Fans of the Motive TV show won’t find the series on the ABC schedule this summer. The US network has decided to drop the Canadian police drama after two seasons.
Motive revolves around a strong-willed Vancouver detective (Kristin Lehman) who’s also a single mom. At the start of each episode, viewers are shown the killer and victims. As the criminal investigation progresses, details of what led to the crime are revealed via flashbacks. The rest of the cast includes Louis Ferreira, Lauren Holly, Roger Cross, Brendan Penny, and Cameron Bright.
Produced in Canada, ABC licensed the show to air in the US during the summer months. Though it has some devout fans, the series’ ratings were pretty poor. The first season attracted an average of a 0.9 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 4.96 million viewers. Last summer’s second season drew a 0.8 rating with 4.07 million.
While ABC has “cancelled” the series here in the States, the show will continue to air in Canada. It was renewed for a third season in May 2014 and those episodes are currently running on CTV. The network has just announced that Motive has been picked up for a fourth season and will resume production in the fall.
It is possible that another US channel could pick up the series since licensing a show costs much less than producing original programming of their own. Cable channel ION picked up imports The Listener and Flashpoint after they were dropped by NBC and CBS respectively.
What do you think? Do you like the Motive TV show? Should ABC have dropped it? Would you watch seasons three and four on another channel?
Motive was an excellent show and I’m sorry that we’ll miss it here in the U.S. I would definitely watch Season 3 and Season 4.
i just started watching Motive
glued to the chair
cant wait for more episodes
motive is a great show already seen season 3 in the UK
doe that mean if it’s only picked up by canada it won’t get shown looking forward to a new season. How come good shows always get cancelled but crap ones get loads of seasons.
motive is a great I love watching it. Seen season 3 in the UK does that mean if it’s just in canada it won’t get shown here?
Motive is a great show, and one that is different enough from the other procedural cop shows to have a niche of its own. The cast is good, the setting is just different enough, and the story lines were getting more interesting. Like Forever, this show deserves to continue.
sal, your comment baffles me. MOTIVE is still in production and is broadcast in Canada. The wardrobe in BC (and on this show) looks very much like what people wear across the border in the United States, just a short drive from downtown Vancouver. Perhaps you were picturing a different program?
the problem with many tv shows or movies is the wardrobe department and the lack of tertiary characters in the background, both of which are required in any market to be successful viewing, being out of touch with what americans wear, and characters unrealistic to reality as tertiary, leads to cancellations like motive
I am sad that ABC dropped this series. This was an amazing show with great acting. I hope another station will air Motive.
Yes, I loved the show. I would definitely watch it on a another network
Bring it back to the US please!! One of my favorite crime dramas…
My husband & I both loves this show…bring it to us!
Yes, would watch it, liked it very much!
I liked it. I would watch it on any other channel I get on my Uverse subscription
I faithfully watched this show every week.Is there anyway I can see the 2nd an 3rd season?
Yes, yes, yes I would watch this show if another network would pick it up. I didn’t find this show until the second season and it became my favorite show. I can’t understand why it got dropped here. I would love it it ION picked it up. I really love the concept of telling the victim and the killer and then trying to figure out the motive. It’s great.