Last night marked the end of the first season of Halt and Catch Fire on AMC. Will it also be the end of the whole series? Does this freshman show deserve a sophomore season or should it be cancelled to make way for something new?
Halt and Catch Fire takes place in the 1980s and follows the team at Cardiff Electric as they try to take on IBM in the home computer market. The cast includes Lee Pace, Scoot McNairy, Mackenzie Davis, Kerry Bishé, Toby Huss, and David Wilson Barnes.
The series debuted on June 1st to just 1.2 million viewers and a 0.3 rating in the 18-49 demographic. Not a positive start. (Two months earlier, Turn had premiered to 2.1 million viewers and a 0.5 rating.) In week two, the audience grew to 1.4 million but then, viewership plummeted to just 765,000 in week three. The numbers got even worse in later weeks — dropping to 550,000 viewers.
Based on the ratings, there’s no reason to expect AMC to renew Halt and Catch Fire for a second season. Viewership just seemed to keep going lower and lower each week and that certainly didn’t inspire confidence with the cable channel execs.
Still, AMC has renewed ratings-challenged shows in the past, hoping that they just need time to grow (Turn, for example). Of course, they’ve also cancelled them too. Low Winter Sun was cancelled — and didn’t drop as low as Halt did.
Though there are some devoted fans, it seems highly unlikely that Halt and Catch Fire will be given a second season.
What do you think? Do you like the Halt and Catch Fire TV show? Do you think it should be cancelled or renewed for a second season? Are you satisfied with how the show ended if there’s only one season?
8/20 update: AMC has renewed Halt and Catch Fire for a second season.
Please times infinity bring this show back! I guess I assumed there would be a season 2 but judging from this article it seems to be in question. Let me start by saying I don’t watch TV programmes much nowadays, they all are pretty terrible. However, Halt and Catch Fire was very inspirational. I especially liked the episode at the convention where the party started and they had the 80s music playing. There is a huge underground scene growing for 80s nostalgia and it’s only going to get bigger. I would suggest AMC understand that this show will grow on… Read more »
That should say perhaps the show’s creators or AMC could start a Kickstarter or IndieGoGo campaign
Good news! AMC made the right choice and renewed Halt and Catch Fire for a second season! Now our job, as the clever minority who discovered this brilliant show in its first season, is to spread the word and get as many people caught up and watching it before next summer when H&CF comes back. By the way, the creators/writers have begun writing the next season’s episodes and they will begin filming in January. 🙂
YES! Am an avid fan and will not miss an eposide for the upcoming season!
I am not much of a television person. Having said that I have to say that I started streaming this show and could not put it down. It’s difficult to find a show to watch that doesn’t leave one with the sense of having watched it simply to zone out. The writing and acting are excellent. Please, please allow these characters to develop to the great drama it is obviously becoming.
The first few episodes were spotty writing with a lot of loose ends and non sequiturs, very much annoyingly millenial- the writers needed to stop acting like they were posting on Twitter. Once the writing settled down and story lines became better developed, the show started to click. The Donna storyline became very good; the actress playing Cameron started to show some acting ability rather than being a stereotype, Gordon got a little cray-cray, but episode 10 started to hint as to how difficult it is to come up with a product the people want- capitalism personified- and the Joe… Read more »
I was captivated by this show. I was in my 20’s back then and had no idea about the computer world. I learned a lot and it was fun walking down memory lane…the clothes. fads, home dcor etc.. I had sympathy for the characters and would love to see how their relationships develop. I don’t watch TV, don’t have cable. I bought each episode. Please bring it back for season 2!!!!
I MISS IT!!! Its a Great show!!!! Good Writing, Talented Actors, with twists and turns holding your interest. not your usual Boring shoot’em up, bang, bang, or Vampires, and Zombies that I am sick to death of and so is everyone else. I can’t wait to see the next episode…
Loved the show! I must admit only reason i even knew about it or started watching it was because i grew up neighbors and good friends with one of the creators (Chris Rodgers). However, even tho I started watching for that reason i got hooked! Its a great and interesting story and really keeps u on ur toes from week to week! Joe is nuts! Haha, they have to let them at least have a season 2 to develop the characters and see where this goes! It cant end like that! Also as far as ratings go, I work in… Read more »
It is a really good show I agree! That’s awesome that you were neighbors with one of the creators! Lucky. And yes GOT and sports did surely take away LOTS of potential views from the show.
There’s a Facebook page trying to renew the show. Here: https://m.facebook.com/?_rdr#!/haltcatchfirefor2?ref=bookmark LIKE AND SHARE IT MIGHT HELP!!!;
Love the show ~ give it a chance ~ great cast and concept. So tired of same boring police shows and crappy (fake) reality shows. The programming in US is nothing but stupidity for most part ~ great the see something original with interesting cast.
Joe is crazy. I said I couldn’t watch anymore when he set the truck on fire.
Loved it – being a hardware person was so true to form!! For those who did not have a moderated understand of what hardware and software development is about, might be a bit hard to follow, but for those of us who do, simple brilliant!
PLEASE BRING IT BACK FOR A SECOND SEASON!
Great show! Please renew.
I really like the show and the actors! I hope they renew!
I love this show it was bright and engaging!
I hope they renew it, since it would be very bad not knowing what will happen next.
Maybe this will be taken by Netflix or maybe there could be a crowdfunding campaign to push it forward.
BTW. I had to see it via streaming since we don’t have AMC where I live.