ABC’s new outer-space drama debuted on Sunday night. Will Defying Gravity be allowed to complete its mission or, like so many shows before it, be lost in space?
Defying Gravity follows the adventures of eight international astronauts as they fly a spaceship named Antares. On a top-secret mission, their lives are being recorded and telecast on Earth as part of a documentary. Despite the fact that the crewmembers wear libido-suppressing devices, there are plenty of romantic entanglements.
The show features the talents of Andrew Airlie, Christina Cox, Paula Garces, Laura Harris, Peter Howitt, Florentine Lahme, Karen LeBlanc, Ron Livingston, Ty Olsson, Zahf Paroo, Eyal Podell, Maxim Roy, Dylan Taylor, and Malik Yoba.
The sci-fi drama’s storyline is strangely similar to the failed pilot for Virtuality that aired a month ago. Defying Gravity is a Canadian series that’s co-produced by CTV, Omni Film Productions Limited, and Fox Television Studios. Filming has been completed on all 13 episodes of season one and Defying Gravity is currently airing in Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States.
 Loading ... |
The show has been pitched as “Grey’s Anatomy in space” but unfortunately it hasn’t attracted the same level of viewership for ABC. Defying Gravity debuted on Sunday with a pair of episodes and was outperformed by competition of predominately repeats. The first hour attracted merely 3.83 million viewers and only a 1.1/3 rating/share in the 18-49 demographic. The second hour dropped to 3.56 million while the demo numbers stayed the same.
Defying Gravity moves to its regular timeslot of 10pm this Sunday night. Based on these numbers and the expected drop in ratings for the show’s second night, it’s very doubtful that ABC will continue to air the series for very long.
One has to wonder if ABC really expected the series to last very long anyway. As of now, the network has only scheduled some of the 13 episodes. By the time that Brothers & Sisters returns for its fourth season, at most only nine episodes of Defying Gravity will have aired.
Whether ABC intends to move the show to a new night (normally Saturday but there’s college football coming) or pull it altogether remains to be seen. Either way, with numbers like these, it’s inconceivable that the show will be coming back for another year on ABC.
What do you think? Should the show have a future or should ABC just pull the plug and cancel it already?
Image courtesy ABC.
Give it a season! These story arcs need time to play out.
It is something different. Heaven forbid; it isn’t another crime show spin off with
interchangeable characters, it’s not a reality show of airheads and no, it isn’t even wipeout. No, it has talented actors, cool sets, a vision of the future and some entity
that could be manipulating all the characters as they explore space. You grab your favorite junk food, hunker down for some sci fi which is supposed to be a little
out there and enjoy the humor, suspense and yes the relationships. Not a bad way
to spend a the end of the night on a Sunday.
I enjoyed it–and yes, you DO have to actually pay attention! My preference is that I do have to actually pay attention to a show if I take time out to watch it. I want to find out about all the mysteries we were teased about in episodes 1 & 2.
I say keep it! For me it did require a second viewing to really get into it. It’s not, “2 and a Half Men,” you either need to pay attention to what’s happening or watch it again. I love sci-fi and it kills me that they don’t give these shows a chance. I really can’t name too many pilots that really grabbed me, but isn’t the nature of pilot episodes dull? It’s all introduction to characters and story background. I will usually not give up on a show that looks good to me until the 2nd or third episode bores… Read more »
I watched the pilot last week and I have to say I wasn’t impressed. It reminds me of Fox’s Virutality.The acting is horrible, it’s too soap opera like and the jumping around with the backstory was annoying. They should have just shown what happened years earlier and started from there instead of jumping back and forth every five mins. Didn’t like it, but it’s not the worst show on tv but I do think it will be cancelled evenutally.
i was lucky enough to read one little blurb about it in that days sunday paper and add it to my tivo.
not enough viewers? where is the advertising folks…maybe you should take lessons from taco bell, we have to see that crap 50 times a day.
lots of show i love get cancelled, guess they just aren’t dumb enough for the average viewer.
It’s soapyness will eventually kill this show. Unless they tone it down, Defying Gravity has very little chance of attracting viewers from either the sci-fi camp or the primetime soap camp. Set against the drama of the most adventurous journey ever taken by mankind the viewer somehow has to care about these tepid and cliché ridden love entanglements? I don’t think so, I think I’d rather watch Virtuality a few times over where the love entanglements are bereft of clichés and are crucial to the plot. And, thank you, but I don’t need to be told by Ron Livingston in… Read more »
How can you possibly judge the entire future of a little-hyped, midsummer starter by the viewership it receives on it’s first night?
By starting it in the summer in a terrible time slot, they’ve practically slaughtered it before it could get on it’s feet. It’s that kind of network stupidity that killed excellent shows like Firefly.
I really enjoyed the first two hours of this show. I love the actor and I think the show has a great chance.
I must admit I nitpicked the science, along with my family. I then annoyed them as I was able to predict where the story was going based on certain set-ups they were establishing (a gift/curse from being a writer myself). Certainly, it will be dramatic. However, this show has its appeal in the relationships and the artificial containment of being only 8 people in what is essentially a large metal tube (conflict, conflict, conflict). I do not believe it is especially good but it has enough potential for me to give it a chance. Forget that there are not enough… Read more »
Where was any advanced hype about this show? Granted, I’ve been on vacation. I also don’t watch much network TV any more. Having said that, a few ads on the SiFi channel could have helped. (I refuse to use (SyFY!) And 10PM Sunday? What’s up with that? All the above being said: The show was engaging. Steady paced. Subplots hinted/revealed. The cast play well off each other. To the powers that be: I’ve already set up a season pass in my Tivo. As much because I’m not always home Sunday at 10PM. My family also enjoy watching as a group.… Read more »
I really enjoyed the show! If I didn’t have an iPhone I would have never known it existed! They were offering the first 2 episodes for free to download. Keep the show!!!
I’m enjoying it’s deliberate pacing. The story is intriguing and the actors are all captivating to watch. Hope this show is given the chance it really deserves.
I say keep it. There’s not enough sci fi on TV. Some of the tech is retarded, and the grav suits or whatever are awful, but I grew up on star trek, so who gives a flip?
Too many times networks are quick to drop promising SCI FI shows. While NBC is definitely the worst at this ABC has had it’s share of punk outs. I wish they would either not run them in the first place or have the courage to stick with them until word of mouth spreads, ( remember X-Files?). That said I liked the pilot episodes of DG. While it risks getting a little to soapy with the relationship entanglements I understand that those are the obvious meat that casual viewers can be enticed by. The onimous sentient thing that is controling the… Read more »
No network should air a show that people may get into and not at least find a way to finish the season. Even if its at some odd hour when people are sleeping. we can record it with DVR and the people who did like it *(like myself, i thought it was pretty cool) can finish watching the season.