Court will soon be adjourned for the Mark-Paul Gosselaar drama, Raising the Bar. TNT has decided to cancel the series after two seasons but, there may still be more to come.
From executive producer Steven Bochco, Raising the Bar revolves around a group of law school classmates who work on opposite sides of the courtroom. The drama’s cast includes Gosselaar, Gloria Reuben, Currie Graham, Melissa Sagemiller, J. August Richards, Jonathan Scarfe, Teddy Sears, Jane Kaczmarek, Stacy Hall, Natalia Cigliuti, Paul Joyner, Wayne Lopez, Jon Polito, and Angel Oguendo.
Back on September 1, 2008, the series premiere attracted 7.7 million viewers. That set a record for TNT as the biggest audience for a new series launch on regular cable. Unfortunately, much of the audience didn’t return for later episodes which averaged 5.5 million. Despite an early decline, TNT renewed the series for a second season.
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On June 8th, season two of Raising the Bar attracted just 3.6 million and shed half of the audience of its lead-in, The Closer.
As a result of the low ratings, the cable channel has cancelled the legal drama. Via a statement, a TNT representative said, “Everyone at TNT had a great experience working on Raising the Bar with Steven Bochco and the rest of the show’s terrific cast and crew. We’re proud of the series and appreciate the efforts of all of the creative people who were involved. Unfortunately, ratings for Raising the Bar’s second season did not reach the levels required for TNT to renew the series.”
TNT had opted to split the second season into two parts. The first dozen episodes finished airing on August 24th. That leaves three episodes on the shelf. It was expected that they would air in early 2010 but they haven’t been given airdates yet.
What do you think? Are you upset that the series has been cancelled? Why do you think that Raising the Bar failed — acting, storylines, or something else?
Image courtesy TNT.
Come on this was the best legal drama on tv. The whole cast justed melded together so well. There is so much junk on TV and this is the show you decide to cancel. I guess it was to smart and thought provoking. BRING IT BACK………………
Bring back Raising the Bar… it was one of our favorite shows.. why are they taken all of the good shows off the air and leaving all these stupid ones on.. BRING IT BACK…..
It was my favorite show! It was intense, ruthless, compassionate, alarming and sometimes funny. Where can you all find that in one show. Maybe in a different time slot or day where there was any competition it would fare better. Some faithful viewers will not venture anywhere else for anything else when one of their favorites is on. I felt this way about this show.
I kept looking for it to come back on. In my opinion, one of the better shows on TV. I’m not a big TV viewer, but always looked forward to this one. Too Bad……………
I hate that RTB has been cancelled. I loved this series and so did my friends. I would like to know how they test who is watching. We are big fans here in St.Louis. Wrong decision TNT. This was a Great series with Great story lines. Please reconsider!
Darn! RTB was an AWSOME series. Just found out it was cancelled. Kept waiting for the next new season..so I finally searched the web tonight and found out it was cancelled. Can’t believe it…one of the best new shows around. What a waste!
My husband and I both LOVED this show. We are so disappointed that it has been cancelled. Unfortunately, the good ones always are.
Are you kidding – finally TNT has something worth watching – couldn’t wait to watch Raising the Bar – loved the whole show, cast, storylines,etc and have been waiting to see when it was going to come back on. So disappointed.
I really wish they would reconsider.
Please put RTB back on the air, it was one of the best shows to watch… don’t leave us with all the crap…leave something good on, like Raising the Bar:)
My wife & I loved raising the bar, really hate that it won’t be back. Was it too intelligent for the TV public?
I could not get past the long greasy hair on such a good looking guy, I absolutely hated the DA and the female judge I just wanted to slap. Thank you for canceling the show!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I totally agree, the first season was ok, very hard to watch when it seemed like you had these do-gooders as Public Defenders litterally with the deck stacked against them from anal District Attourneys office and the ALMIGHTY Judges that were so egotistic and if that failed they played politics with peoples freedom?!?! It was EXTREMELY OUTRAGOUS and I’m Glad its off because I stopped watching midway through season 2 which was WAY OVER THE TOP with OUTRAGOUS BS. Took it off my DVR. Best decision made!!!
Jayne and Anon, I hate to say it, but there ARE decent PD’s out there like the one that was portrayed in the show by Mark-Paul Gosselaar (Jerry Kellerman, Esq.) and I speak from personal experience as I have one on retainer; As for butt-headed DA’s, that happens all the time too, and I’m dealing with one in my situation I’m referring to as well. With regard to what you said about judges playing games with the freedoms of the defendants in their courtrooms, it happens all the time. If it wouldn’t violate their privacy rights, I could name 3-4… Read more »
I loved raising the bar I would like to see it back!!!!!!!
Basically it ‘s the networks fault. They develop these interesting series, attract a following and then end the season after two to three months. You don’t know when the series will start up again and it’s always on another night. So it’s hard to know when and where to find them after the long time period in between seasons. Rasingh the Bar was awesome television.
Raising the Bar was one of the best new dramas on television. My husband and I enjoyed the intensity of the story lines and the excellent cast. There is nothing on regular TV these days excempt mindless “reality (ha ha) shows” and stupid talentless amature hours.
It is very discouraging to have a show of this caliber cancelled. Cable TV is one of the few bright spots in television viewing. The exceptions are CBS with ” The Good Wife”,
NBC with “Parenthood”, and “Men of a Certain Age”.
TERRIBLE TERRIBLE TERRIBLE… THE SHOWS GET WORST BY THE SEASON. I LUVED R.T.B. ZACK MORRIS all time fav.
WTF WAS TNT THINKING???
EVEN DARK BLUE SUCKS NOW, 1ST SEASON WAS AWSOME, THEN THEY GO AND BRING ON THE FBI BLONDE AND MADE CARTER LOSE HIS MIND. IT WAS REALLY DARK BLUE THE 1ST SEASON, NOW ITS BABY BLUE.
STUDIOS ALWAYS DESTROYS A SHOW BY CATERING TO WOMEN FEELINGS.