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.
I loved this show!!!!! I can’t believe it was cancelled!!!!
This show was great! Unfortunately I didn’t find out about it until after it was cancelled. This is how TV works now. I will not invest my self in new shows since they are always cancelled. Now I usually wait a few years to see if a show will continue on. I didn’t start watching Lost until a couple years after it started.
This show was so funny! Really original. Fox is too trigger happy about cancelling good shows! Give it a fair shot with airing it consistently-if it weren’t for TiVo, I would have missed episodes! At least they are keeping Raising Hope., that will prob last one more season and then also be prematurely canceled. BOO Fox!
This show was great- a great replacement for arrested development lovers. It was quirky and unique but still should have gotten better ratings. Can’t someone pick it back up?!
WHY!?!?! Arrested Development all over again! Far to early to cancel, seemed to be gaining ground in chatter several sites!
We loved this show! From the beginning in our area, it was very inconsistent as to the day/time it aired. It was skipped for sports, etc. No wonder it was cancelled….it didn’t get a fair shot 🙁
Running Wilde was very funny and had a lot of potential. I watched every episode and totally expected it to survive. There was so much talent on that show. C’mon…Will Arnett?? Keri Russell?? David Cross?? My mind is blown. I will certainly miss it, and I hope they decide to bring it back. Boo hoo. 🙁
So sad the show is gone! It is one of the few shows I actually watch. 🙁
My family and I loved this show. I am so sad to see that it’s canceled. At least Raising Hope is still on, we LOVE this show too.
**** fox loved this show tanking it dum. **** fox
I loved Running Wilde-it was carefree, funny and just an overall joy. Will Arnet did a fantastic job! I will miss it!!!! Fox seems to cancel show prematurely (remember Fire Fly?)
I also loved this show. It was one of the few I actually watched.
It’s so sad!! I LOVED this show!! come on….the publicity wasn’t enough and the show was totally worth! I regret it has been cancelled…
We’re so upset this show was cancelled – we really enjoyed it and watched every episode that was aired. We LOVE Will Arnett.
I loved this show, and I’m pretty bummed it was cancelled.. I’m
Not looking forward to it’s replacement.. And this show is far better than the one with the baby.. Hope something… Anyway- this really is an NBC show, I hope it gets picked up by another network as well! Also, I there are more shows, I hope that thy show them!