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 can’t believe they canceled this show.. It’s one of the shows i’ve actually bothered to watch! I also liked “Lie to me” but ofc that got cancelled too… So annoyed by this…
This was a great show. Another example of why no one watches these shows, because they get cancelled before they get a chance. ie The Event, Terra Nova, Hero’s and I’m sure there are more. So when the new ones come out I won’t watch, sick of getting hooked just in time for them to be gone without even a wrap up!
Shows like Alcatraz to and terra nova were interesting on like this stupid comedies and reality shows on fox that I never watch. There are very few shows anymore that I want to watch on TV because they have no story or drama. It seems that the most silly and vapid TV show is the one that stays on the air
Well this really upsets me, Fox puts on a decent show then cancels it! SHAME ON YOU FOX!
again another good show gets cancelled.. FOX is worthless… but so are some other networks….gread shows that have been cancelled, ALCATRAZ, daybreak, invasion, V, the event, I could name so many more great dramas/sci fi that have been canned…and now we get to see more stupid singing competitions or reality tv shows..
what is television coming too?
How stupid! Fox you made a big mistake..take off the stupid reality shows.
I’m so very dissapointed that Alcatraz was cancelled. I found it to be a great show – most likely because I’ve always been fascinated with Alcatraz. That being said, it just boggles the mind howgreat shows like Alcatraz get cancelled and brainless shows like all those reality tv shows continue on.
Typical stupid TV programmers, leave mindless programs like The Voice and other reality shows on and cancel real entertainment like Alcatraz.
I hope the final episode do Jersey Shore has the entire cast disappearing because I won’t give a ****. Bring back Alcatraz!
Typical, put a good drama up against mindless rubish and watch it fail. Fox should never be allowed to touch good TV
Listen, I get it. I’m not sure if ratings take into account Hulu but they should. I’m any case, the show wasn’t cutting it. There was little character development, no story line, I just didn’t care. They didn’t move the plot along fast enough. With shows like Fringe, which leaves me speechless every 10 minutes, this was just too boring. Nobody loves time travel more than I do but if you don’t get to the point quick enough, the audience will lose interest. What was successful about Lost, and extremely annoying at the same time were all the questions. There… Read more »
Fox…made a big mistake. That was a good show. It was clever and left you wondering. Fox you failed big time
why are all the good shows getting canceled and yet all the garbage stays on air for season after season??? Alcatraz is such a good show…so disappointing
Wow so Fox has no cancelled Tera Nova, the Finder and Alcatraz?! Fox is really starting to tick me off.
I really liked that show wish at least they would televise a ending….maybe it should be moved to a time slot that dosnt already have a lot of compitiion till it get a solid audience.
i really like Alcatraz, Why FOX cancelled this series? I think this is some of my favorite drama ever. I really like mystery drama, make me wonder what happen next. FOX you really make mistake, and you going to regret it later, believe me.