It’s the nightmare NBC’s Awake fans were dreading. NBC has cancelled the show after 13 episodes and one season.
Created by Kyle Killen (Lone Star), Awake revolves around a police detective (Jason Isaacs) who, after being in a horrific car accident, finds that he’s living in two realities. In one, his son perished — in the other, his wife did. The cast also includes Laura Allen, Steve Harris, Dylan Minnette, B. D. Wong, Michaela McManus, Wilmer Valderrama, and Cherry Jones.
The complex drama had an unimpressive debut back on March 1st, registering a 2.0 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 6.24 million viewers. NBC had released the pilot episode well in advance so some believed that hurt the premiere ratings.
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Theoretically the second episode should have shown signs of growth but it didn’t. Week two dropped 20%. Week three remained stable but subsequent weeks saw additional declines. Last week’s episode hit a new low with a dismal 0.7 rating and just 2.15 million viewers.
This season has averaged a 1.1 rating in the demographic with 3.5 million total viewers. Awake is the third-lowest rated drama on the network, beating only Harry’s Law and The Firm (both of which have been cancelled as well). On our NBC Ratings Report Card, which measures the relative demo performance of shows on the network, Awake has a “D+” grade.
NBC has now cancelled Awake and the series finale is on track to air Thursday, May 24th. While it wasn’t intended as a series finale, Killen has said that he believes the finale is very satisfying.
What do you think? Are you sorry to hear that Awake has been cancelled and won’t be back for a second season? Was the series too complicated for most TV viewers or did it have other problems?
Image courtesy NBC.
Unfortunately, networks don’t look at the quality of shows but at the quantity of people who watch them. I love Awake and I almost can’t wait for the finale. Doesn’t it suck that most people want all those mindless reality shows and not those that actually stimulate and make you think?
I am tired of hearing the 18 to 49 demographic. Those of us who are older than 50 also enjoy tv and buy product from advertisements. I am sick of the honchos who sit in their office and only give a damn about the 18 to 49. I thought Awake was a great show and should be given another season. They are always to quick to judge. Wow, more reality tv!
I love this show. Very sad it’s over.
I can’t believe this is cancelled. I have not watched a show religiously for a long time and now I watched Awake and watch Missing. I want to protest! The show is very good and leaves you on the edge of your seat the whole time! Give it another chance!
I can’t believe it! Every show I start to watch always gets cancelled!
It’s on at an awful time, so I never got to tune in when it premieres, school and all being the next day.
I loved this show, it was so original and sucked me in no matter what, it really is a shame to see it go.
I will say this, if I don’t find out which one is real or which one is not real I will have to scream!
I AM SO MAD AT NBC!!!!!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS SHOW. WHY IS IT THAT ANYTHING INTELLIGENT IS TOSSED OUT OF THE WINDOW. I AM SO SICK OF EVERYTHING I AM ACTUALLY CHALLENGED BY BEING CANCELLED. IT IS CLEAR TO ME THAT NBC AND OTHER NETWORKS ARE NOW BEING RUN BY A BUNCH OF SELF CENTERED MILLENIALS THAT CANNOT HOLD AN ATTENTION SPAN FOR FIVE MINUTES!
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE SOMEONE, AMC, DIRECTV, SOMEONE PICK UP THIS SHOW!!!!
LOLOLOLOL! LOVE THIS GAL, HERE!
My son and I both enjoyed Awake. Depending on my work hours, I would watch it online some weeks, and never missed an episode. I was looking forward to season two, which appeared to be setting up to falsely accuse our protagonist of killing his partner in one reality and a nail-biter of who would get who in the other reality. Too bad the network has so little regard for its fringe element viewer.
NBC has a reputation of not giving really good shows a chance to develop, such as “Awake”. It was a great script, excellent acting, and a wonderful premise. Too bad the execs at the studio only look at the bottom line and don’t listen to what the viewers are saying. Not everything is about $$$$ you guys!!!
AMEN ………..NBC GETTING A BAD BAD REPUTATUION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have an idea! They should sell the idea to another network on cable, maybe.
I agree I would follow the show to any network
YES!!!!!!!!!!!! JUST LIKE MEDIUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I Completely agree too!!
I love this complicated but fasinating show! It’s nothing like I’ve ever seen before, which is why I like it so much. It’s full of action, has an amazing story line and is very moving. I can’t understand why more people aren’t hooked on this show. I am so sorry to see that “Awake” has been cancelled.
I love this show, I think it didnt catch on because the promos for it were to cheesy feeling and if they would of spun them more on the premise of the detective trying to uncover the conspiracy of his familys death they they would of gotten more people to give it a try. They shouldnt of pushed the awake theme because people would of gotten hooked once they saw it but it got pre judged as silly
I’m amazed at how many people repeatedly post comments on various sites blaming “stupid Americans” (or “stupid”, “mindless”, “low IQ”, “attention deficit”, “lazy” people in general) for the cancellation of thought-provoking tv shows and the rise of reality tv. If more self-proclaimed “intelligent” viewers actually thought about and researched how the networks make their programming decisions, instead of assuming that they are part of an elite minority of smart people in a society of dolts, they would realize that: 1) Because there are so many more entertainment options for people now than in the past, including hundreds of channels of… Read more »
actually you make alot of excellent points. In the end your proposition for mini series is a good one, but only if it its show cased that way.
I agree with your point about ‘cliffhangers’ being a practice that needs to be done away with. However, I don’t agree with your point that it’s lazy for people to assume the cancellation of thought provoking TV is due to viewers with low intelligence and/or low attention spans. It’s true that networks aren’t making as much money as they used to due to the internet, lack of opportunity for product placement, etc. so this forces them to rely more on shows having higher viewership for income. But the reason they don’t have higher viewership is because the majority of the… Read more »
Fast paced.
WORK FOR NBC?
I thought Awake was fantastic. It is a shame the population likes only mindless reality tv that isn’t even real or, sitcoms that have no substance. This show reminded me up Inception. The acting was great, the characters were well developed and the story was a mind bender. I hope NBC considers putting it on another night and giving it another try.
I agree with previous comments. I love this show. It was a welcome break from the mind-numbing nonsense on television these days. This show would get a cult following if NBC (or another network) would get behind it.
Love this show and it gets better every episode. Please reconsider. Great actors, innovative story line and great plot!!!! Would love to see it picked up for 2nd season.
Boo NBC. I’m really disappointed you made this decision. It was one of the only shows I looked forward to watching each week. You could at least give it one more season.