2015 TV Odds – Which New Shows Will Be Renewed?

The New Year means a host of new television shows. With “so many shows, so little time” being the theme of every new TV season, many of the shows are going to follow in the footsteps of Bad Judge and Black Box and be promptly cancelled. (Indeed, from 2009-2012, 65% of new shows failed to make it past the first season.)

Which ones are going to last this year?

We’ve looked into our crystal ball and set some odds on which new shows are going to survive into a second season.

Odds of Being Renewed for a Second Season:

12 Monkeys (SyFy)
ODDS: 5/1
AIRING: Fridays
SYNOPSIS: The adaptation of the time-travelling movie of the same name won’t have Brad Pitt to save it. Aaron Stanford couldn’t get Traveler past one season in a supporting role.

American Crime (ABC)
ODDS: 3/2
AIRING: Premieres March 5
SYNOPSIS: A drama by John Ridley (12 Years a Slave) based around a racially-toned court trial could hit too close to home for viewers seeking to escape. But the big names attached to it (Ridley, Felicity Huffman, and Timothy Hutton) make it a decent bet for survival.

Battle Creek (CBS)
ODDS: 1/2
AIRING: Premieres March 1
SYNOPSIS: Don’t bet against Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan’s new police series. Lead actor Josh Duhamel has had success in the past (Las Vegas).

Better Call Saul (AMC)
ODDS: 1/9
AIRING: Premieres Feb. 8
SYNOPSIS: Jonesing Breaking Bad fans will answer this call. Whether the writing is strong or not, the tie-ins to the uber-popular Breaking Bad should get it past season one. (Update: the show was renewed for a second season before it even debuted.)

CSI: Cyber (CBS)
ODDS: 1/4
AIRING: Premieres March 4
SYNOPSIS: Similar to the Law & Order family, CSI will have yet another hit. The shortest running CSI show so far was CSI: NY, which ran for nine seasons.

Fresh Off the Boat (ABC)
ODDS: 6/1
AIRING: Premieres Feb. 4
SYNOPSIS: Asian family comedies are a tough sell. The writing will have to be particularly strong for this to last.

Friends to Lovers? (Bravo)
ODDS: 1/1
AIRING: Mondays
SYNOPSIS: A reality show where friends consider being lovers. This should resonate with a large portion of the population.

Happyish (Showtime)
ODDS: 3/1
AIRING: Premieres April 26
SYNOPSIS: The comedic struggles of a middle-aged man could hit a chord with audiences. It was originally set to star Phillip Seymour Hoffman, which would have made it much more likely to succeed. The able, but lesser known, Steve Coogan is now in the lead role.

iZombie (CW)
ODDS: 5/1
AIRING: Premieres March 17
SYNOPSIS: You know it’s the apocalypse when The CW presents a zombie series. The producers better hope that their cast of relative unknowns finds chemistry.

The Last Man on Earth (Fox)
ODDS: 2/1
AIRING: Premieres March 1
SYNOPSIS: A strong cast (Will Forte and January Jones) make this post-apocalyptic comedy a decent bet for success. But the last-person-alive motif has been done (see, for instance, I Am Legend).

Man Seeking Woman (FXX)
ODDS: 10/1
AIRING: Wednesdays
SYNOPSIS: Mainstream audiences won’t get this surreal dating comedy. Jay Baruchel is funny as a voice actor (How to Train Your Dragon) and in supporting roles (This is the End), but doesn’t have the cachet to carry a TV show.

Married at First Sight: The First Year (FYI)
ODDS: 5/1
AIRING: Tuesdays
SYNOPSIS: As exciting (or crazy) as it was watching two people get married sight unseen, a show detailing a marriage on the rocks grows tiresome fast.

My Big Fat Fabulous Life (TLC)
ODDS: 2/3
AIRING: Tuesdays
SYNOPSIS: A reality show detailing a woman’s struggle with weight gain will prove inspirational with audiences. The push-back against fashion magazine standards of beauty is reaching record heights.

The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore (Comedy Central)
ODDS: 4/1
AIRING: Premieres Jan. 19
SYNOPSIS: Wilmore has been a game contributor to The Daily Show for a number of years. But he’s never gotten the laughs nor the love that Stephen Colbert and John Oliver received on Jon Stewart’s program, making him an odd choice for the centerpiece in a coveted time slot.

The Odd Couple (CBS)
ODDS: 4/1
AIRING: Premieres Feb. 19
SYNOPSIS: This show is taking over Two and a Half Men‘s time slot (right after the The Big Bang Theory), which will give it every opportunity to succeed. That said, Perry’s recent small-screen endeavours (Mr. Sunshine and Go On) didn’t get past season one and there will be nothing fresh about the plot of this Neil Simon remake.

Odyssey (NBC)
ODDS: 5/1
AIRING: Premieres April 5
SYNOPSIS: NBC’s mash-up of Homeland and Traffic is likely to fall short, as it won’t have the dynamic presence of Claire Danes nor the gripping writing of Stephen Gaghan.

The Royals (E!)
ODDS: 3/1
AIRING: Premieres March 15
SYNOPSIS: Gossip-hungry viewers may relish this fictionalized drama regarding the Royal Family. But Elizabeth Hurley has anything but a regal presence.

Schitt’s Creek (Pop/formerly TVGN)
ODDS: 10/1
AIRING: Tuesdays
SYNOPSIS: The show’s name says it all. How are they even going to promote this? In writing only?

Secrets and Lies (ABC)
ODDS: 7/2
AIRING: Premieres March 1
SYNOPSIS: Based off an Australian show of the same name, this show has decent star power (Ryan Phillippe and Juliette Lewis); but foreign remakes are no sure thing.

Wayward Pines (FOX)
ODDS: 1/2
AIRING: Premieres May 14
SYNOPSIS: The return of Matt Dillon could find audiences tuning into this mystery. It also has a terrific supporting cast (Carla Gugino, Terrence Howard, Melissa Leo, and Juliette Lewis, among others).

Wrestling With Death (WGN America)
ODDS: 4/1
AIRING: Tuesdays
SYNOPSIS: Think Duck Dynasty; but, instead of duck hunters, it’s a family of professional wrestlers who are also run a mortuary. We’d love to give this worse odds of succeeding but, y’know, people.

(Photo credit: Irmin Wehmeier (iwpfw) (Flickr.com) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo has been cropped.)