Earlier this season, CBS renewed newbie shows Scorpion, Madam Secretary, and NCIS: New Orleans for another season each. The network’s other new drama, Stalker, was glaringly missing from that list of early renewals. Is it doomed? Will Stalker be renewed for a second season or will it be cancelled instead?
A cop thriller, Stalker follows the work of the LAPD’s Threat Assessment Unit, a team that investigates incidents of stalking. The TV show stars Dylan McDermott, Maggie Q, Victor Rasuk, and Mariana Klaveno.
The series debuted in October to a 2.0 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 9.07 million viewers. It wasn’t exactly an impressive start for the new series and the ratings dropped 10-14% in week two. That wasn’t too bad of a decline and CBS ended up giving Stalker some time (a “full season” order) to prove itself.
Unfortunately, the ratings have been dwindling downward for most of the season. Last week’s episode hit a new low with a 1.2 rating in the demo and 6.74 million viewers. CBS has no shortage of successful crime/legal series and numbers like those are too low for CBS. The network could bring it back for a second season but that seems highly unlikely.
Last week’s installment was Stalker’s 17th episode and CBS supposedly only ordered 20 of them for the season. It’s unclear if or when the remaining trio of episodes will be shown. Saturday night airings seem like a natural move at this point.
New series CSI: Cyber — starring recent Oscar-winner Patricia Arquette — takes over the Wednesdays at 10pm timeslot next week. It’s a natural fit for lead-in Criminal Minds since both revolve around FBI units.
But, what do you think? Should CBS cancel Stalker or renew it for another season? Would you change the show to try to attract a larger audience?
4/1 update: Stalker returns on May 4th. Details here.
Please dont cancel stalker it’s one of my fav! Need to know Beth’s ok first too it’s driving me insane
It would be stupid to cancel this show because of the ratings. Do ratings even count for when the show is looked up online and watched or just then and there when it is aired? I just binge watched like 9 episodes. I’m sure plenty of people aren’t able to watch their shows when they first come out.
I agree. I don’t watch ANY shows as they are airing. I DVR EVERYTHING so that I can watch them on my day off. And enjoy them commercial free.
I do the same thing but it seems that the powers that be don’t take that into account. don’t they realize that these aren’t the days when viewers watched shows as they aired anymore?
If you record show on your DVR they are factored into the rating but as this article says it can be trickier. I recall reading once that if you watch the recorded program with 3 days of its recording, it will be counted in the ratings.
http://people.howstuffworks.com/culture-traditions/tv-and-culture/dvr-viewings-tv-ratings.htm
And this one: http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2011/03/29/changes-to-nielsen-ratings-reporting-now-includes-duplicate-dvr-viewing/87159/
I’ll spare you the jargon and acronyms since the change itself is pretty simple: beginning with the ratings we saw this morning for Monday night, any duplicate viewing of a program on DVR before 3am is included in the Live+SD (live viewing plus same day DVR viewing) ratings.
Networks Are Factoring DVR Into Ratings, But Will It Make a Difference? Totally Obvious News of the day: ratings for shows are really, really different when you factor in DVR. Networks are finally starting to count the number of people who watch a show on DVR in the seven days after it airs, in addition to the previously-measured number of people watching live or on DVR that night. And it makes a real difference: according to same-night viewers, Two Broke Girls was the biggest new sitcom this fall; counting seven-day-DVR, New Girl does better. Interesting, sure. But will the new… Read more »
Do not cancel!!!!!! Best show! My mom and I love it!
I love Stalker!!! Please do not cancel this show!
Please DO NOT cancel Stalker. I love all the actors especially Maggie Q and Dylan McDermott. I have watched every episode and enjoy the plot. Looking forward to a 2nd season.
PLEASE do not cancel STALKER! My wife & I absolutely love this program! There are so many mindless programs on television. But, Stalker is not one of them. Stalker is full of intrigue & suspense & reality. It is up-close & personal….really draws you in! Please think it over & continuing airing STALKER!! We miss it already! Thank you.
Absolutely love the show “as is”!
I love this show.. very interesting.. I would hate for this show to be canceled
Stalker is the best show on the air ! It is absolutely up there with criminal minds ! Ratings are crap ways to bill a show . Please give people one more season to catch on … This show has gotten better every single episode. The characters are damaged yet complex and amazing. I love the background story on Beth (Michelle)
Absolutely insane to cancel Stalker, best show I have seen for quite sometime. Stalker and Dallas only shows that I enjoy watching. Please consider running more episodes.
Why are they still using ratings to cancel great shows when ratings are no longer really acurate? This show is amazing i will be sorely disappointed if it doesn’t continue……
I have loved everything that Maggie Q has been in. Yes she is cast in very similar roles, but she plays them to the hilt each and every time. I love this show, and the last episode is a cliffhanger to be sure. I do know I will NOT be watching the show replacing it, I have never cared for any of the umpteen CSI’s, and sorry but the previews of the show are NOT flattering at all. Acting looks very uneven and the premise that a CYBER team needs to be chasing people down physically is ludicrous. Cyber teams… Read more »
Stalker = EPIC! I really hope that CBS brings it back for a second season! We have DVR’d every episode & we watch it on Thursday nights instead of on Wednesday nights. I love this show!
I love Stalker!! You can’t get rid of it! It’s my all time new favorite show!
Please don’t cancel this show its fantastic…….
How can they possibly cancel this tv series?…they leave all of the viewers of stalker hanging….. Something definitely wrong with that!!!!