'Madam Secretary' Season 4 Canceled or Renewed: Tea Leoni Starrer Is Lowest-Rated CBS Scripted Series
Is "Madam Secretary" starring Tea Leoni getting canceled on CBS? The show is the network's lowest-rated scripted series, which puts its status for next season in question.
Latest ratings result for "Madam Secretary" ranks the show at the bottom with 0.7 million viewers in its demographic for this season. It's not, however, the worst case for the political drama series.
The show can still make money for CBS without relying on the ratings that advertisers consider. CBS Television Studios is its producer, which means it's not a complete loss for the network since "Madam Secretary" reportedly still has streaming deals with Netflix and other syndications.
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It also performed better than "Elementary" in the same timeslot last season. Hence, low ratings aside, there's still a chance "Madam Secretary" could survive a fifth season.
Meanwhile, executive producer Barbara Hall hinted that Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord (Leoni) could be running for president in season 5. Hall told Entertainment Weekly that they knew there was a possibility for this storyline and viewers will know McCord's political fate by the end of season 4.
There's a minor dilemma, however, if McCord does end up winning as president. Will the show change its title then? Will the series be called "Madam President"?
"I think that would be a CBS decision," Hall said. "But a lot of shows, if they stay long enough, evolve past their original premise. So I think that's a possibility for us."
"Madam Secretary" airs every Sundays at 10:00 p.m. EST. The show returns from its holiday hiatus on Jan. 7 with the episode titled "Mitya."
Vice President Hurst (Jayne Atkinson) will make McCord look bad in public as she feels threatened by the possibility that the Secretary of State will run for president. McCord also learns that a Russian assassin is tracking her son. The drama series also stars Tim Daly (Henry McCord), Sara Ramirez (Kat Sandoval), Zeljko Ivanek (Russell Jackson), Keith Carradine (President Conrad Dalton), Wallis Currie-Wood (Stevie McCord), Katherine Herzer (Alison McCord) and Evan Roe (Jason McCord).
