As expected, CBS has pulled the plug on their long-running drama, Numb3rs. A mainstay of the Friday night schedule, brothers Charlie and Don Eppes won’t be back next fall with a seventh season.
Numb3rs revolves around an FBI agent (Rob Morrow) and his genius brother (David Krumholtz) who helps solve cases with mathematics. The cast also features Judd Hirsch (as their father), Alimi Ballard, Dylan Bruno, Navi Rawat, Aya Sumika, and Peter MacNicol.
The cancellation doesn’t come as much of a surprise, especially when you look at the figures.
The ratings have dropped quite a bit in recent years. Last season fell to an average of a 2.2 rating in the all-important 18-49 demographic and 10.2 million total viewers. This season, the ratings dropped further still, to a 1.8 rating and 8.26 million viewers. CBS cut the show’s episode order from 22 to 16 installments last fall. While the official word was that CBS had an overflow of original programming, networks don’t usually cut the orders of successful shows.
 Loading ... |
The cast and crew filmed what could serve as a series finale and Morrow and Krumholtz signed on for new TV show pilots. While the actors would be contractually obligated to return to Numb3rs if CBS decided to renew it, ABC and FOX were confident that they wouldn’t.
Last week, it was confirmed that the show’s sets were being dismantled, another sign that Numb3rs was finished. CBS has now made the cancellation official.
On the positive side, Morrow will return next fall in a new series for ABC called The Whole Truth. He’ll play an attorney opposite Joely Richardson. Unfortunately, Krumholtz’s comedy pilot, Tax Man, was not picked up by FOX for the 2010-11 season.
What do you think? Are you satisfied with the way that Numb3rs ended? What will you miss about the show? Will you give The Whole Truth a try?
Image courtesy CBS.
I’ve been waiting and looking for the new season to start, and finally found out Numbers was canceled! Why can’t these execs realize that we DESPISE reality shows!?! What the American public want in a TV show is something heartwarming, where the good guys win, a little dash of excitement, a little tinge of fun – – they cancel a show like this, and all we get is reality crap. Here’s a clue CBS – people watch TV as an ESCAPE from frakking reality! Give us something we want already! and its not just CBS – I’ve seen the cancellation… Read more »
Again like everyone has said, CBS made a big mistake. Numbers was the only show that my husband and I ever watched on CBS. So much for good TV shows for people that enjoy math based, science based, moral based and family based shows. They just don’t make very many good clean shows worth watching anymore, and the one time they come up with a good one…… They cancel it!! Big Mistake!!!! I am thinking CBS is going to lose alot of loyal watchers, all because 8.26 million people were not enough. Again…… Big Mistake.
I am upset that NUMB3RS was cancelled. It was actually one of the few shows on TV with an actual purpose. If they want to cancel something cancel some of these foolish reality shows that don’t give any real substance and do nothing but stupify Americans and mock our culture, smh.
I guess you don’t want anyone to watch CBS i with thousands of others love Numb3rs and looked forward to the show. I just found out you canceled it to unbelieve i’m very up set about it. I was looking forward to this show you’ve made a BIG MISTAKE CBS.
When is CBS ever going to get something right. Just because you had a slack , doesn’t mean that everyone is not watching Numbers. My wife and I thought it was one of CBS’s better tv shows. You should be ashamed of your selfs. You should bring the tv series back. Your problem is that you start all these tv series and then you don’t know what time frame to put them in. And you sit back and wonder what went wrong, its your staff.
Get some new help. We are very mad at all of you.
I’m devestated that the series has been cancelled. Like many already mentioned, this was the one show my husband and I enjoyed together and truly looked forward to each week. This is incredibly disappointing!
Sad to see this show leave TV and cancelled. It was actually a nice show for the family to sit down and watch on Friday nights. The show’s content was kept to a minimum in the area of violence. I loved the way the show ended w/them (the writers) all showing the core values of semi real people. It warmed my heart on more than one occasion. I would have thought it enough to keep the show going on principle, but as w/most everything, money rules. At least there’s re-runs and one can always buy the show on DVD I… Read more »
Just like with cold case I’m dumbfounded they canceled Numbers. This show was one of only a handful I watch. And what is funny is that I’m in the coveted age group that cbs says don’t watch their shows. Well now they are right. I won’t be watching anymore. Bring on more Law and Order NBC I now have a couple free hours to watch TV. Bad decision again CBS.
What I miss most will be the use of math. What a wonderful way to show how valuable math is to our everyday lives. Big Mistake CBS, Big Mistake…Our country needs a show like Numb3rs to show that math is math and this show brought this to light
I can’t believe it’s canceled. A show that had great actors, well written (thank you writers) drama, comedy, some oddity and SCIENCE!! I never missed an episode. And where do they get their stats? I’ve always wondered if there wasn’t some guy sitting in a cubicle making up “numbers” (no pun intended) on viewers and programs according to what he liked!?!
This was one of the few shows that the whole family would make time to watch. The daughter thought that “Charlie” is the hottest and that his supposed knowledge is just the icing on the cake. I would remove ALL of the reality shows JUST to get more of Numb3rs and decent family time. Oh well – just like everyone has already metioned – networks remove the good shows.
(man – its so hard to find a show nowadays that isn’t a “reality” show, and one that the whole family enjoys)
Num3ers is one of the few shows that my husband and I enjoy watching together. I love the conection with family ties, the friends, everything about the show depicts values, morals and principles. These are the kind of shows that are needed for our young to watch, to teach them that this is about as close to real life conections as you can get. I hate to see the show end the it did. I am having to go to other networks just to watch the reruns. Even though I have seen them several times, I still enjoy watching them.… Read more »
I can’t believe they canceled Numbers! It’s getting where all the shows I watch they cancel. My husband and I really looked forward to numbers. Who makes these decisions?
Well I am guessing that stupidity does keep on going. CBS making some serious mistakes they cancel Numb3ers they loose JJ on Criminal Minds they cancel Cold Case WOW! I guess this will free up my week. Or at least my DVR’s. Sad that they don’t want people to watch this network. There are VERY few shows I watch on regular networks so cable will get my votes.
Numb3rs was one of the few TV shows that kept my interest. I started watching because of the math, but then got hooked on the characters. This was one of the few semi-intelligent TV series. I have watched the whole truth, but it’s just another lawyer show (yawn). I miss the Epps brothers and friends. The finale was lame, and I didn’t even realize it was a finale.
Ah well, Star Trek was cancelled prematurely back in the ’60s and look what happened. Sometimes network TV makes some POOR judgement calls.