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?
There are so many detective shows, it’s hard to stand out. Backstrom is great!
Love love love Backstrom. Funny, intelligent and unapologetic. Totally awesome! I have to watch on demand because I work for a living. If fox cancels I hope netflix or hulu will save the show. It is my favorite!
‘Backstrom’ is brilliantly written and the cast is
awesome!! The plots are excellent with humor
cleverly inserted.
It’s obvious that it wasn’t given a fair chance due
to the scheduling. At least try one more season at
on another day!!!!!!
please renew this show it is one of the best .the cast is great and backstrom is great give it time some people don’t know it is on tv you need to advertise put on different night Backstrom tells it like a lot of people think
PLEASE allow Backstrom to find its audience. This is an ensemble show that just gets better and better as we know the characters more deeply. I’ve read articles from critics who decided they didn’t like the title character and clearly didn’t actually watch the show. This is totally different from anything we’ve seen before. My husband and I really hope Fox will give it another season. It’s a jewel that deserves more light and life.
I love this show! Please keep it on!!
Love it my new favorite show
You should pay more attention to streaming service. Backstrom is not up against any other show for me. I love it. You need to renew it.
This show is terrific. Everyone in the cast is fantastic. The characters were well developed from the first show, very rare. Love this show! Keep it PLEASE!
Love this show!
This is a great show! The supporting cast is Fantastic! Please give people a chance to love the cast, and they will!
Love love this show!!!’
Love it. Basing decisions like this based on who is actually watching the show at original broadcast time is why people stopped caring what the networks do a long time ago. Its why companies like HBO and Netflix are being successful with series of their own. I havent watched a live tv show in over 10 years and don t miss it one bit. I usually wont even start watching a series until it gets renewed for a second season since I dont want to invest my time and heart into it and then have some nitwit exec make a… Read more »
Backstrom is my favorite show. Please renew for years to come!
This show is great. Bravo to the entire cast. It’s refreshing!