Though FOX didn’t officially announce the cancellation of Running Wilde, the writing has certainly been on the wall for quite some time. It’s now been cancelled.
The freshman sitcom, which stars TV veterans Will Arnett and Keri Russell, debuted back on September 21st with a mediocre 2.4 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 5.59 million viewers. The following week, the demo rating fell by 21% and the next few weeks saw it hit a season low — a truly horrible 1.1 rating with just 2.29 million viewers. Interestingly, viewership started to build after that but it wasn’t enough. The eight episodes that aired averaged just a 1.6 in the demo and 3.72 million viewers.
Understandably, FOX opted not to order any additional episodes of Running Wilde, keeping the season order at 13 installments. FOX subsequently pulled the show for November sweeps. The network has occasionally been running repeats on Sunday nights as well as Saturdays at midnight.
Today, at the TCA press tour, FOX president Kevin Reilly confirmed that Running Wilde will not be coming back. He took some of the blame for the show’s lack of success but acknowledged that the sitcom started off slow. He said, “Look, one of the early lessons you learn is to bet on the talent. [The series] was slow to find itself. I was involved. I was involved probably more than I wanted to be. Mitch didn’t resent it. It struggled to find its legs. It found them probably too little too late.”
What do you think? Was Running Wilde worth watching? Why do you think it didn’t catch on?
Image courtesy FOX.
So sad. Like they said, the show was getting it’s legs, but of course they pulled them right out from under them. The cast was clicking and then POOF – we don’t even get to see the last four episodes! So long Puddle, Mr. Lunt, and Steve. We’ll have a martini or two in your honor, with orange cones around us in the morning 😉
Running Wilde was the ONLY new good tv show to come out in 2010, I watched nearly every single sitcom on all the networks this past year and not a single one (except community on nbc) was even in the same ballpark as the Great RUNNING WILDE!!!!!! i am ashamed to live in a culture that keeps making terrible shows like Raising Hope but cant even keep a masterpiece like Running Wilde in production.
i loved this show! i watched it every week.. wth fox… it was a great show following raisig hope (which i also love)..
I loved that show!!!! it was soooo funny!
i cant believe it was cancelled! 🙁
This show was awful.
yep..leave it to fox to blow another great show off the air. im hoping another channel will pick this show up. It was up there with 30 rock to me. I kept asking people if they had seen the show, and they would say no. i knew it was doomed..NO MARKETING FOR THE SHOW AT ALL!! FOX SUX!!!!!!
Loved it almost as much as Arrested but it had a different feel even though the comedy was similar. Anything with Arnett in it is awesome!
i really loved that show it sinks that its canceled
I wanted to like RW. I am a big Will Arnett fan but it just wasn’t funny. He is very good at over the top characters but the writing just didn’t seem to be strong enough. And although I like Keri Russell, she was weak on this show. It was doomed from the start.
It looks to me that there are 4 episodes yet to be aired. Is this correct? Any idea if Fox will air them?
This is one where persistence paid off. You needed to keep watching because it did get better as it went along. RIP Steve, Puddle, Fa’ad and Migo.
I loved the show, although I must admit I am a HUGE fan of Keri Russell, so it was nice to finally see her back in a tv series regardless of what it was about. I think it was a good show, but it wasn’t really publicized much. I always had to Google it to find out anything about it.
I fully agree with you on a Keri Russel fan. I have had to watch all 4 seasons of Felicity multiple times and never get tired of it. I wish I could find a link to watch the Malibu Shores series she was in. I was really excited to see her playing in a new TV series and now to see that it’s cancelled? And no it wasn’t advertised much, so it fell just like the 10 Things I Hate About You series that got cancelled off ABC Family. Isn’t it weird how no matter how lousy a book is… Read more »
I loved the show. I don’t know why it didn’t succeed, but i think the main reason was it’s time slot, Tuesday at 9:30, and the network it was on. This wasn’t a FOX sitcom in the first place, it it was on NBC it would be a huge him. NBC has a taste for these kinds of shows, while FOX…. just don’t have that kind of diverse audience. And the time slot. The Time slot was adjacent to the last 30 minutes of Dancing With The Stars Result show, so many people, as i had expected to happen in… Read more »
All these shows they keep on making instead of Arested Development are terrible. First Sit Down Shut up: which had the original cast. Then this less than mediocre show! When will fox get it and bring Arrested Development back…the show would be a ratings blockbuster.
I thought I had finally found a replacement for Arrested Development. This show was really funny.