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?
As a faithful viewer when the show was on I was really disappointed when season 2 didn’t come out. Great show. FOX BRING IT BACK!!!!!!!
As a faithful viewer when it was airing, I really hated that Alcatraz was cancelled. BRING IT BACK!!!!!!!! Loved this show so much. I wouldn’t have minded if it was moved to another night.
Bring it back! Fox could have moved it to another night/time slot as it ‘died’ due to other shows at the same time viewed by people not into Science Fiction but in to dance and singing. I believe it would be a hit now! Hated that Touch was canceled, too!
**** , I REALLY LOVE ALCATRAZ … it’s so interesting but they shelved it out they must do it again and air it for the fans !!!!
I bought the DVD & it loved the show & to leave it like that is just wrong if they don’t want to air it then release the dvd
Am really unhappy you ended the series like that then cancelled it you do it all the time now I agree I think I’ll stop watching fox tv for good
Todays generation has the attention span of a six year old ! Schools don’t teach history
earlier than 1980. So Alcatraz must be fiction.
You suck! EVERY good show that comes on, you cancel! I believe I will JUST STOP WATCHING FOX! Take that RATING MORONS!
At least give the people some sort of conclusion, what happened to the movie that was going to fill in the gaps.
loved it, we need season two, finish what you started?
I love the show. Why not ask cancel a thing. Bring the show back.
Are you serious? No series 2……The show needs to give us some answers, It’s just blowing my mind??????? I hate reality TV even more now……….
I live in Europe and saw the show in 2013 on tv. I still can’t believe they just canceled it! I mean why, why canceling a good show when there are more questions than answers! You from FOX sure know how to chase viewers away from their tv, with all the junk that is being pushed down our throats against our will… Alcatraz was a welcome diversary and its just cancelled because you don’t seem to realize that you can divide them shows over an entire week instead of cramming them up on one day or evening… My library around… Read more »
I’m really upset that there is no season 2:( so interested in hearing what was going to happen:(
We in South Africa only watched season 1 in 2014. We just finished season 1 and to your disappointment there is no season 2. We are really disappointed and sad. It was really the best series. I will always wonder what happend to the gaurds and inmates. They made a really big mistake. Can the producers please tell us what the idea was? I don’t think they gave enough time for the series to prove to everybody that so many people will actually love the series. Excellent season 1. PLEASE bring it back.