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?
NOT all of us want to watch rubbish like Dancing With the Stars and I was NOT impressed with The Voice either. Loved the suspense of Alcatraz and very VERY disappointed that they didn’t give it another season, if not anything other than to tie up loose ends.
Big mistake. Alcatraz was such an original program. I loved it, the concept was fresh and new , unlike the rest of the networks who try to compete with eachother by putting on similar shows (dancing w the stars and so you think you can dance )(idol and the voice). It is just getting really old and Alcatraz was a breathe of fresh air. Bring it back !!!
Bring back Alcatraz
Yes I totally agree. I loved that show, and thought it was written well. I liked every episode and the finale was great, now we will never know. Bring it back. If I could not watch it I recorded it on my DVR.
I really enjoyed it and am disappointed that there won’t be a follow on series. Please think again!!!
need to bring back Alcatraz. left people hang on what happens next. also need to look at other show and time slots that would have interfered with the time slot of Alcatraz. there was probley other shows that people watch that interfered, also rating where down due to work or school. SO BRING BACK ALCATRAZ
Bring it back, was a good show leaving it hang, not so good.
bring it back for another season
I love this show, the intrigue an suspense. Please renew for Season Two.
As someone who RARELY watches Reality shows, or competition shows like The Voice, etc, I am dismayed by the fact that Fox has cancelled Alcatraz. To me, moving it to better time period would resolve this. As well, Networks, both US and Canadian need to institute a more realistic ratings system other than what the East coast is watching at THAT specific time. Millions of downloads via torrent sites cannot be wrong. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, Television networks have failed in adapting new technologies to gauge what is popular. The closest they have come is… Read more »
yes i agree
It’s a shame. There was enough there to expand and really make it interesting to show what happened to the 63s. Leaving everyone high and dry like that is a bit unfair.
yea there was i was hoping that there would be season two to see what happens next.
Bad move! Another bonehead, canceling a good show without even trying to move to a different day. They also, could have told the producer that they were ending it so we loyal watchers could find out what happened!
I am devastated to learn that the second series of Alcatraz has been cancelled. I was hooked on the first series from the onset. After watching episode 13 I’ve been eagerly waiting for details of the start date of the second series, so went onto IMDB for details instead I discovered that the show has been cancelled. Please reconsider the decision and air the second series, alternatively make a longer one off episode enabling those who did enjoy the programme to understand why and how the 63s disappeared and what the outcome is.
PLS Give Alcatraz another chance!!! Give those who really want to watch a great story, great characters, great series a chance!!! Alcatraz is way way better than those reality crap…
Glad they did !