After cancelling Breaking In last spring, FOX worked out a deal and resurrected the sitcom for season two. Many fans were very happy that the show had been saved but few seem to be tuning in to watch these days.
Starring Christian Slater, Megan Mullally, Alphonso McAuley, Bret Harrison and Erin Richards, Breaking In has been doing quite poorly in the ratings and is down by 40% when compared to last year.
After just five episodes, the sitcom has been averaging a 1.4 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 3.01 million total viewers. Aside from Fringe, it’s the lowest-rated scripted series on the network this season — doing much worse than already-cancelled shows like Allen Gregory and Terra Nova.
FOX had planned for Breaking In to return to its Tuesdays at 9:30pm timeslot starting April 24, but they’ve dropped the show instead. The network will air reruns of New Girl instead. FOX recently renewed New Girl, as well as fellow Tuesday night occupants Glee and Raising Hope, for the 2012-13 season.
The network had ordered 13 episodes for Breaking In’s second season so that means that there are eight unaired installments remaining. There’s no word on when or if they will air (perhaps teamed with I Hate My Teenage Daughter?) but it’s a sure thing that FOX execs won’t be having a change of heart once they cancel Breaking In for the second time.
What do you think? Were you a fan of Breaking In? Did you stop watching the show this season?
Image courtesy FOX.
While I agree that season two is not as good as season one, it was still better than most of the drek on other channels. Season one was too smart for the public in general. Season two was a mess. At least now I have nothing opposite Dealiest Catch on Tuesday night.
as much as I loved this show during Season 1 I can’t really say I’m sad to see it go now
Fox ruined it with Season 2 and bringing in Megan Mullally
Human Target gets a lot of hate for the changes it had in season 2 but at least it was still a good show (just not great)
The reason this show has failed is Megan Mullally. It worked before she got a role in this. I still do not understand who thought it was a good idea but I hope that they are getting help for their issues. They killed a really good show. Sorry to see it go.
Damit Fox! the show would have done alot better in a different time slot! I loved this show, first and second season- hell i didnt even know there was a second season until I googled the show to find old episodes- a little bit of Marketing and Promo would have helped , but nope they have to go and ruin it again- ie: why everybody is on the CBS bus – because they DONT cancel good shows
Good thing it’s going back to the scrap heap.
BTW, you didn’t add a “Breaking In” tag at the end of the article.
Ross » Thanks for the note!
I was SO upset when this show got canceled last year until I heard… OMG… they were bringing it back! Awesome, right? Um… How about… NO! My favorite character, Dutch, was gone (and honestly the only reason I watched in the first place) and they bring in this Mullally chick and put her in charge… What??? This is not the show I tuned in for every week last season. I didn’t even bother watching…
I have to agree with many here, I was so excited when I heard they were to bring this show back, I had quite enjoyed the first season. Imagine my surprise when I tuned in and saw this gawd awful mess that looked like nothing so much as “office lite”. The show is almost un recognizable, and I turned it off after 10 minutes- terrible.
The changes have made the show unrecognizable, uncomfortable, ultimately unwatchable.
damn it thanks fox for killing another good show
I really enjoyed the first season. I was sad to hear it got cancelled & then glad to hear it was getting a second chance. I can honestly say that I have not enjoyed the second season that much. Besides removing two characters & adding two new ones, they completely changed the reason for the gang to be working for Oz. HELLO…..It’s called “Breaking In”…not ‘Let’s Do Nothing But Hang Out At the Office”. What happened to the cool ways to sneak & break into company’s, business’s & homes to test their security? That was completely missing this season.
Agreed, they took out all the interesting parts, rewrote the Oz character so that Megan Mullally would have a romantic interest/rival, and then had the characters do stupid office drama stuff on a show called “Breaking In” — they completely set the show up to fail! I liked it better in the first season; this season was painful to watch, but I’m still sad to see Oz and the two main geeks go. I don’t like that they took out that “master of disguise” fellow, either.
I tried to like it in season one, but gave up after episode two and they were running really bad jokes into the ground.
Slater has had really bad luck with TV.
The Forgotten on ABC – Cancelled.
My Own Worst Enemy (which sounded awful) on NBC – Cancelled.
Breaking In on Fox – Cancelled, renewed and cancelled again.
My Own Worst Enemy was one of the most innovative dramas on TV over the past 5 years. Slater’s acting in Enemy was top notch. 2 characters in one role. not too many actors could successfully pull that off. He really did seem like 2 different people.
Let’s face it. masses go for fluff, like The Office, not edgy art that pushes the limit. Advertisers pay for masses, so real art gets cancelled.
Slater is a great actor.
I have watched every single episode of this show, since the very beginning. This show has made me laugh with every episode. It might have helped their ratings if they didn’t keep moving/running repeats of the show. The audience never got a chance to like this new incarnation of it. I don’t know what the networks are thinking this year. The better the show, the quicker it gets canceled. First Teenage Daughter, and now this… again. sheesh! With House going off the air, and The Finder and Alcatraz on the bubble, I guess Fox only wants people to tune in… Read more »
Megan was a kind of fun addition this year, but she was the about the only funny thing on the show. Her and the HR lady were the only ones who made me laugh. The show just isn’t the same without Michael Rosenbaum.
This is the reason the show failed they were trying to attract…. i dunno, hipsters?, gays?, women?, in short the type of people who make crappy reality TV and shows like glee and new girl a hit. By getting rid of Michael Rosenbaum and Odette Annable while adding Megan Mullally and Erin Richards, they eliminated all the elements that made season 1 enjoyable. So this should come as no surprise hell if anything I’m more shocked that this wasn’t canceled…. again, right after the first episode.
I’m a woman and I loved the first season of Breaking In and hate the changes in season 2. I also hate Glee and New Girl, so way to stereotype half the population there, buddy.
And I hate reality TV, but come on, it’s reality TV. It’s a given that it sucks.
I enjoy New Girl, but it is another show where most of the characters don’t really do anything for me. I don’t enjoy Zooey’s movies or music, but I get a kick out of Zooey’s character on New Girl. Maybe I just miss all the wonderful sitcoms of the 70’s that had that one female lead.
Personally I think the additions to the cast hurt the show. Taking away the control from Christian Slater’s Oz character was a big let down. Season 1 it was his place to control and his team to do as he wished. Putting him under someone killed all creative juices.
I never really watched the series, and by the time i got interested to do so, the first season episodes were nowhere to be found. Then I heard many fans were upset with the changes in the second season and the ratings were bad, so I considered it a lost cause. Unfortunately, too many creative shows that are on the bubble for its first season come back to a fairly under-whelming and under-promoted second one and are then cancelled (Pushing Daisies, Eli Stone, & Life Unexpected to name a few).