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.
I’m very very sad that Raising the Bar is cancelled. What is TNT thinking? I hope some other network picks it up. Why is it that really dumb shows stay and really good shows get cancelled? So sad.
Raising the Bar is a awesome show….. a hot Law and Order drama show. I love that show and hope it returns to TV. I saw 3 episodes in Dec, but had no idea it would be the last. My TV was set to record and that is how I didn’t miss them. What is TNT planning to do, replace it with a stupid reality show…..boring!!!!
The cast was an impressive ensemble. The writing was creative and compelling.
In my opinion they were doomed by locating on TNT.
Best show on t.v. by far, but they needed to run it for a longer period of time to gather a following. I told a number of friends about the show, and noone had heard of it. It definitely needed better promoting.
I am sooooooo disappointed! I was wondering why TNT hadn’t aired any episodes in a while. 🙁
i think they should bring it back
I’m so sad to see this go…it was one of the best shows on t.v.
It really showed the way our leagal system works, Scary Huh !
I was probably one of only a few that saw the last 3 episodes around Christmas, and that was just luck. Sad…Sad… Sad..
Personally I enjoyed it…no idea that they’d cancelled it and was looking forward to it’s return… not many (if any) ‘law’ shows since The Practice got my attention as much as this did…sad to see it go…
I loved Raising the Bar! I am sad . I looked forward to Monday nights to see the show .That really sucks!!!!
Was the best show on TV. I have looked forward to another season but never could figure out what the “season” was. Very poor publicity could be a possibility for porr viewing. Everyone I spoke with loved the show. Another reality is that the general viewing public isn’t very literate would rather watch reality TV , American Idol and Dancing with the Stars. Sorry couldn’t resist.
cancelling Raising The Bar was a mistake. the two shows together (The Closer) and Bar was a very enjoyable evening of TV.
i couldn’t believe Raising the Bar was being cancelled! it is one of the best shows on tnt. it could have received more promotion from the network – i just happened upon it to see it was back on.
I’m crying on the inside.
Great show; will miss it. Hope a network picks it up
One of the best dramas on TV. I think the time slot it was in could be the problem. I love Bochco’s writing and will miss this show. I like The Closer and Saving Grace, but this one was my favorite. Jane Kaczmarek was wonderful as Judge Trudy and her law clerk was also superb (not to mention mark-paul)