A couple weeks ago, the peacock network finally started airing their new Friends with Benefits sitcom. The pilot for the TV show was developed for ABC but they passed on the series and NBC picked it up. Now that the show’s debuted, is the alphabet network regretting their decision or will the sitcom flop and be quickly cancelled?
Friends with Benefits revolves around a group of friends who live in Chicago and their relationships are complicated to say the least. Ben Lewis (Ryan Hansen) is on the hunt for the perfect woman who can meet his impossibly high standards. His best friend, Doctor Sara Maxwell (Danneel Harris), just wants a compatible man and to raise a family with him. They end up turning to each other for both moral and physical support as they wait for their mates to come along. Others in the cast include Zach Cregger, Andre Holland, and Jessica Lucas.
The NBC sitcom debuted with a pair of episodes on August 5th. The first one brought a terrible 0.7 rating in the 18-49 demographic and only 2.34 million viewers. It was third in the timeslot, tying with a repeat of Bones on FOX. The episode that followed at 8:30 dropped 14% to an even worse 0.6 demo rating and 1.96 million total viewers.
The following week’s installments fell again to a 0.5 rating and an average of 1.84 million. They were in fourth place in the timeslot, only beating a repeat of The CW’s Nikita. Last Friday’s episodes didn’t do any better.
Friends with Benefits is easily the worst performing original series on NBC. To put it in perspective, Minute to Win It is doing terribly but still gets about twice the ratings of Friends with Benefits. The peacock network execs obviously didn’t have much faith in Friends with Benefits which is why they delayed it until summer. Still, just how badly the show is actually doing is likely still a shock.
There is absolutely no way that NBC will be renewing this sitcom for a second season. If anything, they’ll pull it before all of the episodes have aired. For right now, episodes 11 and 12 are scheduled to air on September 9th. That will leave one remaining installment but, with ratings like these, the network hardly has any incentive to want to find a spot for the season/series finale.
But what do you think? Do you like Friends with Benefits? Would you like to see it renewed for a second season or just quickly cancelled?
Image courtesy NBC.
My husband and I LOVE this show!!! We are so sad that it was never given a chance b/c it’s the funniest sitcom to come out in years. Just don’t understand it.
I love the show! Too bad it wasn’t even a fighting chance. Put it in a real time slot and advertise a little bit and maybe it would have gotten more viewers. I only knew it was coming on b/c I Facebooked the show’s page like a year ago.
I love this show. I think NBC should keep it. If they are too stupid to cancel it like they did the series “The Others”, what do they know. I, actually, love the casts.
I love this show. I think NBC should keep it. If they are too stupid to cancel it like they did the series “The Others”, what do they know. I, actually, the casts.
I’m watching all the episodes on Hulu. I like everyone in the Updated cast except Ben. The girls are GREAT and FUNNY! Keep this show NBC and start paying attention to Hulu, not nielsens.
Keep it! I watched it OnDemand and loved it. All shows were funny and Jessica Lucas is gorgeous. Keep it up!
I think this show is great. I caught it by accident one night, and truly enjoy it. NBC is notorious for canceling good shows. I hope they renew it. NBC set this show up gout failure. Why air it on a Friday night when it’s demographic its not going top be home on a Friday night?
I think this show is great. I caught it by accident one night, and truly enjoy it. NBC is notorious for canceling good shows. I hope they renew it.
I just watched this show for the first time two days ago and it is THEE funniest sitcom I’ve seen in years. Contrary to some of the opinions above, there’s nothing contrived about the show. It’s lighthearted and you don’t have to deal with the forced and unrealistic romantic relationship storylines that the broadcast networks usually try to force on. Any show with cutaways and people thinking aloud works for me. Anyone who finds this show offensive clearly takes him- or herself too seriously. It’s a sitcom, as in situational COMEDY.
Just so you know, the show was already cancelled prior to it being scheduled. The show was commissioned for 13 eps and then no further eps were commissioned. It was not picked up beyond this order. NBC are just playing off the eps during the summer non-important ratings period. Hence the double eps in terrible timeslot. The show is actually a lot better than I thought it would be, seeing as it was dropped. I think the best part of the show is Danneel Ackles, whose character’s continued relationship bafflement is really very charming.
Great show Leave it on next season
I love it
I LOVVEE this show, I just started watching it and its a hit. Ive been using all there funny lines in my day to day life.
DONT CANCEL IT!!!
This show is AWFUL! Danneel Harris Ackles and (insert bad actor’s name) who plays Ben have ZERO chemistry. The group dynamic is absurd. The show is ridiculously contrived and quite frankly it is insulting that it ever aired!
It is one of the funniest shows I have ever seen, hands down. I cry laughing every episode, but NBC is ridiculous and will never notice when something is great.