New TV Shows That Won't Survive 2019

You've probably heard somewhere on the Interwebz that we're in a brand-spankin' new Golden Age of Television. That's great for the likes of you and me — Mr. and Mrs. Netflix-N-Chill — but for all of those writers, actors, and showrunners trying to pay their bills by capturing and retaining your televised attention ... times are tough in the streaming streets. Much like new restaurants, new TV shows come and go all the time. Much like those new restaurants, it's because the show isn't offering up anything delectable enough to keep people coming back.

So while the rest of the television reviewing glitterati fawn over which TV shows have the staying power to be your next long weekend binge watch, we prefer to take a look at some of the TV shows that could end up being things of the past before most people knew they were things of the present. Alas, poor programs ... we knew ye well. Okay, maybe not that well.

For years, Nickelodeon has prospered by creating live-action TV shows for kids and tweens helping launch the careers of Jessica Alba, Ariana Grande, Melissa Joan Hart, Kenan Thompson, and others. One of Nick's latest attempts at star making is Cousins for Life. Scarlet Spencer and Dallas Dupree Young star as Ivy and Stuart, a pair of cousins forced by circumstance under the same roof. The duo becomes friends despite different backgrounds and has adventures together.

Cousins for Life premiered last November with decent numbers, drawing more than 600,000 viewers for its first episode. Throughout its runs, the ratings remained stable, with the show's zenith coming in early February thanks to an episode that pulled in over a million viewers. Generally, there's nothing about that viewership numbers that would suggest anything but renewal for this one. But as of yet, there's been no word that Cousins for Life is being renewed. No news isn't always good news. Then again, it's better than bad news.

There are the games people play that networks clamor for — usually, they're professional sports with big names and even bigger broadcast rights fees. Then there's Games People Play — BET's first-season drama about a woman experiencing life as the wife of a pro basketball superstar and the trials and tribulations that accompany such a marriage. You're forgiven if your mind automatically goes to The Game, the former BET series that ran for nine seasons and focused on the life and times of the WAGs (Wives and Girlfriends) of professional football players.

Perhaps trying to fill the void left by The Game since its departure from television in 2015, Games People Play opened well with more than 750,000 viewers in its April debut. The show has also held its own in the uber-coveted 18-49 demographic. But the problem is a lack of consistency among viewers from week to week. There might not be tons of pressure for Games People Play to score big, but if the show can't stabilize, it'll be game over.

History hasn't been kind to the Paradise Hotel franchise. The show has been booted and rebooted on multiple occasions, yet hasn't found a way to invite guests for more than one season. But if at first you don't succeed, try, try ... and try again. Fox has one again opened its hotel to a slew of sexy singles seeking love — or at least a good time. The twist (?) this time is that it's hosted by Kristin Cavallari.

As a summer TV show with a purposely short run — just seven episodes — there probably isn't an expectation from the network of enormous ratings, especially on a usually competitive Thursday night. The overall numbers were average at best when the show premiered in early May and took a significant nosedive after the first couple of weeks. Despite a rebound in the couple of weeks that followed, Fox canceled the series before the season finished its run.

If everything goes in cycles, then The Name of the Rose is being cultivated for a new generation. What was originally a novel was adapted to the big screen in a 1986 feature starring Sean Connery and Christian Slater. This time around, The Name of the Rose was planted as a mini-series on SundanceTV with some equally recognizable names in John Turturro and Rupert Everett in two of the lead roles.

It's a bit of a departure for a network that isn't well known for scripted programming, and though it's slated for just a six-episode run, it doesn't mean that this coudn't germinate into a full-fledged series. Or does it? SundanceTV tends to believe more in the prestige of its programs than in huge ratings numbers but with just over 100,000 people tuning in for the first week's episodes it's fair to wonder if the network will continue to spend what it takes to bring a period drama to life for an extended run. A rose by any other name may smell just as sweet, but it may not draw as many viewers.

For years, WGN was best known for being the television home of the Chicago Cubs or reruns of America's Funniest Home Videos. The network attempted to change its image several years ago by offering a slate of original programming. That move was short-lived when Outsiders and Underground were eventually cancelled. Now comes Gone, a crime procedural featuring Chris Noth, who's no stranger to playing a cop on television, having portrayed Mike Logan on multiple iterations of Law & Order.

It only translated to mediocre viewership numbers during what was billed as a limited series run despite airing 12 episodes. Gone peaked in its late February opening and mostly went downhill from there, finishing its season with fewer than 300,000 people tuning in. With so many police procedurals filling the airwaves across multiple networks, there's a pretty good chance that Gone may be just that when the spring of 2020 rolls around.

