This season alone, two of NBC’s most anticipated new Thursday night TV series — Prime Suspect and The Firm — have flopped. Is Awake different? Will it be cancelled or survive to see a second season?
Awake revolves around police detective Michael Britten (Jason Isaacs) following a horrific car accident with his wife (Laura Allen) and son (Dylan Minnette). Britten discovers that he’s living two parallel realities. In one, his wife died in the accident. In the other, his son did. As he tries to discover what’s going on, he finds that details from both realities seem to bleed into the other. The cast also includes B.D. Wong, Cherry Jones, Michaela McManus, Steve Harris, and Wilmer Valderrama.
The show debuted on March 1st with lots of positive reviews, a mediocre 2.0 rating in the all-important 18-49 demographic, and 6.24 million total viewers. It was first in its timeslot, opposite repeats on ABC and CBS. While the premiere of Awake didn’t generate great numbers, it did better than Prime Suspect and The Firm. It was also the best performance that NBC’s had in that timeslot since last May.
Many contended that the premiere’s ratings were undercut because NBC released the pilot online well in advance — a strategy that seemed to help generate some buzz. If that gamble paid off, theoretically the numbers for the second episode would be better than the first. They weren’t.
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The ratings for episode two fell 20%, to a 1.6 demo rating and 4.33 million. It was easily beaten by an original edition of The Mentalist on CBS but topped a rerun of the GCB pilot on ABC. Week three of Awake held steady. If the show could maintain those numbers for the rest of the season, it would be safe. Unfortunately, it couldn’t.
Episode four’s numbers dropped a whopping 25%. Weeks five and six then dropped another 17% and 10% respectively. After just a half dozen episodes, Awake is basically matching the Thursday night ratings of NBC’s other cancelled dramas.
Based on the ratings, Awake is sure to be cancelled by May. They’re just too low for the peacock network to be able to justify a second season on the network.
Given the state of NBC’s current schedule, it seems likely that the network will let the remaining seven episodes air on Thursday nights. If the ratings continue to drop, they may pull it or ship it off to the Saturday night graveyard with The Firm.
Most importantly, it looks unlikely that viewers will have their questions answered by the last episode of Awake.
But, what do you think? Are you still watching Awake? Have you lost interest? Do you think it should be cancelled or renewed for a second season?
Image courtesy NBC.
I am so upset at the thought that Awake could be cancelled. It is a show that I find so intriquing! And others would find out the same thing if it is given the chance. I have been into several other shows to which this has happened. It seems if you have to have a brain to watch something, then the networks end up cancelling way too soon before people have a chance at even finding the show. Please, PLEASE give this show the chance it deserves and let it be on for another full season. AT LEAST give it… Read more »
Awake is a very intriguing series. Apparently, the folks not watching it are not AWAKE!
I love this show a ton. I hope they either renew it or at the very least allow a wrap-up episode so I can buy the DVDs as surprise presents to share with other people how great this show is.
I love this show!! It’s so good! I really hope it doesn’t get
Canceled!:((
This is an awesome show. The acting is great, the writing is great! I don’t normally watch dramas but love this one. Please don’t cancel Awake.
Does anyone know why Awake is on COMEDY night on NBC? No wonder it’s getting poor ratings.
Awake Watcher » NBC has a long history of airing four sitcoms on Thursdays before a 10pm drama. Remember ER?
PLEASE don’t cancel it..I LOVE IT…great idea…enjoying it very much.
Love this show! Please give it a chance to get an audience.
Say it ain’t so! Awake is by far the best new show on any network right now. Although I’m not surprised because they have not really been promoting it, so how does anyone know the show even exists. I don’t even have HBO anymore, but I can tell you all of their new shows this season because they have been bombarding my TV with a million previews and trailers plus all of the actors are on every channel all the time. I’ve only seen one of the Awake actors on just one talk show since I began watching. They need… Read more »
Awake is the best-acted, most original show since Quantum Leap! In fact, it is sort of a tip of the hat to both The Twilight Zone and QL. So why didn’t NBC find a way to communicate that? This should have been an easy show to promote, but NBC failed completely! Jason Isaacs’ acting is better than Hugh Laurie’s or Kiefer Sutherland’s – and that’s about as good as it gets on network TV! Besides, any show that finds a way to get a penguin into the cast deserves a renewal. TV execs can find a way to keep Burn… Read more »
This show is founded on a really unique, original idea. It’s hard to find those these days. Please don’t cancel!
What is happening NBC? Awake is by far one of the most intriguing shows in a long time!
Give it time and back it up with another season. I am tired of so called” reality” shows…it is time for some imagination and mystery to be brought back to your viewers and this is the program that will do it!! Please don’t go the way of ABC and not listen to the public because I rarely view their programs anymore! Please give AWAKE , the cast,and writers a chance. Thanks!
I’m am quite enthralled with this new series and I think it becomes more intriguing with each episode. I especially love Cherry Jones and will watch the show as long as it is on, and will certainly purchase the season dvds.
NBC should have given this show a better (earlier) timeslot. I hope they give it a chance and a better time slot because I think it could find an audience. It will be a damn shame if it is cancelled. I’m hooked – and as someone mentioned earlier I almost hate to watch year 1 shows because I always get disapointed if I invest time (and emotion) in a show that gets cancelled. I nearly always wait until year 2 (and catch up with year 1 on DVD) but I made an exception for Awake. The acting is brilliant from… Read more »
I just wish that networks would stop cancelling so many programs that I get roped into. We commit our time to giving a show a shot, enjoy the premise and watch it get shot down again and again. It just sucks and I feel NO loyalty to ANY network because of this obnoxious tendency.
Networks have no real viewer loyalty in my own opinion, only loyalty to the almighty….buck.