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?
The majority of the American TV watching public is brain dead and don’t want to think, or can’t think anymore. When show like “Hollywood hillbillies” which is moronic crap, is still on. I’m surprised that the “walking dead is so popular I guess that is because nothing stupid is on the other channels.
Please bring this drama back to TV next year!
Why??? I have the DVD of Alcatraz. Only one season??? Come on.. I want to see more on TV and collect more of DVDs. FOX made the bad move. I bet the actors were not happy with FOX network. Good luck..
Bring it back
I really wish Fox would bring back the TV series Alcatraz. The show was very interesting and I can’t believe they just cut off the season like that, leaving people hanging without even finishing what was started…very upsetting! That’s most certainly a good way to get a bad name and worse ratings for future sitcoms. Fox made a huge mistake. Please consider bringing the show back!
The big problem with this series was that the producers seemed to be playing the audience: most episodes had a single story-line running through them (the capture of an inmate), topped and tailed by a few scenes from the on-running story of what happened in the past. It felt like two unrelated stories that the producers were keeping apart to retain the flexibility to mix and match episodes and tops/tails . But this is deeply dissatisfying for the viewer, who wants at his or her core to find out WHY all this is going on, and desires each week’s show… Read more »
Come on we need more seasons, I’m a big fan it’s great !
I am still waiting for Fox to renew Alcatraz for two or three more seasons. Fox really left a lot of people hanging when they ended the series so suddenly. Even though the ratings were down the show was so good it left you wanting to see more. So ratings are not all they are cracked up to be. A show can be so good that it dose not have to have good ratings to be a great show. Touched on the other hand should have been canceled and not renewed for a second season. So please renew Alcatraz for… Read more »
I found it interesting that the show used the history of real people and crimes along with the fiction of their storyline. I wish they had tried giving it another year with a different time slot.
I understand ratings were down. Why not give it a new time slot or a different night without those reality tv shows. I liked this show a lot and don’t watch that other junk. I really hope they reconsider and just move it to where there is less competition with junk
I just found this out, after wondering why I saw one of the actors on a different show. Every time there is a good program on Fox they end up cancelling it. I really hate it when they leave you hanging, wondering what was going to happen. The least they could have done was give it at least a two year run. I know I’d rather watch this then any of those incredibly idiotic reality shows. Great move Fox.
That’s the problem with these shows; you start to get into it and they pull it right from under you like a rug. I liked Jericho too and they pulled it too. They don’t care about the people who support the show, they care about ratings!
This was one of my favorite shows. How sad. It was kind of like “Lost,” it left you trying to figure out what was going on, what was going to happen next, etc. Too much trash on tv anymore. All the good shows that really made you think, or were family friendly, are basically non-existent.
plz bring it back we need to know what happens next !
Fox and Warner Brothers made a big mistake leaving a series as fantastic as that on a cliffhanger then cancelling it with so many questions that need to be answered to fans. Alcatraz beats so many other shows and they need to bring it back for a second series. The atmosphere that the series gave to fans was amazing and there are so much information we need to get from a second series so Fox and WB:
Bring Back The Show!!!!!