For the most part, FOX has really been struggling this season. When it comes to new shows, Empire is a hit and Gotham’s doing okay but Utopia, Mulaney, Gracepoint, and Red Band Society were dismal failures in the ratings and have already been cancelled. How’s Backstrom doing? Will it survive to see a second season?
On Backstrom, an offensive, irascible yet brilliant detective (Rainn Wilson) is brought back from exile to run Portland Police Bureau’s Special Crimes Unit. The rest of the cast includes Genevieve Angelson, Dennis Haysbert, Kristoffer Polaha, Page Kennedy, Beatrice Rosen, and Thomas Dekker.
With American Idol as a lead-in, the series debuted on January 22nd with a 1.9 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 7.98 million viewers. That was an okay start but there wasn’t much serious competition on the other networks.
In week two, Backstrom had to start competing with Scandal on ABC and the ratings dropped more than 30%. In week three, NBC’s The Blacklist moved to Thursdays at 9pm and Backstrom dropped another 30% or so once again, falling to a 1.0 in the demo and 3.64 million.
In week four, the FOX series bounced back to a 1.2 in the demo and 4.39 million. Last week’s installment took another big tumble and Backstrom landed at a 0.9 in the demo and 3.54 million.
It’s pretty clear that, while Backstrom may have some devoted viewers, it’s not priority viewing for most people on Thursday nights. It’s pretty consistently in fourth place in its 9pm timeslot and is now FOX’s lowest-rated drama.
With numbers like these, it’s hard to imagine that FOX will renew Backstrom for a second season. FOX has some serious schedule problems but this show doesn’t seem to be a solution. There are eight episodes left in the season (only five are scheduled) so Backstrom has some time to prove itself with better ratings. This seems unlikely but sometimes miracles do happen. Backstrom could certainly use one.
But, what do you think? Do you like Backstrom? If you ran the network, would you cancel or renew this series for a second season? Would you change anything to attract more viewers?
Love Backstrom! Please don’t cancel!
This show rocks! Rainn Wilson is such an amazing talent along with the entire supporting cast. Air time placement is awful. Opposite “The Black List” and “Mom”; both have strong followings. Please, please do NOT cancel this show!
I really like it so it will probably be cancelled – as most of my past favorite shows.
Renew! Good quirky cop show!
Stop scheduling good shows against one another. It’s not robot wars! It is archaic to think people are only able to view one show during one time slot. Technology is available to record many shows at the same time, and the good ones are being watched. Sometimes it takes a while before people find these shows, it takes word of mouth.
Don’t cancel it please! We watch it, and record Blacklist. It’s archaic to think you can only watch one program in one time slot. There’s so much slop out there, why do they consistently schedule two good shows on at the same time, and then cancel the one that didn’t “win” the slot? Star Trek originally had dismal ratings, but they stuck with it, and look what became of that. Terriers was another good program that wasn’t allowed to develop.
They better keep it.can’t take anymore c.s.i.Miami or whatever.best Detective show
My whole family loves this program. We look forward to it each week. A great change of pace for a cop show. Love his character and the rest of the cast is great. Please bring it back for another season.
I love this character and the plots. I’m you… I don’t think you should cancel this show!
I love this show! Keep it please!
Backstrom is one of the best new shows of the season, so of course it will be canceled. Meanwhile, plenty of shows not worth watching, across all the networks, will be renewed without a second thought.
Do not cancel backstrom !!!! It’s great
bring it back please for a second season! it is great!
Dear FOX, please don’t cancel Backstrom! Great actors and excellent writing hold such promise for the future. Stop canceling all the good new shows, give m a better opportunity.
My husband and I love this show! It needs to continue somewhere. I think it was unwise to put the show on at the same time as Blacklist. Please reconsider.