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.
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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.
I have watched many pilots and the acting in this and the emotions were awesome. I will be extremely disappointed if they cancel the series. I think part of the problem for new series/shows is that with DVR we never watch the commercials anymore so we don’t even know there is a new series coming on unless we forget to fast forward with the DVR and see it. I saw only 1 commercial for it and so I set it to DVR tape when it was going to come on as I knew I would have missed it otherwise. I… Read more »
It will get cancelled like all the good shows. The networks never seem to get a clue. People don’t start watching because they know it will be cancelled – thus the low ratings. Poor Joss Wheadon. Firefly was the best ever since Star Trek. What do they put on of his instead? Dollhouse. Ugh! Premise is pretty good, but their casting really needs help. Stopped watching that after 3 episodes even though I think he is a genius. Can’t help but agree with Max.
I definitely want this show to stick around! I think the pilot was surprisingly good (I hate the pilots of almost all my favorite shows) and I feel like it’s getting better and better with each episode. A show like this really needs time to develop and show its potential (unlike some snappy/gimmicky comedy) and I think that if it’s given a chance it will have a huge following. It’s surprisingly realistic and plausible for a sci-fi, and I feel like the actors are doing a great job too. I think that lack of advertising, and the content of the… Read more »
I think the show is great – these networks have got to give a show more opportunity than just a few episodes to honestly determine their success. It wasn’t advertised very well by them at all, and it’s in a pretty poor timeslot – what exactly are they expecting?
It’s a great show, and I hope to see much more of it.
I like it, although I would have preferred the flashbacks been moved to segments on a single character during a particular episode so that we gain background and a sense of understanding. Right now it’s like we can’t get a foothold because we’re just milling about wondering if we should even care since some “Beta” is pulling the strings. Give it a chance to find its space legs. Firefly, as aforementioned, was another good space themed show that came and went too fast. It’s going to take time for people to get into it with all the reality shows and… Read more »
I, too, found this show on Hulu. Where the heck is the marketing? This is a great show. I watched 3 episodes on Hulu and then watched the new episode on ABC on Sunday night. Interesting premise, good mix of characters, nice transparent sci-fi that’s not thrown in your face. Can’t wait for next week’s episode and hope people stir up some buzz for this so it doesn’t get cancelled!
I’ve watched each episode. Too many flashbacks. Too relationship oriented. Get a clue from Battlestar Galactica. Build character depth beyond sex. Have villains that are interesting, threatening, and complex. Have a clear objective, as in save the colonies by finding Earth. Defying Gravity has a good cast, good premise. It moves too show and doesn’t provide its characters much depth. Or rather, uneven depth.
I am a self professed sci fi expert! and this series is more relationship than sci fi but it is growing on me. I hope they give it a good chance. Fire fly is a perfet example of a network wanting to much to fast.
Boorrriiiinnnngggg show!!!!!
not a very good show; too much sex and innuendo. I cannot stand the character of Max Donner, and really don’t care much for any of the others either. Just don’t care much about their lives, can’t get into them.
go ahead and cancel
Anti-abortion rhetoric on an entertainment show? No wonder people turned it off.
I love this show. Just found it BY ACCIDENT on itunes. Where was ABC’s marketing team? And why was this started in the summer? Shouldn’t it of started in the fall with all the other new shows. This is a great story, great cast, great interaction between the crew- all along with the mystery of “What is Beta”. I love it and can’t wait for each show. Please ABC keep this or let SciFi carry it.
Found this show on Hulu. Didn’t even know it was airing as I haven’t seen any kind of press about it. I’m glad I found it and have enjoyed the first 3 episodes. I’m beginning to gain interest in the characters and am curious enough about the storyline to set the DVR to record all. The main issue I have with it is that it is on the wrong network. None of the original 3 networks would be willing to give something like this a true chance to gain viewers. They should have just pitched this to FOX or Syfy.
If ABC can cancel Kyle XY – bye bye Defying Gravity!
It’s a good show and has the potential for greatness, though it will require some refinement to achieve it. It needs to explain the background more through other creative means and what is BETA? I’m okay with the flashbacks, but please do a better job using scientific terms and don’t stray too much into technobabble. Could stand to lose some sex jokes and and more about the suits in the room in Episode 3. All in all, I think it can become a good show and I like it so far. Oh and Rob, go back and watch BSG, they… Read more »