Last night FOX premiered their new drama series about a conman. But, how did Lone Star do in the ratings? Was it a big winner or did viewers feel tricked?
Lone Star revolves around Robert Allen (James Wolk), a man who’s living a double life in order to con investors and swindle an oil tycoon family. The only trouble is, he truly loves both of the women he’s connected to as part of the cons. Others in the series are Jon Voight, Adrianne Palicki, Bryce Johnson, David Keith, Eloise Mumford, and Mark Deklin.
Last night, the new TV show got off to a very poor start in the ratings. Lone Star averaged a meager 1.3 rating in the 18-49 demographic and just 4.1 million viewers. It ranked a distant fourth in both categories.
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The premiere lost more than half of its lead-in audience from House. What’s more, 22% of people who started watching at the beginning of the episode, tuned out halfway through the show. That’s a strong indication that they won’t be back next week. Even if they did, these numbers are terrible.
So, it looks like Lone Star might just be the first cancellation of the new fall season. Unless the ratings have a dramatic turnaround, those who like the show will be lucky if FOX lets all 13 episodes air.
But what did you think? Is Lone Star worth watching? Why aren’t more people watching? Should FOX try to save it or should it just be cancelled already?
Image courtesy FOX.
As to the excuses for not being around for Christmas, there could be weather problems that prohibit him from flying. That is just 1 possible excuse. The guy is a conman and therefore should be able to come up with more excuses that we will never see, since the show has been canceled.
Could be weather problems, but they’d have to be for real. How do you suppose the conman would arrange this if the weather was nice and travel is not delayed? Could he plant bogus weather reports in her cable TV box that comes into her home? He travels mainly around in TX. Winter weather isn’t usually that extreme there. You are grasping at straws.
I agree we should censor anything that Jan does not agree with!!
If the original A.H. had thought more like this, there might not have been a Nazi Germany or Nazi Youth. I don’t appreciate you connecting my name and views with such a despicable person in history. Speak your own mind from now on.
Thank you, Brad Roberts for your sound wisdom, insight, and concern for America and how our youth are influenced as they grow up. There was a time in history that people gathered to watch Roman gladiators fight prisoners to the death. Is the next generation of Americans headed that direction? We don’t need entertainment that is such a bad influence, offers such poor role models, and has such low standards for how people ought to live. Cancel the show. I’m not from the mid-west and I agree with Mr. Robert’s point of view. If you can’t come up with story… Read more »
IF YOU WANNA CANCEL A SHOW CANCEL THE CLEVELAND SHOW!!!
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? THIS SHOW IS GREAT! IT IS PERFECT FOR TIME IN THIS WORLD. PEOPLE LIKE THIS ARE OUT THERE. WHY CANCEL IT?? NOBODY KNOWS A GOOD SHOW IF IT BIT THEM IN THE ASS!!!
DONT CANCEL!!
I love the show, and hope fox brings it back.
Was bored one night… caught it on hulu like almost all the shows nowadays…. who needs to sit down on time to watch a show anymore? My thoughts before watching the show: really? how stupid… a double life… seriously? (don’t watch t.v. so didn’t see any campaigning for the show besides some ads online, still hated the whole idea) But know what? It wasn’t bad. About two-thirds of the way I kind of felt bad for Bob… James Wolk did a good job selling his character and the situation he was in because of how he was raised by his… Read more »
Somebody save this show! I watch maybe 3 hours of TV per week and this was the only thing this season that engaged my intellect rather than just my emotions.
I thought it was a great first two shows and disappointed that it was cancelled
Ditto.
Andrea, you’re so defensive about this show even in the face of an irrefutable showing of its absurdity that one would think it’s your sick puppy (or you’re Kyle Killen’s alter ego or girl friend, which under the circumstances wouldn’t surprise me at all). Here’s the point: I have posted my challenge to complete my hypothetical dialogue on a number of sites, and not even you, nor anyone else, has made any attempt to complete the dialogue. That speaks volumes about this show. Moreover, your bit about knowing women who’ve living with cheating husbands is beside the point for at… Read more »
Andrea, I won’t get in the middle of your fascinating exchange with user George, but I must question two things you say in your last message. First, you said that Robert’s Midland wife and family think he’s a traveling salesman. That seems to support, not undermine, George’s position – I highly doubt there’s a traveling salesman in the whole country who works on Christmas Eve or Christmas day. Second, you say that Robert had “been married to the first wife for years already.” What’s your evidence for that? I watched both episodes and never heard that. To the contrary, Cat… Read more »
Keep the show
I’ll be honest – there’ve been eight words gnawing at me about the show’s basic premise that the protagonist would be married to two different women. Those eight words are: Christmas Morning, New Year’s Eve, Thanksgiving, and Valentine’s Day. I’ve been married for 10 years, and trust me – there’s no man alive, not even the world’s best con man – who can convince his new wife that there’s some good reason he must be away from her on a couple of those days, much less miss a couple of those dates year in and year out for the the… Read more »
When I was a kid, there was a real life case of a man who was married to two women for more than a decade. One of his wives went on Oprah or Phil Donahue. (I know, I’m dating myself.) And I asked myself those same questions, about the holidays as well as other special occasions, but a real live man actually got away with it!
