Proof I Am Still Alive

So despite the fact that it has been colder where I live than in the fucking South Pole,  I am still alive.
Work is causing depression to flair up and anxiety to form, but I am still alive.

Anywhooooo....
In my post Word Vomit, A Redux from September of last year, I talked about the longevity of certain shows of certain natures. I also talked (previously) about how the shows that air on the CW Network are geared towards 18-25 year olds. I want to talk about that for a hot minute.
For the 2018-2019 schedule (September 2018 to usually April or May 2019), Criminal Minds (CBS) had been renewed, but for a shorter 15 episode season. Normally, at least the previous seasons, it had around 23 (sometimes more, sometimes less, but around that number). About mid-way through January it was announced that it was renewed for a 15th season. However, it was only going to have 10 episode, which is a dramatic drop, and that it was going to be the last season. (Sorry for spoilers if you hadn't heard yet). Although I am a couple of seasons behind on this show, season 11 episode 15 "A Badge and a Gun" is my next episode to watch, this was kinda sad news.

Yesterday (again perspective because I have not gone to sleep yet; January 31st) the CW network renewed 10 shows of its current lineup. Including (because I watch them) Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl, The Flash and Supernatural. Remember how I mentioned that Supernatural and Criminal Minds began airing the same year, 2005? No word yet on how many episodes Supernatural will get at this point, a full season order being around 22. Legends of Tomorrow is almost guaranteed to have a shorter season than the rest, but that is par for course at this point.
The point is that Supernatural, which has slowly been losing viewership, is going to outlast Criminal Minds. Now, CM has also slowly been losing viewership, but the Neilsen rating has never dropped below 3 million viewers. For the 14 episodes that have aired, it has an average of 4.67 million. The final episode for this season is set to air on February 6th.
Supernatural has an average of 1.459 million for the 12 episodes that have aired this season. This season is set to have a total of 20 episodes.

Now I know that the Neilsen rating isn't the only thing that networks use to set parameters on what gets renewed and what gets cancelled. Because the SyFy network renewed The Magicians for a season 5 before season 4 even aired, despite rarely having a 1 million viewership rating (usually around 0.7 million; they had one in season 1 and one in season 2). Budget is another. If it is extremely costly to produce (between salaries for actors and workers, any CGI, advertising, etc) then snip snip. Sometimes its the main actor(s) leaving for new projects, disagreements between cast members/crew members, or other unsavory problems (Roseanne Barr being a prime example).

So the point of this post actually got lost as I was writing it, so short and sweet. I was really hoping that the CW network would do the smart thing and not renewed those shows, with the exception of Legends of Tomorrow (as previously mentioned, short seasons mean more material to work with) and Supergirl (although they have some problematic areas too).

In tangentially related news, Agents of SHIELD had been renewed for a 7 season, despite not airing until July 2019 (theorized reason being they can shoot back-to-back and reduce cost of production this way). This still makes me happy so I'm mentioning it again.