Christian Slater just can’t catch a break when it comes to television. My Own Worst Enemy was cancelled by NBC in 2009 and ABC’s the forgotten was canned in 2010. Now, FOX has cancelled his new sitcom, Breaking In, after one short season.
Breaking In follows a team of misfits who run a high-tech security operation and take extreme (often questionable) measures to sell their services. The comedy stars Slater, Bret Harrison, Odette Yustman, Trevor Moore, and Alphonso McAuley.
The sitcom debuted on April 6th to a healthy 3.5 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 9.82 million viewers. Those look like solid numbers when viewed alone but are far less impressive when you consider that the series lost more than 50% of the lead-in audience from American Idol.
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In week two, Breaking In lost 26% of its premiere audience, scoring a 2.6 rating and 7.79 million total viewers. Weeks three and four dropped as well. Last Wednesday’s episode scored a 2.4 in the demo and 7.07 million. That represents a retention of only 36% from the American Idol lead-in.
Despite the fact that Breaking In has a better average than already-renewed Raising Hope and Bob’s Burgers, FOX has decided to cancel the TV series after one season and seven episodes. It would seem that, despite what some may believe, lead-in retention does matter.
The remaining two episodes of Breaking In will air tonight and next Wednesday, May 18th. Hopefully Slater will have better luck next time — perhaps on a CBS series?
What do you think? Are you sorry that there won’t be a second season of Breaking In? Why do you think the TV series didn’t catch on?
Image courtesy FOX.
Fox Sucks!!! Breaking In was a good show 🙁
Well of course it loses viewers from Idol. Ryan Seacrest tells them all to start voting for their favorite Idols at 9:30. I really hope FOX reverses this poor decision. How about a schedule change before on outright canellation? This is one of the funniest live action shows on FOX in a very long time.
The lead in with Karaoke Idol is stupid. These shows have nothing in common and a completely different type of audience so of course very few to none would stay to watch it.
Ratings are pointless anyways because they depend on the people who have the damn boxes. You might notice that a lot of shows that are cancelled share similar Oddball themes and target more geek audiences, especially for fox (Firefly, Dollhouse, terminator, Breaking In). You know the type of people who don’t want a damn neilson box tracking what they are watching.
I won’t be watching american idol ever again. I will boycott products of advertisers. James was robbed tonight.
Sign the petition guys!!! We need this show back: http://www.petitiononlinecanada.com/petition/save-foxs-breaking-in/133
[…] a different a day or two can make. After cancelling Breaking In late on Tuesday night, FOX is reportedly reconsidering the […]
This upsets me to the point of no return. This is as stupid of a move Fox could make, reminds me of when Family Guy got canned. I believe this show deserves a second chance, even if that means on another network.
Fox made a bad decision cancelling this show. They even said that the show didn’t have bad ratings. They finally get a good comedy and they cancel it after the 1st season. They are going to blame it on Christian Slater’s past bad shows.
This is another example of why I don’t get involved with shows on FOX. They often cancel decent shows before they get a chance to find their footing. It didn’t surprise me they cancelled this show. I’ve learned to enjoy the ride but not expect a renewal.
It’s a shame this show is being cancelled. I came accross it by accident on Hulu. Maybe the problem was a lack of advertising. Funny show that deserved a second season over Bob’s Burgers or Raising Hope.
I don’t know why this show didn’t do better. It was enjoyable to watch, was funny and entertaining and had a good cast. I feel bad for Christian Slater. I watched and enjoyed his other two shows and had to endure their cancellation as well. I’m really scratching my head on this one. I don’t think the show should be punished just because the viewers who watch American Idol don’t stay tuned in to Breaking In.
This gets cancelled….BUT BOB’S BURGERS GETS RENEWED?! WTF?!
This sux!!!!!
Bad actors! Bad tv serie and just plain boring so they did a great move to cancel it. Even when I saw the teaser before the premier, I knew it would be cancel!
Well all I can say about FOX TV is that whoever makes the decisions to cancel or renew shows should get their head examined. I’ve been waiting a long time for a show as funny as Breaking In to come along since The Big Bang Theory. I am sick of “reality” crap TV. Finally a show comes along that is not only geniously comedic but can draw an audience that spans over 3 generations. The only other show I know that has been successful at doing that was Family Guy. Oh, wait didn’t FOX in a moment of genius cancel… Read more »
Shame, probably the Idol fans were too busy voting afterwards to stay tuned.