CBS has opted to cancel fourth year drama Scorpion, it was confirmed Saturday.
thank you so much to @CBS for this journey, to my awesome cast mates and crew whom I learned from every day and to all the wonderful @ScorpionCBS fans for being so passionate about what we created. we’ll always be a family. #TeamScorpion pic.twitter.com/ylAMMakQbT
— Kat McPhee (@katharinemcphee) May 12, 2018
A standout performer in its first season, Scorpion had sank in the ratings in its successive years, with the show’s off-kilter approach to the procedural genre and subsequent move to 10:00 likely to blame. It’s the former that’s probably to blame for its cancellation, as CBS uses syndication to offset soft linear ratings; where Scorpion hadn’t been able to score a deal due to both a lapse in the domestic syndication market and its incompatibility with more serious productions, CBS didn’t have a reason to keep it around.
It’s rare that a CBS drama gets cancelled like this, considering the success they’ve had with launching shows into syndication. Where they’ve come to rely more on syndication, the experience with Scorpion will likely dissuade CBS from venturing out of its creative comfort zone, either in casting, tone, or structure.
This is the first true drama cancellation of the CBS upfronts season, as Wisdom of the Crowd was essentially done in earlier this season by a lack of a back order. The network still has a handful of dramas still in contention for next season, though, so the show won’t be alone for long.
The series finale of Scorpion aired Monday, April 16th on CBS.
