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.
I can’t believe that AWAKE has been cancelled. It was a show that I made sure I saw every week. I loved the story line, complexity and characters.The network has once again made a poor decision.
Just finished watching the finale. Loved the show and watched it religiously this season. Was definitely one of my favorites. It really sucks it won’t be renewed and garbage like “Jersey Shore” just goes painfully on and on. Great cast, great writing, great plot lines. Definitely too intelligent TV for much of the NBC crowd. Hope it can find a home elsewhere, though I do admit, as a writer myself, it would be a daunting task to come up with as compelling a storyline as the first season. Maybe NBC execs weren’t convinced of that either. I would’ve certainly given… Read more »
I loved the show, but when I watched the finale tonight, I was like, wait a min, its over isn’t it.. so disappointed, NBC, hell all the networks do this, they don’t give shows enough time to grab an audience.. or promote them enough, they want cheap mindless reality tv crap that is cheap and easy to push.. Guess the only place left to watch quality programing is A&E and Showtime…
Loved the show, but had a lot of problems with it. Michael was supposed to be such a brilliant detective, yet he did no investigation into his situation(s). He simply accepted they existed and lived with them. A true detective would have taken it upon himself to check out the people and situations involved in each reality. Did he live each day twice, or were his alternate days successive? More questions arise, but now they are moot. Will miss the show, though; it was an interesting treatment.
NBC does it again! Another bone headed decision.n way to go idiots!
I didn’t want to get involved in a show that would drag on and on. I thought it was a good idea, but I thought it would be like Lost…
No, do not cancel Awake!!! We love Awake!!
My family loves loves loves this show. We talk it out constantly, trying to figure it out. We are so disappointed.
I am dismayed, but not surprised that such an intelligently written show would be cancelled. Awake is one of those shows that must be watched with no sidebar multi-tasking. Its unique storyline is intriguing and original. What will it be replaced with, yet another reality show? If NBC is not smart enough to bring back Awake, some other station should rise up and do the right thing.
I agree; a favorite show of mine too – more depth, plot possibilities, personal interest, professional cast chemistry, psychological exploration, and a truly unique theme, than all the other cop shows combined; from LA Law through Mentalist to NCIS> which I don’t watch any more.
Must be just because it’s NBC> Maybe it’ll hook another network !
(I can figure a twist that works so finale makes sense, but then the writers have always outdone what I supposed before, so it’ll probably be even better if it ever happens.)
Intelligent storyline. great characters, excellent cast, Awake was a favorite for me and I’m very sorry to see it will not be returning for a second season.
It’s sad knowing that all the shows with a true story behind them are getting canceled. Awake always had me thinking and on my toes because it was so unpredictable, which is what made it great. I wish more people would give it a chance.
Well I somehow managed to watch the season finale and it’s sad to say, no show will pick it up. They ended the show with no possibility of a season 2 and if anyone else picked it up, it wouldn’t make sense. Regardless, this show was amazing and I am so upset it’s getting cancelled. It also kinda sucks that my opinion won’t change jack shi* but I’m just so angry because that show was incredibly amazingly fantatfkeginreighnrtigh. k.
If another network picked it up, they wouldn’t have any problem continuing. They had so many levels going on he very easily could have still been in another dream.
I knew this was coming since the first few episodes since this show was too good to be true. Anytime a show starts developing a plot line that is actually meaningful, complex, and interesting, it gets canceled right when things start to get good. Terrible news, this was one of my favorite TV dramas in a while.
I cannot belive this show was cancelled. The network claims that viewers found it too confusing. Yes, you did have to pay attention, but my 15 year old daughter could follow it perfectly. This just highights a weakness in society when viewers are controlling the stations to play shows like Whitney and Are You There, Chelsea instead of Awake. Awake provokes mental simluation and blows my mind each and every week. I can only hope that a better network who wishes to attract the intillectual views instead of the brainless one, picks up this show. So many people want it… Read more »