She and the other wife only found out after he died, so he was never punished.
Andrea, With all due respect, your response is a cop out. For one thing, it’s hard to respond to some vague story without any details about something you saw on TV decades ago. Who knows – maybe the producers hyped the story, and the guy was actually separated from one of them, or else one of them was institutionalized, or of sub-par intelligence, or a devout Moslem to whom Thanksgiving and Christmas meant nothing. More to the point, your story was from decades ago, when some women played more subservient passive roles. Be honest with yourself – given everything you… Read more »
I don’t see how what I said is a “cop out”. It happened, simple as that. And many people are none too bright, which unless your one of the mindless masses cannot be much of a surprise. I have personally known five different women who must have known they were being cheated on by husbands and boyfriends, because everyone around them certainly knew. Four are still with their beloved jerks even after having it thrown in their faces! People — women especially, believe what they want to believe, usually because they fear being alone. As far as, “I’ll bet you… Read more »
Hey Andrea, Maybe in your example the husband was a train conductor or airline pilot or emergency room physician (or told his wife that he was one) – in other words, some job where it is commonplace to work on holidays. The trouble here is that Robert had no such job – there is nothing about his job or lifestyle that he could use to justify not spending Christmas Eve/Morning or New Year’s Eve, etc., with one of his wives (especially given the portrayal of the women at issue – there’s nothing we’re told about either one of them that… Read more »
I don’t remember what the real life man did for a living, but if a real live person could do it for over a decade a reasonnably good writer should be able to work it out for a tv show. They should be able to come up with enough excuses for at least two seasons. His Midland wife and her family think he’s a traveling salesman, and he’s been married to the first wife for years already. But we’ll probably never find out if the writers could do it. To tell the truth, I’m just sick of what is usually… Read more »
I agree with Chad Brewster. The posters for this show (which show each mostly-naked woman straddling him from behind) were a complete turn-off. They looked like ridiculous cologne ads. I saw them and thought, “That guy looks like a jerk.” And then I thought of that also-cancelled show with Christian Slater leading a double life and then I got bored.
I thought at first that this show was going to be good; it has a great premise and it sounded interesting, and a very good looking star, but it didn’t live up to my expectations, so I don’t blame FOX for canceling. In fact, I can’t even believe it’s airing tonight! Why can’t they instead air a rerun of last Tuesday’s season premiere of Glee instead. That was FANTASTIC and could see that very episode over and over unlike this crazy show! Besides, this guy is much better in the movie You Again, and he has much more potential as… Read more »
I don’t blame people for being offended by the show’s supposed premise because the advertising for this show completely missed the mark. I see all these billboards depicting the protagonist with two women and the headline reads: “The perfect con.” As if he’s maliciously deceiving these two women and is proud of it. The real premise is that he’s the product of a very dysfunctional upbringing in which he’s been a pawn in his father’s con games since he was a young child. It’s a lot like how in the series Dexter, Dexter witnessed his mother’s murder as a child… Read more »
I totally agree with you! I was one of the people who tuned out halfway through, but I saw the entire first episode on Sunday and I could not wait to see episode two. And I loved it even more!
Fox is foolish if they cancel now. Word of mouth is always better than any crappy ad campaign. And that was one crappy ad campaign they launch. Several of my friends and family and even Facebook friends, who saw it, enjoyed Lone Star too!
Sir: And just what type of message are you trying to send to America’s youth? It seems that in your world that lying, cheating, and cheating on your spouse are acceptable behaviors in Hollywood but they are not in the midwest. And what is this with super-stud James Wolk rolling around in bed with two different women? Is it truly necessary to insult your audience with cheap thrills? You may want to trying writing for an intelligent audience that can appreciate a storyline that is not stolen from “The Edge of Night.” So far, the only quality choice you have… Read more »
I gave this a try and understand why few watched it and lots turned it off party way through the episode. I doubt very much that week 2 will be any better.