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?
I really enjoyed the show and found it interesting and exciting canceling this show is very big mistake and the curiosity is killing me to know what happen with them , Really i hope Fox make another season of it better than those stupid reality shows
Watched box set for a 2nd time hoping that the box set would include series 2. disappointed to find it was cancelled and having enjoyed for a second time feel cheated as really wanted to know what happened next instead been left hanging. Many in uk seem to share our disappointment. Hope Fox / WB will reconsider screening series 2.
Wrong wrong wrong! Amazing series unfolding the lives of prisoners it has soooo much more to offer. Personally sounds more like a bad schedule than bad show!
Bring it back there are too many stupid reality show dancin n dancing we need escapism and Alcatraz gave us it.
I don’t have TV services. I buy movies and TV series that i want to watch. This was an excellent show. Kept you wondering whT was going to happen, what the final outcome of the experiment would be and was the key really for gold or something more sinister concerning the experiment. I hate that the show was canceled. I would have bought more seasons of it. I havefriends who watched it on TV. They say they would have continued to watch it. Not everyone likes the reality shows.
I get really frustrated when a show like this is cancelled and the viewers are left with no resolution to the plot! I thoroughly enjoyed this show and would have continued to watch for at least another season or two. Since viewers feel compelled to watch competition-based reality shows in real time, many shows like Alcatraz are watched on-demand at a later time. Another post made an excellent point – does the network take into consideration of these after-air viewership numbers? If not, the network is doing us all a disservice, including themselves. Really sad to see a relatively intelligent… Read more »
True..you have the point. We need season 2 to find the truth. Just like X-files. That will gives us the ideas and the technologies will come around in this decade.
i loved the show… n its just bad that Fox cannot take a couple of thorns in the road and stick by something that it started…i will miss Alcatraz
We need second show
Well I thought it was a great show and more than a bit peed it was cancelled!
Who, what, where, when. Really? ! I’m sure, as previously suggested, if placed in a different time slot in the US the ratings would be much better and as for over here in the UK, WE LOVED IT!
why not try again in a new time slot people in the uk still what to see the show on air again
It’s unfair to the viewers that stuck with and were invested in the show to not explain anything that happened and was hinted at. shows should be wrapped up and provide A satisfying ending
I loved the show, but do to sports I always missed the showings on TV, so I watched the episodes either on On Demand or on Hulu. Did Fox ever check to see how many people watched it on those type of after air websites? It was one of my favorite shows and really intrigued me. I wish that they would make more episodes. It was a fantastic show and it always kept me wondering what would happen next.
This was an awesome show about Alcatraz loved the mystery that’s what brings people back but putting it on a night with reality shows was dumb they should have known that was going to happen they need to bring this show back they could rival some of the other channels with this. Cause right now Fox is being blown out of the water.
what a wate fox has on other shows and cancel something interesting spicve it up fox and bring it back bunch of morons deciding there.why u keep crap shows and cancel good ones?
the show of alcatras should have definetely been progressed after finishing of the first season they published and all of mistrious events could have been solved by the other unshowed seasons. If any possibility to consider the lovers thoughts by the producers, It is better to listen them . this is all I can say.
Really why watch anything any more they just get canceled there is a lot what been canceled it gay here is like the top 3 shows i like what been canceled Heros, jericho, Legend of the Seeker Theres alot more why even bother watching anything anymore just gets canceled right when it gets good
Not enough evidence to revealed all criminals and guards from the Alcatraz. They let Rebecca died and Tommy got away? Hauser and Lucy need to get married? Dr Soto goes nowhere except signing comics books. I wanted to see the happy ending not sad ending…13 is unlucky number. Please one more show to revealed the evidence and the happy ending. That is all I need to say…