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?
Ubelievable. That’s what Alcatraz was and that’s what I can’t believe you did Fox. You should be locked up!
Alcatraz was a great show please bring it back. I have not and I will not ever watch a realty show, they are stupid. I like shows like Alcarraz and Bones. My husband and I would like you to bring the show back. Thank you.
Man this is crazy, loved it, much better then the crazy dancing with the stars and crazy reality shows. Was really looking forward to season two. Oh well maybe a book?
How is it that this different for once show that had alot of suspense, can end in one season, yet we can watch autopsies for 10 years.
First it was Lie to Me, now they cancel Alcatraz. I’m not surprised the mental midgets at Fox leave us with crappy reality shows and the unwatchable Cleveland Show.
WHAT THE **** IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE.ONE OF THE BETTER SHOW ON TV AND YOU TAKE IT OF.WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO PUT ONT .ONE OF THOSE FTU CKED UP SHOWS.WERE SOME RICH GUY OR SOME RICH ***** IS LOOKING TO GET LAID
**** Fox
why would they cancel it was so good it had suspense and romance and they left it with a big cliff hanger plus its educational
So unhappy. Ali and I were looking forward to season two. We made a point to be on the couch in time to watch Alcatraz every week! It was a mistake to end this show. It would have caught on given more time. It took a while to wrap your head around the concept but once engaged you were completely enthralled. Please bring it back!!!
I’m soooooo bummed to hear that this show got cancelled. I’ve been waiting all summer for it and didn’t really give much thought to it ever getting cancelled until now when I was trying to find it’s premier date for season two. I also agree with the above reality shows have gone down hill and are basically the only left on to watch, no wonder they have higher ratings–what else is there!
Is there any way they would bring it back? Alcatraz was an AMAZING show, and not to sound too much like the other comments but REALTY TV SHOWS SUCK.
^FOX SUCKS *** NEVER SHOULD HAVE CANCELLED ALCATRAZ…SICK AND TIRED OF ALL THESE DAMN REALITY SHOWS. WHY IS IT WHEN SOMETHING REALLY GOOD COMES OUT IT DONT MATTER THE STATION IT GETS CANCELLED, ANOTHER NETWORK SHOULD PICK IT UP!!!!!
They come up with a show that’s different, and something I looked forward to each week, and it gets canceled. Who do we complain to
I too am soooo very sick of reality shows! Please bring back the good ones like Alcatraz on Fox, Ringer on CW network and The Firm on NBC. These were all GREAT shows. Anymore, I really don’t want to watch the new ones even if they sound good. What’s the point, it will be cancelled at the end of the season anyway?!?!
Now that figures!
No panel of judges, No audience voting…
Really?
This is horrible news, but I guess I should have known better than to get into a show that requires an attension span. Thanks Fox…. YOU SUCK!