Oct 20, 2013 4 min read

Don’t worry. Be happy.

That low-rated series that you love isn’t going anywhere soon.

Overnight ratings that were once so critical to a show’s survival are now just the first volley of information tossed at networks. It’s that second round of ammunition, which calculates DVR and On-Demand viewing over the next seven-day period, that increasingly determines which shows aren’t worthy of fortifying a network schedule. As those statistics typically aren’t released until weeks after Nielsen’s overnight report, most series are now receiving a temporary stay of execution.

Still, ABC and CBS quickly pulled the plug on “Lucky Seven” and “We Are Men,” respectively. Bad is still bad. But each network has at least one series that its executives would have already “voted off the island” if it weren’t for myriad new techno-info still being gathered. That includes, by the way, monitoring series that are being tweeted the most.

By late September, it was clear “Sleepy Hollow” and “Blacklist” were the biggest new hits. But no one knew just how popular they were until the DVR numbers came in. “The Blacklist,” for instance, added 5.7 million to the 12.6 million same-day viewers for a total of 18.3 million people who saw the premiere. Those are phenomenal ratings for any series, but especially for a newbie. Likewise, “Sleepy Hollow” jumped from 8.6 to 13.5 million viewers. To no one’s surprise, both series have been green-lighted for a full season. As you might have expected, “Lucky Seven” had one of the fewest post-debut gains of any series.

While seven-day ratings often mirror the overnight Nielsens, they can shed considerable light on shows that air in competitive timeslots. CBS’s “Hostages,” for instance, can’t take the heat from NBC’s “Blacklist” on Monday nights. But in the seven-day ratings, “Hostages” bumped up its ratings by 48 percent, indicating that there’s interest in the show after all – just not when it airs against “Blacklist.”

• “Hostages” may survive for a while. But here are a six-pack of series that aren’t popular by any ratings gauge thus far: “Ironside,” “Betrayal,” “Welcome to the Family,” “Sean Saves the World,” “Dads” and “Once Upon a Time in Wonderland.” And that’s the order in which I expect them to disappear from the small screen.

• Fox ordered more scripts for “Dads,” but it’s most likely as an emergency measure. Before they ever aired, “Murder Police” (an animated sitcom) was canceled, and another comedy, “Us and Them,” was cut back to six episodes. The thinking here is that Fox may have to use “Dads” as filler for several weeks.

• Could Fox at least flip the timeslots for “Dads” and the usually funny “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”?

• While Fox scored with “Sleepy Hollow,” it’s ABC that has the most fall hits, with “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” “The Goldbergs” and “Super Fun Night.” At best, though, it’s a short-term win. Sci-fi programs such as “S.H.I.E.L.D.” generally shed viewers over time, and “Super Fun Night” is super bad – it’s merely benefiting from its pairing with “Modern Family.”

• While it is no doubt thrilled with the success of “Blacklist,” NBC has to be disappointed with the lukewarm response to “The Michael J. Fox Show” and “Sean Saves the World.” “Sean” is just bad television – I couldn’t make it through the first episode – and after showing promise in its pilot episode, Fox’s show has deteriorated into a sub-par sitcom as well. Perhaps there is some comfort in the fact the network’s “Chicago Fire” is adding viewers in its sophomore season.

• CBS has one breakout hit in Robin Williams’ “Crazy Ones,” though I might suggest they let Robin loose with the ad-libs (or substantially tweak the cliché scripts). CBS has two other comedies hanging in there as well.

“The Millers,” so far benefiting by its placement after “Big Bang Theory,” veers between outrageous and sappy. Fortunately, a savvy cast is elevating this one above its writing. And although the superior “Mom” has been languishing on Mondays when paired with “Two Broke Girls,” it should improve with “Mike and Molly” as its new lead-in (effective in November).

Then again, the only show that is a viable companion to “Two Broke Girls” is “Two and One-Half Men.” That way, one can avoid the entire hour – and miss absolutely nothing.