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.
Try and get it in bigger stream networks. I saw it on tubi. Maybe try Netflix’s and Prime
I loved it, kept me laughing throughout the show. Been 9 years but I wish I could have seen more.
Acquired taste but well worth sticking it out. Clever, funny ideas evolving through the episodes, casting Arrested Development actors (brilliant). I felt that there was so much more to come with this show. I miss it.
Please bring it back.