Prediction: Television networks will not be pulling a whole bunch of hit shows off the air next March to give new series tryouts.
That's a fairly easy prediction to make, because the networks did quite a bit of that this year - with bad to disastrous results.Fox, for example, yanked "Lawless" of the air after a single airing. "Prince Street" didn't fare much better on NBC, getting the hook after only two episodes.
And ABC yanked "Spy Game" after three episodes aired.
What the networks ended up doing with all this shuffling was confusing and alienating the viewers. We can hope they'll learn from this - but don't hold your breath.
And, after all those changes, there's not a single March replacement series that has a secure future on any network. Here's a look at what each has fared.
ABC
Perhaps the strongest candidate for survival, ABC's legal series "The Practice," still isn't making a particularly effective case for itself. Since replacing "NYPD Blue" on Tuesday nights, its ratings have fallen - and it's attracting about a third fewer viewers than "Blue."
"The Practice" ends a six-week run next week, and there's no word on when the remaining seven episodes already produced will air.
ABC is also less than thrilled with "Arsenio," which has seen its ratings drop precipitously since it debuted. Even worse, it loses a quarter to a third of the audience delivered to it by "The Drew Carey Show" - a very bad sign indeed.
The medical reality show "Vital Signs" is getting killed by "Seinfeld" - but at least it's relatively cheap to produce.
NBC
Not everything has been as big a disaster as "Prince Street," but there are no great successes for the Peacock to crow about.
The sitcom "Just Shoot Me" is at least a fairly decent candidate to return. It hasn't done all that well, but it has done better than the show it replaced, "Men Behaving Badly." (And "Shoot's" performance could be the death knell for the awful "Badly.")
"Crisis Center," which ends a six-week run on Fridays, is a sure goner. It's ratings are considerably lower than "Homicide," the show it replaced, and it's getting pummeled by the competition.
Last week, "Crisis Center" was 82nd in the Nielsen rankings, it's 5.3 rating lagging well behind No. 11 "20/20" (12.4) on ABC and No. 39 "Nash Bridges" (8.1) on CBS.
Other NBC shuffles have had mixed results. "The Single Guy" is bombing badly on Wednesday nights, providing strong evidence that critics have been right for the past couple of years - that the show was a time-slot hit that couldn't survive unless it aired between "Friends" and "Seinfeld."
"The Naked Truth" has consistently landed in the top 10 in the ratings, but that's deceptive. It consistently loses a quarter or more of the "Seinfeld" audience. The future for "Naked" is iffy at best.
On the other hand, "Suddenly Susan" might just survive. Since returning to NBC's Thursday-night lineup at 7:30 p.m. - an hour earlier than it was originally scheduled - "Susan" has done a better job or retaining the "Friends" audience than anything else NBC has tried in the time slot.
It still loses viewers, but in television everything is relative. And "Susan" is doing relatively well.
CBS
CBS is having more than its share of problems with March replacement shows, particularly on Wednesdays. "Temporarily Yours" is losing at least 20 percent of the audience from its lead-in, "The Nanny." "Feds" is weaker still in the ratings.
And the critically acclaimed "EZ Streets" is nothing short of a ratings disaster. Last week, it drew only a 5.9 rating - good for 72nd place - up against "Dateline NBC" (10.4) and ABC's "PrimeTime Live" (9.5).
CBS's greatest success has come by juggling its Monday lineup a bit. "Everybody Loves Raymond" - which had been dying on Friday nights - did very well on Monday's at 7:30 p.m., retaining about 98 percent of the audience from it's lead-in, "Cosby." That's better than "Ink" ever did.
"Cybill" has done about as well as the resting "Murphy Brown" in the 8 p.m. slot. "Ink" failed to do much, despite moving to 8:30 p.m.
With the announcement that "Murphy Brown" will be returning in the fall, don't be surprised if "Ink" gets moved to another night - or even gets the ax.
Fox
The sitcom "Pauly" is getting bad ratings and worse reviews - it won't last long.