Save Our Shows 2018: Fans pick 'Timeless' (again) as TV's most-wanted endangered series

Gary Levin | USA TODAY

Some obsessions are timeless.

In a repeat of last year's results, NBC's Timeless topped USA TODAY's 21st annual Save Our Shows poll: 58% of voters are seeking a third season for the time-travel fantasy. It was the biggest show of support among 30 broadcast series hovering "on the bubble" between renewal and cancellation.

The 2018 poll drew a record turnout of more than 257,000 votes, up sharply from nearly 147,000 last year, stoked by social media campaigning from the series' stars and producers.

Other top finishers included ABC's Designated Survivor (44% want Kiefer Sutherland's reluctant president to stick around) and NBC's The Blacklist (41% are fans of James Spader's "Red" Reddington). Rounding out the top five: CBS drama Criminal Minds (supported by 35% of voters), a frequent "bubble" series; and, in a tie, that network's long-running Elementary and Fox comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine, each picked by 33%. (Voters could choose "keep," "drop" or "don't care.")

Brooklyn finished especially high among voters younger than 40, and ABC's Fresh Off the Boat was another sought-after comedy; 27% want it to return.

More: Which network TV series are returning, nearly dead or in limbo? Check out the complete list

Which shows are keepers and which are goners will be revealed in the next two weeks, when networks set their new lineups ahead of splashy presentations to advertisers in New York. Last spring, NBC canceled Timeless in early May, then reversed itself days later and renewed it for a 10-episode second season, citing support in the poll as a factor in its decision. (Its two-hour season finale airs May 13.)

Now, executive producer Shawn Ryan hopes for another reprieve — and an earlier, more family-friendly time slot.

"I think this show is important to a lot of people," he says. "I would argue that NBC has a history of realizing when they have something that's really good and sticking with it. You look at shows like Hill Street Blues and Cheers and Seinfeld" — critically acclaimed series that initially lacked ratings heat — that eventually "started permeating the national consciousness. They ultimately became not just critically beloved shows, but ratings juggernauts."

Will his? Maybe not, Ryan says. He's just hoping his ratings are sufficient for a show that "whips up enough passion" to continue.

Lacking passion: a trio of middling NBC comedies (Champions, Great News and AP Bio) and CBS sitcom Living Biblically, canceled last week, all of which garnered the least fan support in the poll. And among the most actively disliked shows was Kevin James comedy Kevin Can Wait, which 33% of viewers want CBS to kill (and just 16% voted to continue). Could the show's decision to kill off James' TV wife (played by Erinn Hayes) to pave the way for a reunion with his King of Queens co-star Leah Remini be the cause?

Timeless was the favorite among women and voters ages 20 to 50, while older folks and men were more eager to see Designated Survivor and The Blacklist come back. Brooklyn, the police-precinct comedy starring Andy Samberg, had more support in New York and California than elsewhere, while Boat also sailed farther in the Golden State, finishing second behind Timeless.

The survey includes only broadcast series, whose fates are sealed in an annual spring ritual. Cable and streaming series are more often renewed and canceled year-round. But for the first time, the poll asked which of five already renewed streaming series should have been killed, and the top choice was easily Netflix's Fuller House (44% said so), followed by Netflix's Iron Fist (19%) and Amazon's Transparent (18%), whose star Jeffrey Tambor has left the series amid misconduct allegations. Other choices were Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale (11%) and Netflix's Stranger Things (7%).

Asked which canceled series should be saved, the choice was Netflix's Disjointed (26%), followed by Amazon's Good Girls Revolt (24%), Hulu's Difficult People (20%), Netflix's Lady Dynamite (16%) and Amazon's One Mississippi (14%).