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?
Keep it!! I like the mysteries and his funny, grouchy personality!
Love this show, really funny…. keep it!
Great show, funny…. keep it!
Keep it for sure, it’s hilarious! What ever happened to giving shows a chance? Too many times shows are completely dropped instead of changing time slots, adding more commercials to attract viewers or running mini marathons on different nights to get more people’s attention. It’s also not fair that it’s a mid-season addition, it’s harder to pull people away from their routines in the middle of a television season.
Keep it! Very entertaining.
Definitely give it a chance. It is great. Love the characters. Too bad FOX put it up against such tough competitors. If cancelled, hope cable or Netflix picks it up.
Backstrom is a GREAT SHOW!!! it’s a keeper. Great chemistry of the entire cast.
Like gobs and gobs of other picky-as-all-get-out TV viewers–I r e a l l y like (italics) this show. Please don’t screw this up, FOX Big-Guys, and do NOT cancel this show.
Thanks for your time and kind attention.
Sincerely, Clara D. Saladin
Love it! Love it! Love it!
I don’t know if my other attempt to post this was successful, but I can’t find it, so I will attempt to post it one more time. If this results in multiple posts of the same comment, I do apologize and ask that the moderator(s) delete this one: at any rate, here is the comment, verbatim, as it should have appeared in my previous endeavor to post it: Backstrom is fan-*******-tastic. It’s one of my favorite new shows, and does everything right. He’s just the misanthropic genius we need to fill a House M.D. shaped hole. It’s brilliantly written, the… Read more »
KEEEP IIIITTT brilliant. I’m watching it now. good. love it. 😀
I am you,what a great quirky new series. Love it! Keep it please.Change the time slot if you must. That’s what mg DVR is for.
keep it
it awesome
OMG it’s hilarious..you have to enjoy his personality. It’s a great show. Keep it.
LOVE THIS SHOW , BEST IN AWHILE