Depending on who you ask, Saturday Night Live could have been subtitled The Alec Baldwin Show with the number of appearances the actor has made on the NBC staple in recent seasons. Instead, the actual TV show that went by that name was a weekly hourlong affair that saw Baldwin and a guest chatting a wide variety of topics. The program opened last October with Jerry Seinfeld and SNL's Kate McKinnon as the first guests. That was good enough to draw more than two million sets of eyeballs.

Perhaps it was then that viewers determined that they'd had enough. Viewership fell dramatically with the episode airing in late December attracting fewer than 900,000 watchers — great for lowly carried cable networks. For ABC ... meh. While the network executives have yet to make an official decision on the show's return, it's probably a bad sign that the final two episodes of The Alec Baldwin Show have been scrapped.

Right now, you might be asking yourself why it took so long for Francis Ford Coppola's classic film to come to the small screen and wondering if "Ride of the Valkyries" plays over the opening credits. You should stop that. In reality, this has nothing to do with the search for Colonel Kurtz or Vietnam. Instead, this psychedelic comedy on Starz is about a group of young people trying to find love and success in Los Angeles. Although both Apocalypse Now and Now Apocalypse feature drug use ... so they're not totally dissimilar.

Yet whereas Apocalypse Now has been seen by millions, Now Apocalypse was lucky to get itself in front of a few thousand eyeballs on a weekly basis. By the time, the 10th and final episode of Season One aired, Now Apocalypse was barely drawing 60,000 viewers. Maybe not apocalyptic but certainly pretty disastrous if you're a TV showrunner.

If viewers knew nothing else about CBS's Million Dollar Mile, they knew that it was executive produced by basketball superstar LeBron James and hosted by former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow. If watchers knew anything else, it was that the show was an obstacle-based, physical challenge program designed to compete with TV shows like American Ninja Warrior and offering contestants the chance to win a million dollars.

Unfortunately, Million Dollar Mile struggled to get out of the starting blocks. After just two episodes, CBS moved the show from its original Wednesday time slot to Saturday evenings, despite what appeared to be promising ratings. The following two weeks saw that show's numbers cut in half from its debut. To make matters worse, CBS shelved the remaining six episodes. It's a strange move from a network that generally is patient with its new TV shows. Yet for whatever reason, it appears that Million Dollar Mile may not get a chance to get back in the race.

You're excused if you're not exactly sure what the Pop television network is. In a previous life, it was TV Guide Network, but it went through a rebranding that included adding some scripted programming to go along with a number of reality TV shows. One of those scripted programs was Flack, a limited series dramedy starring Anna Paquin as a public relations specialist trying to figure out her personal life while managing her professional one.

The numbers started small for Flack and continued to get steadily worse over the course of the six-episode run. When the finale aired in late March, just 36,000 people tuned in to watch. Combine that with barely making a blip in the most coveted demographic, and it's hard to see a future for the show. But if there's a silver lining, it's that executives at a network that hasn't landed in the public consciousness in a real way might not be so hung up on drawing big numbers. Maybe Flack is spared the ax. Or maybe that's all just PR spin.

Wait... a military-based procedural appearing on the Tiffany Network? You're not having JAG flashbacks. This is a new version of a familiar format for CBS. In this iteration, it's a group of U.S. Marine Corps lawyers working at the JAG headquarters in Virginia. CBS is known for giving its viewers what they seem to crave... over and over again. This time around, though, critics seemed to notice its similarities to its predecessor and didn't really cotton to it.

Likewise, viewers don't seem to be all that impressed. After opening to strong numbers, The Code has watched its viewership fall dramatically with an audience in early July clocking in at less than half of the where the series premiere landed. While the network hasn't officially made a decision on the series, one doesn't need to be a code breaker to think that going on a month-long hiatus bodes poorly for the show's future.

The bulk of the programming on Lifetime is centered around reality shows and TV movies, but this summer, the network dipped its toes into the scripted series pool with American Princess. The show centers around a jilted bride who flees to live at a Renaissance Faire after finding her fiance in the thrall of another woman.

While Lifetime doesn't hold its shows to the same ratings standards as some other cable channels, the early returns show that viewers aren't necessarily enthralled by the misadventures of misplaced royalty. After six episodes, American Princess lost nearly two-thirds of its viewers. That's particularly bad news for a show that drew fewer than 400,000 watchers in its series premiere. While the American Princess herself may have found a new home eating, drinking, and being merry among medieval cosplayers, it looks like she may abdicate her televised throne before she gets a chance to enjoy a very long reign.