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?
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this is nuts the fox network cancell to many good shows before asking the fans of the shows. i liked terra nova and alcatraz lets try to bring them back
bring it back.something quite original-then gone.a hopeless audience or really bad
network thinking
My fiance’ and I enjoyed the series and have been waiting for it to come back on. Found the series to be interesting and would like to see a season two. Dancing with the stars has become boring and feel that America isn’t a very good judge of what real talent is, but a popularity contest.
bring it back, it made want to find out what happends next.
I think it stinks they canceled Alcatraz!! This is the third show we all watched that has been canceled…ugg
Really enjoyed the series. Much more engaging than a lot of shows out there. Bring it back.
I believe that they should indeed bring it back for Season 2. And continue showing it until they have shown all of the inmates and guards. My family absolutely loved that show. Before giving it a bad rep and canceling it- FOX should have investigated Hulu and seen how many people watch it on there. My family does not have cable, so we had to watch it on Hulu. PLEASE BRING IT BACK!
Bring it back for season 2.
From belgium
Bring back Alcatraz, it has only just aired in NZ, and I want more!!! This show kept my interest and craving for the next. This is the worst mistake the producers could have done and I’m sure other NZers will agree with me.
I hope the come out with another session
it was a really good show I got my hole family
Hooked on it after each show was over we
Would call each other and talk about it lol
I THINK FOX REALLY MESSED UP I hope
They put it on the air again choose another
Day and time and I bet it will be a big hit
again!!!!!!!!
i think they did do a big mistake by canceling the show because it was really good. the last episode really let me thinking what was going to happend next. Good show ..
I bought this on Blu-Ray and watched the episodes in quick succession. It’s a great show and I do hope FOX will change their mind and produce some further episodes. It sounds just like a timing issue which caused the declining viewer numbers.
season 2 , please !
from Hong Kong
i really liked the show i was waiting and waiting for the show to come back on and it didnt i was really sad that they didnt do season 2 i really dont care for dancing with the stars nor do i like the voice just not my type of shows i wish they would put this one back but if its a problem with competing then why not just change the time it comes on.?
Another one bites the dust.Always it’s the shows that multi- gens can enjoy together .my mom&dad ,my sons, and grand child all watched Alcatraz live and dvr’d it . So we could re watch it and discuss it and pause for comments or conflicts of all of us seeing something different. I know it’s been cancelled, but I also know peanuts can make a network change it’s mind!!!What could we send from Alcatraz? Maybe those special flowers:)
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