Tonight marks the last episode of the first season of Limitless on CBS. Will it be the series finale as well? Should this drama be cancelled or renewed for a second season?
On Limitless, deadbeat Brian Finch (Jake McDorman) is given the NZT-48 drug and it unlocks 100% of his brain. Brian has complete recall of whatever he’s learned at any point in his life, either consciously or subconsciously. The FBI want to use him to help solve crimes but they’re not the only ones interested in Brian and the drug. The rest of the cast includes Jennifer Carpenter, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Hill Harper, and Colin Salmon.
The series debuted on September 22, 2015 and attracted a 1.87 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 9.86 million viewers. It was a positive start, perhaps in part due to an appearance by Bradley Cooper who reprised his role from the Limitless feature film. The show’s ratings dropped a bit but were pretty healthy for the rest of 2015.
The numbers saw a nice boost when the show returned from a mid-season break on January 5th (Cooper reappeared) but hit a new low the following episode. The ratings have have been trending downward in 2016 — save for episode 19 when Cooper put in another appearance.
In March, CBS head Les Moonves said that he expected five of the network’s freshman shows to be renewed for the 2016-17 season — but that was before Limitless’ numbers fell as low as a 1.05 in the demo with 5.6 million. The network has yet to renew any freshman shows.
In the end, I suspect that the network will renew Limitless for a second season but the past few months’ ratings declines certainly don’t help the show’s chances. We may have to wait until next month to find out what CBS will do.
But, what do you think? Do you want to see more of the Limitless TV show? Cancel or renew for season two?
I LOVE the show! It’s different, I like the way the main character is the narrator and you see things the way he sees them while on NZT. I want to know more about why the drug was released and what the big picture is with Senator Mora. I also like the relationship between Brian and Rebecca. I feel like its similar to Bones and Booth. Also what happens with Piper? If CBS can’t make it work then maybe it should be picked up by TBS or Netflix.