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.
 Loading ... |
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.
“Awake” was pretty decent! Slow at times but interesting story line. Maybe the HBO. Writers need to get a hold of it
How sad that this was cancelled. I really enjoyed this show. It will probably be replaced with some dumb reality show. Give us a break!!!! Bring it back!! I dvr all my shows. How do the ratings know for sure that people weren’t watching?
Wow. So mad about this. Seems like all the decent and good shows get cancelled. My husband said this is the only show he’s ever gotten into in the history of television. Lol. This ticks me off though. Sucks that they don’t give you a good ending just like they did with Flash Forward.
what`s the point doing a t,v series & cancel it without giving the series an ending.any 1 watching a canceled series has just wasted there time if the series has no ending.
I really like the show and started watching it on
Hulu only 2 months ago. Ratings are not reliable
for networks any longer. Execs need to use other
measures to help not cancel good shows. Flash forward
was another good show cancelled to early.
I loved Awake and am sad that it isn’t being renewed. I found it extremely interesting and kept me watching to see what was next. Wish they would reconsider bringing it back.
Shocked to see the cancellation, as we just watched the last DVR’d episode yesterday. A sad day for an awesome drama. We thought this could go on for years.
I am someone who records shows I love and watch them when I can take the time to enjoy them. I learned about the cancellation, and like those before me, am sad that any show that requires a bit of brain power will be cancelled due to ‘lack of interest’. Perhaps the show was scheduled at a tough time slot; it was not promoted as much as the low budget reality drivel; maybe the TV viewing audience is becoming more like the Hulu commercial characters…mindlessly watching whatever is provided by the Big Networks without complaint. But what is to happen… Read more »
I just realized that Awake is not coming back on and am very disappointed. We watched every single episode from the very first and really found them to be so thought provoking. There was definitely enough to go on for several seasons. I’m still not sure which reality was real and which was a dream? Or were they both dreams? Guess I’ll never know now!! I guess we can count on NBC execs to always make the wrong decision! That’s a given.
NBC the same brain dead executives that cancelled “Friday Night Lights”
I echo all of the prior comments and I am still disappointed about this show being cancelled. I am actually still watching the show on demand because it is that good!! We are surrounded with reality garbage and finally a thought provoking, interesting series that held one’s interest and kept me coming back is gone…only to be replaced with the same garbage. The acting is fantastic on all counts!!! The story line unique, meaningful and interesting!!! There were so many possibilities of where to go with this!!!! I still cannot believe that Awake was not given a better shot and… Read more »
I am sad to find out that AWAKE has been cancelled. It is one of the best new shows to premier this season. I do watch a few reality shows but I prefer to watch good drama series. It was refreshing to watch a show that had a different plot, twist and turns, and one you really had to pay attention to grasp what was going on. Unfortunately, I am drawn to these kinds of show and they always end up being cancelled and are having or have had their final season (The Event, Flashback, Jericho, Damages, LOST). I just… Read more »
AWAKE, Dammit. AWAKE was a very good, and interesting, show. It had depth and promise. It had the potential to have found a good and loyal following – somewhat along the lines of more sophisticated X-FILES – had it been given a good, proper handling. A problem for me was just having trouble finding AWAKE. I only came across it by accident a few times. It would have done well if it had been connected to some other stronger show with an over-lap audience. But, where on NBC was that going to be? Essentially NBC is over-focused on its quasi-reality… Read more »
It’s so well written. I mean, normally, such kind of tricky plot would end up ‘crazy’ or ‘stupid’ even. But it didn’t happen in this one. I think this one is much better than ‘lost’ even. Sorry to hear the end of it. Same feeling when Deadwood got cancelled in HBO. Good things last, great things die. I guess.
Is there nothing better than reality TV…. yes and you just cancelled it!! BIG mistake.