is being kept off the schedule as this move seems to support the initial reports that fans could be in for a long wait to see how the show’s second season ends.
On February 4, just days after Brilliant Minds season 2, episode 14, aired, NBC shocked fans by revealing it was pulling the final six episodes from the schedule. No direct explanation was provided by the network as to why the decision was made when it was made, and the timing was certainly unexpected.
Brilliant Minds fans knew that the show would be taking a multi-week break in February like every other NBC show in order to make room for the network’s Winter Olympics coverage. The expectation was that the show would then resume in the final week of February or the first week of March, after the Olympics concluded. Instead, NBC decided to yank the show from the schedule and air two-hour episodes of The Voice season 29 on Mondays.
Early reports suggested that the show could remain off the air until summer, and it’s certainly starting to look like that might be the plan. NBC’s April programming slate isn’t expected to be confirmed for several weeks, but the fact that Brilliant Minds remains off the air through March hints NBC isn’t in a rush to make room for the show in its lineup.
Between the show being pulled off the air and its declining ratings, the odds are certainly not in Brilliant Minds’ favor. At this point, the best fans could hope for is that Netflix somehow lands the rights to season 1, leading to a surge in interest in the show, which could give NBC a reason to consider a third season. However, even if the show were to hit Netflix and crack the Top 10, we simply don’t see a world in which the doors of Bronx General Hospital remain open beyond those final six episodes of season 2.
It wasn’t that long ago that we saw Manifest shoot to No. 1 on Netflix following its arrival on the streaming service, and NBC remained unfazed by the increased interest in the show. Despite the surge in popularity and increased Save Our Show efforts, NBC canceled Manifest after three seasons. Netflix would end up stepping in to save the show, giving it a final season, but the fact that NBC passed on the show despite the promise it showed when hitting Netflix suggests that even a streaming boost is not always enough.
Brilliant Minds is likely to end after just two seasons, placing it on an ever-growing list of shows gone too soon.