The movie may be a cult favorite but the Napoleon Dynamite TV show wasn’t popular enough for FOX. They’ve cancelled the animated series after one season.
Napoleon Dynamite follows the continuing mis-adventures of “America’s most awesomely awkward teenager” and his quirky family and friends in rural Idaho. The voice cast includes Aaron Ruell, Diedrich Bader, Efran Ramirez, Jon Gries, Jon Heder, Sandy Martin, and Tina Majorino.
The series debuted on January 15th with a very healthy 4.4 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 8.31 million viewers. It benefited greatly from a lead-in from The Simpsons and an NFL game before that.
The second episode dropped like a rock by 25% in the all-important demo. The next two weeks fell a whopping 36% and then another 14% after that — to a 1.8 in the demo with 3.81 million viewers. Had there been more episodes, the numbers likely would have kept falling.
That downward trend likely concerned the FOX execs quite a bit and was likely the deciding factor in the show’s fate.
All six episodes have aired and, according to TVLine, there won’t be any more. The last was broadcast on March 4th.
What do you think? Did you think the Napoleon Dynamite series was worth a season two renewal? Would it have been more popular if it had been created a few years earlier?
Image courtesy FOX.
I found the show on hulu, I don’t think I even knew it existed. It’s funnier then the movie, and builds off of it well. It’s sad there isn’t at least 3 seasons. My boys love it. They won’t sit through the movie, but they watch the cartoons over and over.
The show was perfect. Its absolutely hilarious and its ridiculous that there are only 6 episodes. I don’t believe that all the other animated shows can be that much better. Napoleon deserves another chance. Maybe trashy fox wasn’t the best place to air the show
Shows like Grey’s Anatomy keep getting renewed long after they have jumped the shark, yet there will be no season 2 of Napoleon Dynamite. Unbelievable.
Loved the movie! So did my daughter, nieces, nephews, and their friends. They still talk about it and act out parts in the movie and laugh I wish they would make a second film! And bring back the tv series. It needs more advertisement to get people to watch. I find it hard to believe, ee have shows like family guy and king of the hill and beevis and . Butthead. They all made it and Napoleon is just as funny as Beavis and Butthead I have trouble believing that it was cancelled because no one watched it didn’t promoted… Read more »
they need to give napoleon dynamite a chance i love it its funny they could make it more legendary it would be goos PLEASE ONE MORE CHANCE people will love it and your channel of fox would get so much more hits ONE MORE CHANCE FOR THE AWESOME DYNAMITE FAMILY!!!!!
Fox only allows trash shows to air on their station.
please Bring Back Napoleon Dynamite. it’s like the most awesome cartoon ever please !!!!!!
bring this show back, i loved the movie napoleon dynamite, the cartoon made me even love it more!!!!!
bring back napoleon dynamite you stooges its the best cartoon since south park
Unfortunately, this is Fox being the terrible network they’ve always been. ND had better ratings than Bob’s Burgers, but they only aired half the Bob episodes they paid for. So instead of renewing the show with better ratings, they renew the show that already has episodes paid for and produced. In addition, ND managed to pull in decent ratings with the typical Fox BS. Only 6 episodes, 2 week breaks in between every episode except one, airing against the grammys. Fox really mishandled the show’s scheduling. Bob’s Burgers episodes still have pretty terrible ratings, but now they are close to… Read more »
As a follow up to this comment I sent them en email about a DVD release here’s what happened: I sent asfox a question about a DVD release for the show and they directed me to Fox Connect, I asked them and after 4 days they sent this reply: “Dear Valued Customer, Thank you for your interest in purchasing Twentieth Century Fox products. Unfortunately, at this time we do not have information in regard to if or when the title that you have inquired about will be released on DVD. We truly apologize for the inconvenience and we will be… Read more »
Napoleon Dynamite needs one more chance I mean Family Guy Didn’t do any better in the 1rst Season AND LOOK AT IT NOWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!IT”S ON SEASON ELEVEN AND IS GOING INTO SEASON TWELVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GIVE DYNAMITE ONE MORE CHANCE
My kids & I loved the show and did not even like the movie. We recorded all 6 eps and still watch them. Maybe you guys could make more eps for dvd release… please
This show needs a chance. Family Guy did not do to great in it’s first season, look at the show now!
THIS SHOW NEEDS TO BE REVIVED!!!
This show was so amazing. In my opinion it was 50 times better than family Guy, Futurama, and South Park combined.
Totally amazing series. I was gutted to find out it had been cancelled. But what the frak to TV execs know? They cancelled Family Guy and Futurama. Yeah….