There's a reason Friday nights are called the 'death slots' in television. People are usually out and about on Friday nights, and as such, television ratings tend to dip. It gets worse and worse as the night goes on, so shows stuck in late Friday night timeslots are typically the first to get cancelled. Unfortunately, the new show Constantine falls into that category, and it's performing about as well as anyone expected.
As a result, things aren't looking good for Constantine: after just five episodes on the air, NBC has stopped production on the series. However, while that would usually mean the show was over, Constantine isn't done just yet.
According to CBR, NBC announced that it would continue Constantine throughout its 13-episode run and that the show remains in contention for a second season, despite production halting. From the looks of things, NBC is watching to see if Constantine can catch up with its DC comic book brethren Gotham and The Flash. It's likely that the show would have been outright cancelled had it not been for this past Friday's sudden spike in viewers.
Constantine saw a ridiculous surge during Friday's episode: a 38% increase over previous episodes, and 85% of that audience was carried over from Grimm. Those kinds of numbers could save the fledgling show, but only if they remain consistent - if the ratings dip back down, there's a good chance Constantine will be done after just one season.
With any luck, Constantine will start pulling in more viewers. Friday nights are always tough (especially for new shows), but if the series continues to grow like it did this past week, it still has a shot at a second season.
Constantine's sixth episode, "Rage of Caliban," airs this Friday at 10pm.
