TV by the Numbers claims Constantine is cancelled. Granted, this is Cancellation Bear stuff, if you’re into that sort of thing. I don’t actually disagree with the sentiment – when a DC Entertainment television show in a boom period for comic book/graphic novel adaptations gets its ass kicked by 20/20 and Blue Bloods every week, there’s no hope for the show returning. DC Entertainment has The CW’s iZombie waiting in the wings, and a few prospective pilots in the television system. Even David S. Goyer has Syfy’s Krypton prequel (spoiler: the planet dies). If Constantine isn’t dead, it passed out and vomited on Green Lantern: The Animated Series, the berk.

I still say Constantine needs a home on cable. Every week, I wonder how Constantine will do on a channel that won’t fucking neuter it. The Flash, Arrow, and Gotham are natural fits for network television – characters that are familiar to audiences from prior TV adaptations, appeal to the 18-to-34-year-old demographic (which I am still in), and play to as wide an audience as possible. Constantine, being a former Vertigo title with a prior film adaptation, plays to a more “grown-up” niche audience. Obviously, the best home for a show like Constantine is a broadcast network whose top-flight prime-time offerings are Football Night in America and The Voice. I worry for Fox’s prospective Lucifer pilot.

The only way Constantine survives is if DC Entertainment eats most of the costs of a second season, and/or if a streaming service like Netflix feels DC Entertainment is a safe enough risk to defray Constantine’s budget. I’m not saying the show is dead after one season, but get Constantine off NBC. Hellblazer ran for 300 issues, and most of that run was under the aegis of an imprint that worked outside of the Comics Code Authority. Think about it.