Fox has made its decision on three freshman dramas, canceling two of them and opting to bring back a third. The Hollywood Reporter’s Live Feed reports that the network has canceled J.J. Abrams’ "Alcatraz" along with “The Finder,” while giving Tim Kring’s "Touch" a second season.
While "Alcatraz" debuted with an impressive 10 million total viewers, the show stumbled during its 10 weeks, ending with only 4.7 million viewers, the piece points out. The drama starred Sarah Jones and "Lost" star Jorge Garcia in a supernatural mystery about former Alcatraz inmates who reappeared after disappearing several decades ago.
"The Finder," which stars Geoff Stults, averaged about 6 million viewers while it aired on Thursdays at 9 p.m., but after it moved to Fridays at 8 p.m. the show hit a recent series low, the piece adds.
"Touch," starring Kiefer Sutherland, debuted with 12 million viewers, but has tumbled in recent weeks, the story says. Nevertheless, it remains a strong property for Fox and studio 20th Television on an international basis, the piece adds.
Seriously? You move a show and it costs them viewers and it’s the show’s fault? 6 million viewers is far better than many current long lasting shows get. Just put it back if it made that much difference. What a tragedy. I love The Finder – fortunately I DVR it so it doesn’t matter when they show it. I am glad they took him out of the dream/trances and added the backyard toys to help find his targets.
I am grateful they kept Touch as it is probably way over the heads of the average “reality” group of viewers. You actually have to pay attention and kudos to the writers for making it work.
Sorry, never saw Alcatraz so I won’t miss it. Need to hire better programming staff to find the right spots for these shows…
Totally agree with Tom…Finder is a great freshman show that was just starting to develop; and to blame ratings drop on timeslot change then cancel is a BS move.
Alcatraz was a good show, but it suffered in moving the back story along that the viewers cared most about. Great actors and writing. It’d be great if USA, FX, or Syfy could pick it up
Both canceled shows were very good, but subject to BAD programming moves. Cable networks should consider picking them both up. The Finder would be great on TNT since they carry reruns of Bones now.
Alcatraz would work on Scifi. It would be great if they pick it up to answer all the questions and tie up the lose ends.
Wonder why rateings are down? People like me are getting tired of investing time in a show and not getting all the answers.
To everyone involved in Alcatraz GREAT JOB! Remember that being canceled does not mean failure. I WILL buy the DVDs when it comes out.