Author: johnnyjay Published Date: December 11, 2025 Comments: Leave a comment 0 Last week, I looked at why sci fi TV shows get cancelled so often and whether they have a higher cancellation rate than other shows, and I put up numbers for the 2019-20 season that indicated that it depended on the venue as to whether sci fi entries were sent to the Network Executioner more frequently than others. I have compiled the numbers going back to the early days of television, and they are certainly interesting when you look at the cancellation rates for the broadcast networks which used to dominate television. In the 1960s, sci fi shows performed quite well as they were going through what I consider their first Golden Age. But things changed pretty drastically the next decade as network execs soured on the genre and started to cancel them at a higher rate. I compiled the numbers that follow by looking at the new scripted shows from each season airing in Prime Time on the broadcast networks and tracking those over a four-season period. I tracked how many were cancelled after one season, then the number and cumulative percentage cancelled by their second season, then by their third year. Finally, I calculated how many survived four seasons or more. The latter are typically considered “successes” by the broadcast networks because four seasons usually get a show to the episode count needed for a syndication run, where the real profits can be made. (Note that in the 1960s and before, episode counts per season were longer, so some three-season shows could make it to syndication, like Star Trek and Lost in Space.) In the 1960s, 289 non-sci fi shows premiered, compared to 33 sci fi/fantasy entries (10.2% of the total), and over fifty percent of new shows were cancelled after one season that decade (59.3% to be precise). But interestingly, sci fi entries had a notably lower cancellation rate. 39.4% were canceled after their first season versus 61.6% of non-sci fi shows. That rose to 60.6% by the second season versus 70.6% for non-sci fi. By the third season, 75.8% were cancelled while non-sci fi shows hit 83%. Of those that survived four seasons or more, 24.2% were sci fi, while only 17% of non-genre entries made it that far. By network, ABC had the higher cancellation rate, but it was still lower than what the networks were seeing for non-sci fi entries. The networks were definitely more amenable to genre shows during the 1960s (which I consider the First Golden Age of Sci fi TV) as the numbers show. But take into account many of the successful ones were Prime Time-friendly sitcoms like Get Smart, Bewitched, and I Dream of Jeannie. Others, like The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Mission: Impossible, followed a procedural format, while The Wild Wild West blended procedural and sci fi elements with the then-popular Western genre. And while The Twilight Zone and Thriller counted as sci fi/fantasy, they also fit into the anthology format that network execs were more comfortable with. By the 1970s, things had changed, and genre shows received much less favor from the broadcast networks, despite their success in the 1960s. The ‘70s saw 339 non-sci fi scripted shows versus 39 sci fi entries (10.4%), but they didn’t last as long. 69.2% of sci fi shows were cancelled after their first season (vs. 70.6% for non-genre), but by the second season, 87.2% were gone (vs. 81.3%), and by the third season, 89.7% (vs. 84.3%). Only 10.3%—four total shows—made it to a fourth season or beyond, compared to 15.7% for non-sci fi entries. By network, ABC and CBS had lower cancellation rates, while NBC was far more likely to cast sci fi entries to the Television Wasteland (and none made it to four seasons on that network during the ‘70s). Most successful were the superhero series like The Six Million Dollar Man and The Incredible Hulk, which followed semi-procedural or quasi-anthology formats. But two of those—The Bionic Woman and Wonder Woman—switched networks mid-run, limiting their longevity. Fewer sci fi comedies emerged, with Mork & Mindy the only one to stick around for four seasons. Interesting experiments like The Fantastic Journey, Search, and Cliffhangers failed to find audiences. And when networks went for big-budget “TV blockbusters” at the end of the decade—like Battlestar Galactica and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century—their success was limited. And the low tolerance for sci fi TV continued on the broadcast networks over the next three decades. Now, let’s fast forward all the way to the 2010s after Lost had a profound impact on the way network execs viewed sci fi and fantasy shows. That one proved to be an unexpected hit, and in no time, the broadcasters were producing clones of that along with other genre entries. There were quite a number a misfires that followed, but Lost had proven that large numbers would tune in for sci fi TV shows, and the cancellation rates started to drop, resulting in one of the most successful decades for genre entries on the broadcast networks since the 1960s. Overall, only 52% of sci fi TV shows were cancelled after one season vs. 59.9% for all shows. 67.3% were gone by the second season vs. 73.8%, and 25.5% of the sci fi offerings made it to four seasons or more vs. 20.6% for non-genre entries. NBC had the highest cancellation rate of sci fi shows after the first season at 68.4%, though the network was tied with ABC, and the latter had axed 89.5% of its genre entries after their second season. CBS was next at 57.1%, and Fox, surprisingly, had the lowest cancellation rate of the Big Four after one season at 47.4%. This was, of course, the golden decade for The CW which I would come to refer to as the “happy net” because it tended to renew its shows more often than cancelling them. Arrow got its start in the 2012-13 season and that would kick off an expansive franchise and convince the CW execs that sci fi and fantasy was a lucrative business. Only 26.9% of its genre shows were cancelled after one season—well below the rate of the Big Four—and only 30.8% had been cancelled by their second year. 16 shows (61.5%) would make it to a fourth season or more which was unprecedented among the broadcast networks. Sadly, that network would shift to new ownership in the 2020s, and sci fi and fantasy programming would all but disappear from its lineup. This decade was a second Golden Age of sorts for sci fi TV on the broadcast networks, delivering quite an assortment of shows that made it to four seasons or more. It ranged from procedural (Person of Interest, Grimm) to fantasy (Once Upon A Time, Beauty & the Beast) to superhero (Arrow, The Flash) to supernatural drama (Sleepy Hollow, Charmed) to comedy (The Last Man on Earth, The Good Place) to sci fi (The 100, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) to just plain bizarre (Riverdale). And all of the broadcast networks had multiple shows that made it to the fourth-year threshold, though The CW owned the vast majority. What I have here is a look at just three decades worth of data, and I go into more depth in the second edition of my book Why Were They Cancelled? That also delves into the reasons for cancellations of sci fi and fantasy shows going back to the early years of television and up through the Peak TV era. You can buy it now in print and Kindle formats. Author: johnnyjay Post navigation Source: https://www.cancelledscifi.com/2025/12/11/do-sci-fi-tv-shows-get-cancelled-more-often-than-other-genres-heres-a-look-at-the-numbers/