Walker Season Five Renewal in Doubt as CW Programming Shifts
There was a report in Deadline yesterday about CW renewal prospects that is echoing a common theme around networks these days: just because a show is popular and well-rated, that may not be enough to continue producing it. Sadly, it looks like Walker is falling into this category and a possible season five renewal is not looking good.
As we all remember, CW network was purchased by Nexstar Media in 2022. The goal was to be profitable, which meant replacing scripted shows with cheaper non-scripted programming (aka sports and reality) and acquired shows from other countries. They cancelled a good chunk of the existing CBS/Warner Brothers Television scripted shows, but did renew four shows to continue. Walker, their highest rated show, was among the four, as well as All American, All American: Homecoming, and Superman & Lois, the latter being renewed knowing the fourth season would be its last. All of the shows were renewed with smaller seasons, with Walker only getting 13 episodes for season four.
In the renewal of those shows, license fees, aka the fees they pay to the studios to produce the shows, were cut drastically. It had been reported around renewal that license fees could go as low at $1 million per episode, but according to Deadline, the reality was the fees were cut much lower. Walker was given the lowest fee at around $500,000 per episode, which pushed most of the production costs onto CBS Studios. TV episodes production wise usually cost $3 to $4 million per episode. Without strong alternate distribution channels like streaming and international sales, such a low fee means Walker is producing at a big loss. I have not heard of such deals happening.
CW network has experienced what other networks have seen, a soft ad market for the upcoming season. That means less ad revenue, thus less budget for programming. This endangers all the remaining CW scripted shows, continuing the signal that CW’s long-term strategy involves abandoning original scripted programming. They, however, would be more than happy to continue Walker with the lower license fee, but it sounds like it’s too much for CBS Studios. They may decide that it no longer makes economic sense to make the show, despite the popularity and good reception. None of that pays the bills.
This is a troubling trend with the bigger networks as well. For example, CBS just cancelled So Help Me Todd and CSI: Vegas, two strong performers ratings wise, and the latter a storied franchise for the network. Bottom line, they had too many other shows that were doing better and more cost effective. They acknowledged this was a season where tough decisions have to be made. Streaming services, which are also now cutting costs because of too much inventory, are far less likely to save cancelled shows now. This was a lesson learned last year by fans when The Winchesters couldn’t find a new home after being cancelled by CW.
Here’s the paragraph from Deadline on Walker’s prospects:
Speaking of Walker, now in its fourth season, it is the most watched series on the CW, headlined by one of the network’s biggest stars of the past two decades, Jared Padalecki. Like All American, the series also didn’t undergo major cuts last summer as the drama, filmed in Texas, already had been produced pretty efficiently. But I hear its license fee is so low, just over the $500K per episode threshold, that it may not make sense for CBS Studios to continue to deliver the show to the CW at that price even if the network wants it.
Fingers crossed, a way to save the show will be figured out, but in the meantime, we may have to prepare for the fact that the remaining season four episodes will be the last.
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