The Secret Circle: Why I’m Still Upset About Its Cancellation

It’s been three weeks since the cancellation of The CW’s The Secret Circle, and I’m still left with a bitter taste that not even a random renewal of Veronica Mars could cure. My current catch-up mission to watch The Vampire Diaries has not helped my rage either, due to snippets of The Secret Circle being attached to each recording. Seriously. Every time The Vampire Diaries ends I start to see red when the first few minutes of The Secret Circle start to play. I’m talking “Kill Bill red,” complete with the psycho-crazy Ironside riff blaring within the corridors of my mind. Yes, folks, it has gotten that serious.

Now, this isn’t the first time a favorite show of mine has been canned. I’m a TV freak. It happens almost every season. However with the cancellation of The Secret Circle, a chord was struck that is still reverberating within me. Why? Well, simply put, it just doesn’t make any sense whatsoever why The Secret Circle was axed.

Oh, I’ve heard numerous reasons, or ‘facts,’ to explain the unexplainable. The number one reason is that the ratings weren’t cutting it and didn’t justify a renewal. However, TV Series Finale paints a different picture that contradicts that popular theory. According to the site, TSC was the highest rated new series for The CW this past year. It was also third (0.8) to The Vampire Diaries (1.3 demo) and America’s Next Top Model (0.81), while the other two new offerings for the 2011-2012 season Hart of Dixie (0.6) and Ringer (0.6) both trailed behind One Tree Hill (0.8), Supernatural (0.7), and 90210 (0.7). View their chart here.

To make sure that people understood just what these numbers mean, TV Series Finale.com reiterated what most TV critics/bloggers/viewers already know. “Keep in mind that the demo numbers (not the actual viewers) are what’s important to advertisers. Therefore, that’s how the networks measure success,” the site explained. “Advertisers pay more for ad time on a show that has a higher demo rating versus one with a lot more overall viewers.”

So with that explanation, I have to ask what the hell happened for The Secret Circle to be canceled? It had a higher demo than fellow newbie Hart of Dixie and most of The CW’s staple shows and it was finding its voice in the latter part of the season. The other theory floating around deals with TSC’s inability to retain most of The Vampire Diaries audience, which factored into its cancellation I’m not buying this excuse either . Unfortunately, TVD (which I love profusely) has also been bleeding in the ratings itself, with numbers dwindling (yet sort of steady) since its 2009 premiere. While Hart of Dixie performed better than Gossip Girl did on Monday nights, it still wasn’t bringing in the numbers The Secret Circle was. So if we are going to go by the mighty dollar at the end of the day, it seems that The Secret Circle should have seen a second season of sorts.

Does that mean that Hart of Dixie should have been given the axe instead? No. With Gossip Girl losing viewers more than it drops product placements, it makes sense for The CW to give it another shot in a different time slot.

Bottom line, the numbers, “facts,” and reasons behind the cancellation of TSC do not add up for me. Not on a storyline front, nor in the TV business aspect of matters. It would be one thing if The Secret Circle had cancellation stamped on its forehead from day one or if it did not have the numbers to justify a renewal, no matter if I thought TSC deserved to be renewed for another three seasons. I didn’t see any of that, despite numerous reports otherwise.

I’m not going to boycott the new crop of shows on The CW this fall as a means to stick it to the network. I will give each show the rightful chance to win me over as a viewer. Although, out of the five new shows coming this fall to The CW, there are only two that I’m dying to see by their trailers. One of which premieres midseason.

So unless the Save the Circle campaign comes through, I will chalk The Secret Circle up as another casualty to network TV politics and keep it moving. At least we still have The Vampire Diaries to cure our pain…

Source: TV Series Finale