The movie may be a cult favorite but the Napoleon Dynamite TV show wasn’t popular enough for FOX. They’ve cancelled the animated series after one season.
Napoleon Dynamite follows the continuing mis-adventures of “America’s most awesomely awkward teenager” and his quirky family and friends in rural Idaho. The voice cast includes Aaron Ruell, Diedrich Bader, Efran Ramirez, Jon Gries, Jon Heder, Sandy Martin, and Tina Majorino.
The series debuted on January 15th with a very healthy 4.4 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 8.31 million viewers. It benefited greatly from a lead-in from The Simpsons and an NFL game before that.
The second episode dropped like a rock by 25% in the all-important demo. The next two weeks fell a whopping 36% and then another 14% after that — to a 1.8 in the demo with 3.81 million viewers. Had there been more episodes, the numbers likely would have kept falling.
That downward trend likely concerned the FOX execs quite a bit and was likely the deciding factor in the show’s fate.
All six episodes have aired and, according to TVLine, there won’t be any more. The last was broadcast on March 4th.
What do you think? Did you think the Napoleon Dynamite series was worth a season two renewal? Would it have been more popular if it had been created a few years earlier?
Image courtesy FOX.
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bring back napoleon dynamite you stooges its the best cartoon since south park
Unfortunately, this is Fox being the terrible network they’ve always been. ND had better ratings than Bob’s Burgers, but they only aired half the Bob episodes they paid for. So instead of renewing the show with better ratings, they renew the show that already has episodes paid for and produced.
In addition, ND managed to pull in decent ratings with the typical Fox BS. Only 6 episodes, 2 week breaks in between every episode except one, airing against the grammys. Fox really mishandled the show’s scheduling.
Bob’s Burgers episodes still have pretty terrible ratings, but now they are close to having enough episodes to sell the syndication rights that they’ll keep it that long at least.
If you still care, sign the petition and share it with your friends and family:
http://www.change.org/petitions/fox-renew-napoleon-dynamite-for-a-second-season
As a follow up to this comment I sent them en email about a DVD release here’s what happened:
I sent asfox a question about a DVD release for the show and they directed me to Fox Connect, I asked them and after 4 days they sent this reply:
“Dear Valued Customer,
Thank you for your interest in purchasing Twentieth Century Fox products. Unfortunately, at this time we do not have information in regard to if or when the title that you have inquired about will be released on DVD. We truly apologize for the inconvenience and we will be happy to assist you further if you have any additional questions and/or concerns.
Thank you,
Customer Care”
They don’t know. I find that surprising considering how long it’s been.
I replied asking them if they could direct to me another person or department email that would know or if they could at least give me a time frame on when the decision will be made. They replied with the EXACT SAME response. They didn’t even try to answer my question.
Awful.
Napoleon Dynamite needs one more chance I mean Family Guy Didn’t do any better in the 1rst Season AND LOOK AT IT NOWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!IT”S ON SEASON ELEVEN AND IS GOING INTO SEASON TWELVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GIVE DYNAMITE ONE MORE CHANCE
My kids & I loved the show and did not even like the movie. We recorded all 6 eps and still watch them. Maybe you guys could make more eps for dvd release… please
This show needs a chance. Family Guy did not do to great in it’s first season, look at the show now!
THIS SHOW NEEDS TO BE REVIVED!!!
This show was so amazing. In my opinion it was 50 times better than family Guy, Futurama, and South Park combined.
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