The first two high-profile cancellations on CBS’ series slate mark the beginning of the dreaded deep cuts. The FBI spinoffs FBI: International, which was terminated after four seasons, and FBI: Most Wanted, which will finish after six seasons, will not be renewed by the network.
Big stars Dylan McDermott (Most Wanted) and Jesse Lee Soffer (International), who left earlier Dick Wolf series, Law & Order: Organized Crime and Chicago P.D., respectively, are the main stars of both Wolf Entertainment/Universal television series.
The highly acclaimed mothership FBI, currently in its seventh season and Year 1 of a three-year deal, and a possible new branch FBI: CIA, currently under development at CBS, are the only shows left after the cancellations.
FBI: CIA’s chances are improved by the elimination of Most Wanted and International. With multiple actors in discussions, FBI: CIA is now casting a seeded offshoot that will appear as an episode of the mothership series. I’ve heard that the show would receive a straight-to-series order based on the talent that is involved.
It’s unknown if Universal TV and Wolf Entertainment would hawk the two FBI spinoffs to other platforms. These shows continue to generate strong linear ratings that are comparable to or greater than a number of renewed CBS dramas, including the CBS Studios-produced NCIS: Origins and NCIS: Sydney and Elsbeth. Organized Crime, a Law & Order spinoff, was successfully transferred from NBC to Peacock by the corporations last year.
I’ve heard that both FBI: Most Wanted and FBI: International are still working on their current seasons, with a few episodes left, so they can modify the scripts to make the season finales function as series finales if that doesn’t happen.
This is a significant turnabout for the two FBI offshoot shows that, along with the main FBI, were only granted two-season extensions three years ago. The FBI operates as a branded night on Tuesdays, just like the majority of Wolf procedural programs. Given the three-hour primetime schedule, it was obvious that CBS had to cancel one of the other spinoffs in order to accommodate FBI: CIA and maintain the shows airing on the same night. Two were ultimately canceled by the network.
Universal Television is an outside provider of the FBI franchise. Over the previous few years, CBS and the NBCUniversal studio have engaged in challenging renewal negotiations; it is thought that financial considerations contributed to today’s cancellations. (The two parties are still in negotiations to renew Equalizer for a sixth and maybe final season.)
Last year, both FBI and FBI: Most Wanted lowered the minimum guarantees for the principal characters in an effort to save money. (International was unaffected because half of its regular cast are performers from other countries.
The problem of shelf space is another. CBS had to terminate its current dramas to create place for new ones because so many of its current programs, including NCIS, NCIS: Origins, NCIS: Sydney, Tracker, Fire Country, Elsbeth, and Matlock, were renewed in the last several months.
The network has already set aside two drama slots for the upcoming season for the new shows Boston Blue, which is an expansion of the Blue Bloods world, and Sheriff Country, which is a spinoff of Fire Country.
In addition to CIA, CBS is working on a high-profile drama pilot called Einstein, which stars Matthew Gray Gubler, a former cast member of Criminal Minds, and a possible Equalizer spinoff, which would star Titus Welliver. Apart from Equalizer, Sony TV’s twice-canceled serial S.W.A.T. is another drama from an outside studio that is still on the brink. Although it’s still early, the new midseason drama Watson from CBS Studios appears to have a good chance of being renewed.
It’s unknown if Shantel VanSanten, who just transferred from the FBI to the spinoff, would return once Most Wanted was terminated. In Season 5 of Most Wanted, her character gave birth to a child with Scola from the mothership series. Actors and characters in Wolf’s universe frequently switch between series, whether they are part of the same franchise or not.
