Unfortunately, Detroit 1-8-7 been struggling almost from the beginning. ABC’s freshman police drama debuted with a mediocre 2.3 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 9.34 million viewers. Things quickly went down hill from there. The last original episode mustered just a terrible 1.0 rating and 5.05 million. Now it’s the lowest-rated scripted show on the network.

Despite those dismal numbers, at the recent TCA press tour, ABC chief Paul Lee was still pretty optimistic. He said, “We haven’t made our decisions yet on second season. I’m not saying I wouldn’t have liked it to have stayed with high numbers, because it’s an extremely high-quality show… It’s a really gritty, brilliantly written show which we’re very proud of. So do we hope it comes back. We’re not going to make those decisions probably for another two to three months, I have to say.”

Regarding the chances for a second season of Detroit 1-8-7, star Michael Imperioli is a little less optimistic. He said, “You know, we’ll see. I’m not overly confident about it. I think the show’s good enough. There are a lot of stories to tell. I think it will only get better in the future, but that has to do with a lot of factors that are out of my control.”

He continued, “I’ve been disappointed that it hasn’t done as well in the numbers… I don’t think that a lot of people really know that we’re on the air. I think that the people who do know really like it. We do have a lot of loyal fans. Primarily, it’s in the demographic — 18 to 49, whatever. I don’t know how that works that we’re not doing as good. We had some good overall numbers for a while, but you know, these things are hard to predict.”

Looking at it philosophically, Imperioli added, “[The ratings are] out of our hands. We’re doing the best we can do. The work has been really good. So I’m not complaining.”

What do you think? Will Detroit 1-8-7 be renewed? Should ABC give it a second season and a second chance, even though the ratings are poor?

Image courtesy ABC.