Court will soon be adjourned for the Mark-Paul Gosselaar drama, Raising the Bar. TNT has decided to cancel the series after two seasons but, there may still be more to come.
From executive producer Steven Bochco, Raising the Bar revolves around a group of law school classmates who work on opposite sides of the courtroom. The drama’s cast includes Gosselaar, Gloria Reuben, Currie Graham, Melissa Sagemiller, J. August Richards, Jonathan Scarfe, Teddy Sears, Jane Kaczmarek, Stacy Hall, Natalia Cigliuti, Paul Joyner, Wayne Lopez, Jon Polito, and Angel Oguendo.
Back on September 1, 2008, the series premiere attracted 7.7 million viewers. That set a record for TNT as the biggest audience for a new series launch on regular cable. Unfortunately, much of the audience didn’t return for later episodes which averaged 5.5 million. Despite an early decline, TNT renewed the series for a second season.
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On June 8th, season two of Raising the Bar attracted just 3.6 million and shed half of the audience of its lead-in, The Closer.
As a result of the low ratings, the cable channel has cancelled the legal drama. Via a statement, a TNT representative said, “Everyone at TNT had a great experience working on Raising the Bar with Steven Bochco and the rest of the show’s terrific cast and crew. We’re proud of the series and appreciate the efforts of all of the creative people who were involved. Unfortunately, ratings for Raising the Bar’s second season did not reach the levels required for TNT to renew the series.”
TNT had opted to split the second season into two parts. The first dozen episodes finished airing on August 24th. That leaves three episodes on the shelf. It was expected that they would air in early 2010 but they haven’t been given airdates yet.
What do you think? Are you upset that the series has been cancelled? Why do you think that Raising the Bar failed — acting, storylines, or something else?
Image courtesy TNT.
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What a shame! It was a great show. It had characters that you love, and ones that you hated. It was one of the three that I DVRed regularly.
Very disappointed that this was cancelled…we loved this show! We are “Closer” fans and loved that this show was on right after that. Maybe another network will pick it up…we have enjoyed Steven Bochco’s other shows and I think this would be successful if picked up on the right channel, day & time…we can hope!!!
I too am dissappointed in the executive decision to cancel raising the bar. I watched it faithfully.I loved that show and all the characters in it. I don’t think they give enough time for other people to view the show. I think they deserve another try at it. I told everyone at work about this show and how great it was. I think possibly other shows on USA were on at the same time that Raising the Bar was on. Why don’t they look at that situation and see who was airing the same time- 10 PM on USA and schedule raising the bar on another night or even at an earlier time. Something can be
worked out. I think they did a great injustice by cancelling that show. I am very, very, very dissappointed in their decision and HOW UNFARE TO THOSE WONDERFUL ACTORS. I just loved them all. Such a darn shame to put it mildly. Diane in Transfer, Pa.
I am so sad to hear that Raising the Bar has been cancelled. It has a wonderful eclectic cast that work so well off of one another. I agree with the other comments on this page…if we can’t have it on TNT then move it to another channel…I really don’t care what channel it’s on as long as it’s on.
I can not believe that this great show has been cancelled. This was by far one of the best shows on television. I tuned in because I was missing Boston Legal so much and wanted to see more legal drama. Raising The Bar filled that gap with no problem. Season two was way better than Season one and Season one was great! I’m sadden today. I thought my summer would be filled with more wonderful courtroom drama. I’ll miss you Raising The Bar and all of its wonderful actors (especially you Mark-Paul Gosselaar).
Not happy about this at all…this was a great show..
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