FOX has thrown away the key on Alcatraz. The J.J. Abrams thriller has been cancelled after one season and 13 episodes.
Alcatraz follows the investigations of police detective Rebecca Madsen (Sarah Jones) and Doctor Diego Soto (Jorge Garcia). They work to uncover how 340 inmates and guards disappeared from the infamous prison in 1963 and why they’re now reappearing looking just the same. The show also features the talents of Jonny Coyne, Parminder Nagra, Jason Butler Harner, and Sam Neill.
Fueled by a lot of promotion, the TV series was launched in January and drew good reviews and strong numbers. The two-hour premiere attracted a 3.3 rating in the all-important 18-49 demographic with 10.05 million total viewers. Opposite some tough competition from CBS, Alcatraz was in second place in its timeslots.
In week two, the demo slipped 9% to a still respectable 3.0 rating with 9.03 million. Week three dropped another 7%. That wasn’t positive but not horrible either but the ratings just kept falling.
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In February, NBC launched season two of The Voice and Alcaraz’s ratings took a big dive. They ropped 18% on February 6th and then another 17% on the 13th. The numbers just kept falling after that.
The two-hour season (now series) finale was in fourth place in the timeslots and averaged a disappointing 1.6 demo rating with 4.76 million total viewers.
The first season of Alcatraz ended up averaging a 2.2 demo rating with 6.74 million viewers — and those numbers would have dropped lower had there been more episodes.
On our FOX report card — which ranks the network’s shows based on demo averages — Alcatraz has a “C” and that just wasn’t good enough to get a renewal.
FOX chose to keep Touch instead but the network stays in business with producer J.J. Abrams via the network’s Fringe renewal.
What happened? It would seem that Alcatraz just wasn’t compelling enough to keep viewers returning week after week. Plus, for the first time in quite awhile, all three of the major networks had really strong programming on Monday nights. Two of the competing shows — The Voice and Dancing with the Stars — are reality competitions and many viewers feel compelled to watch them “live” rather than catch them online or via DVR recordings.
All 13 episodes of Alcatraz have aired and the last episode left viewers wondering what would happen next. Unless the producers decide to share what they had in mind for season two, we’ll never know the answers to the show’s mysteries.
What do you think? Why do you think Alcatraz failed to hold onto a bigger audience? Did FOX make a mistake by cancelling the series? What will you miss about it?
Very disappointed!!! Bring it back!
very sad to hear this 🙁 very rarely do i have a chance to watch TV (AND control the remote!) and i was looking forward to finding a new episode on On Demand – which is normally how i’d watch alcatraz.
it was a great mix of psychopathology, criminology, history, developing love stories… bring it back please!!!
Super bummed! Was really looking forward to another season – I thought it was super interesting. 🙁
People Just don’t want to know the past. That Alcatraz Is Important to the PAST. We Should learn from that TIME.
It was our favorite show of the season last year, what a disappointment, C’mon Fox
I loved it!!! Wish it wasn’t canceled!! : ( I thought it was very interesting!!
Sad that the cancelled Alcatraz. Just wish someone would cancel Fox TV. What a waste!!!
I found it fun and interesting. You should’ve at least gone one more season to end it right.
Sad & Disappointed!!!!! I am so upset to learn that this great show is not returning!!! I was enjoying the history, the beautiful sites of San Francisco . Why is it that the shows have to be competing with other shows on other networks??? Just let us the people decide what we want to watch & leave it at that. Gee Wiz!!! We loved it & was always looking forward to the next week with a new story. Thanks a lot Fox:( Very poor decision making!!!!
This show was GREAT! I am shocked to find out that it has been canceled. I didn’t watch it on the day it aired, but the next day on Comcast On Demand. Doesn’t that count for ratings. I’ve been waitint all summer for it to return. I sure hope that Fox will reconsider.
Why is it every time I really love a show some d***head decides to cancel it. This show was great and I am very upset that it was cancelled. I am going to send a letter to Fox and let them know also, if you enjoyed the show you should do the same maybe if enough complain maybe just maybe they will bring it back… Just sayin
My husband & I are also VERY disappointed! We’ve been waiting for the next season, prior to finding this listing, I had even sent an email to FOX asking them what the status was and when it would be on. We loved this, it was a GREAT show & I agree with one of the posts above, rather than cancelling it, put it on another night; we (THE FANS) will follow it no matter what night it’s on. We really hope you will reconsider!
Why do the networks put out shows like this in which they draw the audience into leaving them intrigued and waiting for the next season only to cancel them because they put them on schedules with successful tv shows . Everyone knows that Monday is always a tough day to compete with from the Voice, dancing with the stars, the bachelor/bachelorette , there is 6 other days out of the week, you want more viewers try airing the show on a wed or thurs instead of cancelling it all together because someone wanted to play network ***** size on a… Read more »
There are less and less good shows on TV. Alcatraz was a good show, almost on the order of “Lost”. With its cancellation, it’s one less good show on TV.
BRING IT BACK!!!!!!