ABC’s mid-season medical drama, Off the Map, recently concluded its first season on the air. The alphabet network’s been looking for a new hit drama and this one was produced by veteran producers of Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice. How does Off the Map stack up? Will it be cancelled or renewed for season two?
Off the Map revolves around six doctors who have “lost their way” and travel to a remote South American jungle to help those in need and to try to rediscover the reasons why they wanted to become physicians. The series features the talents of Caroline Dhavernas, Jason George, Jonathan Castellanos, Mamie Gummer, Martin Henderson, Rachelle Lefevre, Valerie Cruz, and Zach Gilford.
The medical drama premiered with a mediocre 2.3 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 7.57 million viewers. The TV series won its timeslot but was disrupted in some parts of the country by coverage of the Tucson Memorial. ABC decided to give Off the Map another chance to attract viewers by rerunning the first episode the following night, in place of a Private Practice rerun, and it retained much of the Grey’s Anatomy lead-in audience.
Unfortunately, that’s still not a great start and subsequent episodes of Off the Map essentially drew fewer and fewer viewers each week. The final episode of the season hit a series low and attracted a very poor 1.3 rating in the demo with only 3.80 million viewers.
Off the Map is the second-lowest scripted series on ABC that hasn’t already been officially cancelled, averaging a 1.7 in the demo and 4.96 million viewers. It ranks below doomed No Ordinary Family and just above doomed Detroit 1-8-7. In short, unless ABC really needs to keep Shonda Rhimes happy, there is no reason why the network would bring Off the Map back next year for season two.
What do you think? Do you think there’s any hope for Off the Map? Do you think it will be cancelled or renewed? Are you okay with the way the TV series ended?
Image courtesy ABC.
Please keep Off The Map. I love the show. I think the low viewership might fall in the hands of ABC playing with the lineup. I enjoy Cougar Town and Modern Family, but I think Mr. Sunshine is a downer, causing people to change the channel and focusing their attention elsewhere. Please give it another chance.
Maybe try rerunning it during the summer when there is less to compete with. ABC did the with the first season of Lost and that is how I got addicted to that show.
Me and my husband love Off the Map. We are in our late 50’s and warly 60’s. Everytime we find a show we really look forward to seeing, it gets cancelled. If you would put these shows on at a resonable hour, they would have a higher rating. As it is, we DVR it and watch it on a different day.
Off the map is a great show. I look forward to Season 2. The show should be renewed. I think it is much better than the show that is in the time slot now. Give the show another chance n run more promos. Ads for the show literally disappeared. Quit canceling the great shows.
Love, love, love this show! Please don’t cancel one of the best shows on television. It was always unpredictable and exciting.
Keep the show. I don’t know if the ratings include views that are done by Pvr or in Canada’s on demand. Do to the time that I get up in the morning I have to watch the show at a later date. Both my teen sons and I enjoy the show. We look forward to it weekly. The show should be given more of a chance, as I recall Ncis was a slow starter and now it tops the charts weekly. You never know what the next season will bring as far as viewers are concerned.
I watched the first few episodes and then stopped. I found the characters to be walking cliches. The only thing actually interesting about the show is the concept of jungle medicine. But so far that hasn’t been enough for me to set the DVR to record it or to go out of my way and watch it as it is on the way Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice are. I think ABC should move Off the Map to Thursdays right before Grey’s because people are more likely to watch it on the same night as their preferred medical show.
Off the Map, was a slow start for me, but it got me hooked. It is a refreshing spin of a Medical show. It get’s them out of the Norm, and into the dirt. I fell in love with the characters, the story line and it left me wanting more. It is just to bad that Red had to come down with Heart problems.
ABC needs to give it one more year, they owe it and us that.
A talented well seasoned cast who mesh well together on screen. A fresh approach to the standard medical drama which, with very few exceptions, has changed very little since the days of “Ben Casey”, and “Dr. Kildare”. Yep, it has all the prerequisites that qualify it for an early death on network TV.
Hopefully any ABC programing executives who may happen to read these comments will not cave to pressure to cancel this in favor of something vapid but cheap to produce.
Off the Map is great! I hope it stays on!
Love this show. Have to watch it on the computer since I watch American Idol also. Please do not stop this show.
I think this is an awesome show and they need to bring it back. Maybe theyneed to try a different time slot. I really hope Otis not canceled. If so then don’t let what fans it has hanging. Bring it back to close up the hanging questions.
I just LOVE this show and really hope it will return!
I love Off The Map. It is my favorite show nowadays. ABC cannot cancel it. It’s interesting, funny and intelligent. I se the episodes over and over. There is always something more that I didn’t see in the first time.
Please please please don’t cancel this show!!! I absolutely love it. The characters are so interesting and such a great mix. And I really want to see how they end up. And you can’t leave us hanging about who lives and who dies! I hate how the networks come up with these awesome shows but don’t give them but such a short time to hook an audience. If you cancel this show, it makes me feel like why bother watching any new show from the beginning. I mean, why bother getting interested because the network has a high probability of… Read more »
this show is fantastic, please do not cancel “off the map”. one of the very best shows i have seen in a very long time.