The 10 Biggest Renewal/Cancellation Cliffhangers: SEAL Team, Good Girls, Zoey's Playlist, Prodigal Son And More

Your eyes are not deceiving you: Grey's Anatomy — the buzziest of bubble shows in all the land — is not included in our list of broadcast TV's 10 biggest renewal/cancellation cliffhangers. And that's because all indications are that ABC's venerable medical drama will be back for an 18th season next fall — and with leading lady Ellen Pompeo still at the helm. (No deals are done, but negotiations between the actress and ABC are said to be heading in the right direction.)

Grey's isn't the only in-limbo series with a pickup essentially in the bag. Roughly half of the bubble shows on the below list are safe bets and/or sure things for renewal. Of course, that puts the remaining half in a much more precarious situation.

On the bright side, this nerve-wracking waiting game will soon be over, with ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and The CW set to finalize their 2021-22 lineups in the coming weeks.

Scroll down to get the latest temperature reads on SEAL Team, Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist, Prodigal Son and more.

The Jane Levy-fronted musical comedy enjoys strong support internally at NBC. And the show's diehard fan base has made no secret about where they stand on a third season (read: they really, really want one.) But will all the goodwill be enough to offset the show's increasingly tepid ratings? Maybe it's just wishful thinking on our part, but we think it will. We're (optimistically) calling Season 3 of Zoey's a safe bet.

The procedural's fans aren't the only ones getting antsy about the series' fate. Leading man David Boreanaz took to social media late last month to urge CBS to "renew this show." And while SEAL Team's Season 4 ratings are down markedly year-over-year, the buzz is that Boreanaz's red-hot TV streak (the Buffy/Angel/Bones alum has never been on a show that didn't last at least five seasons) will remain unbroken. This one remains a safe bet.

We're hearing only one of Fox's marginally rated Tuesday night dramas will live to see another season, and rumor has it the Matt Czuchry/Emily VanCamp-led ensemble medical drama has a slight edge over Prodigal Son. For that reason, The Resident remains a safe bet.

UPDATE: Cancelled. There was hope that the addition of Oscar winner Catherine Zeta-Jones would move the ratings needle in a positive direction and secure Prodigal Son a Season 3. But that didn't happen. As a result, the Michael Sheen-Tom Payne thriller is now a long-shot for renewal.

Yes, the comedic drama's first three seasons did gangbusters when they landed on Netflix. But will that second-window muscle be enough for Good Girls to dodge the cancellation bullet again — especially in the face of its softening linear ratings on NBC? We wish we had an answer. This one could go either way.

While most broadcast series have seen their ratings erode over the course of the pandemic-stymied season, the courtroom drama — which was on the receiving end of some unfavorable headlines this winter — is ending its second season with the roughly same audience it began it with (4 million-ish viewers, give or take a few eyeballs). From our vantage point, that's makes a third season a safe bet.

The bubble drama ended its sophomore run in late February with 1.7 million total viewers — its largest audience in five episodes. That's the good news. The bad news is that the show's largest audience in five episodes only amounted to... 1.7 million viewers. The fact that For Life ranks as ABC's lowest-rated drama this season certainly doesn't help its cause. This one is sadly a long-shot.

UPDATE: Renewed. Mayim Bialik's polarizing Big Bang Theory follow-up closed out Season 1 in March with 2.02 million total viewers — its third-smallest audience. That said, the 0.6 demo rating it averaged through its initial 13-episode run is nothing to sneeze at. This one could go either way.

Kyra Sedgwick's poorly reviewed, low-rated empty nest comedy is limping to the Season 1 finish line. It's the longest of long shots.

Given the series' Silence of the Lambs lineage, CBS has to be a smidge disappointed with Clarice's meager ratings performance thus far. And an 11th hour Nielsen uptick seems unlikely: The show returns from an unfortunate month-long hiatus with Episode 8 this Thursday, only to head off the air for another month after next week's ninth episode. Our fava beans-filled gut says a second season is a long-shot.