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‘Reign’ Moves To Monday Nights: Friday Nights No Longer The Death Slot?

By Alexandria Ingham
Published on: 20:49 PST, Apr 24, 2016

When The Vampire Diaries moved to Friday nights, there were many who believed it was a sign of a cancellation. However, Reign originally had that Friday night slot and is now moving to Mondays. Is it possible that the Friday slot is no longer the death slot?

Fridays have always been considered the slot for doomed shows. Fans of particular shows have worried, because it means the network has no belief that the show will get good ratings. Friday nights tend to have the worst ratings of weekday slots, because that is the night most people are out.

The world is moving to a record and watch later position, and that may be saving shows that air on Fridays. Networks may have realized that just because they do not get the views during the actual showing does not necessarily mean people are not watching the shows later.

CW also offers the chance to catch up on shows like Reign and The Vampire Diaries online. This could be tracked to allow the network to see just how many fans of the shows there really are.

Friday nights have not necessarily been the death slot. Supernatural once aired on Fridays, and is now back to a Wednesday night slot. In fact, that show has been through more day changes than any other show on the network, moving to Fridays, then to Tuesdays and then to Wednesdays. Real fans do not care when their shows are on. They will tune in or catch up later. Some will even plan around their favorite shows, whether they are on a Friday night or not.

Reign has now shown that Friday nights do not necessarily mean it is the death slot. When the show returned for Season 3 (something some people were surprised to hear it had gotten), it moved from a Thursday to a Friday. People instantly started to wonder whether Season 3 would be the last. This was a sign that the ratings had dropped too far, so the network was moving it to a night when a lack of ratings would not care.

Then another sign came: Reign did not return in the January line-up. It’s Friday night slot had been given to The Originals, as it and parent show The Vampire Diaries moved to a Thursday night. Was this a sign that the Friday night had done just what it was supposed to? Had it pushed the network to cancel the show mid season?

Reign Season 3 is now back, as The Inquisitr has already reported. It returns on Monday nights from this week. That suggests one thing: the Friday night slot is not the death slot after all. Shows can weather the storm still; after all, some in the past have proven to.

On top of that, Reign has also been picked up for another year. Season 4 was announced at the same time as Supernatural, The Vampire Diaries and all other main shows on the CW network. The drop in ratings on Friday has not made the CW think the show is no longer worthwhile.

Friday now seems like a night for lower rated shows, but not a timeslot to make fans fear the worse. Reign is not the only show coming back. As mentioned, The Vampire Diaries and The Originals both moved to Fridays and are both coming back for another season each (at least).

Reign returns this week and according to Carter Matt it looks like Mary will fight to save her cousin (and current foe) Elizabeth. With Francis gone, Mary will have to return to Scotland and fans get to see how from this week.

[Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images]

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