Take the Money and Run: ABC Unscripted Series; Cancel or Season Two?

The alphabet network recently debuted a new alternative TV series called Take the Money and Run. Interestingly, it has the same title as a 1969 Woody Allen comedy film. That movie was a hit with critics and viewers. Has the ABC show received a similar reception?

On Take the Money and Run, two participants are given a briefcase filled with $100,000 and one hour to hide it. At the end of that time, the contestants are taken into custody and questioned by a team of investigators. They work with a pair of detectives who are given GPS recordings of the route that the contestants took, as well as their phone records. If the detectives can locate the suitcase within 48 hours, they get to split the money. If not, the contestants keep the prize.

The reality series debuted on August 2nd with a 1.9 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 5.28 million viewers. It was third in its timeslot, ranking well behind America’s Got Talent on NBC and FOX’s Hell’s Kitchen.

The second installment kept most of its premiere audience, falling just 5% in the demo. Week three saw the demo rating fall 22% to a 1.4 with 3.63 million viewers. The fourth episode popped back up 14% and last night’s fell back down again. The first season has averaged a 1.6 rating and 4.34 million viewers.

Take the Money and Run’s freshman run concludes next week and it doesn’t seem likely that ABC will renew it for a second season. ABC has been running eight different “alternative” series this summer and this one ranks sixth, beating only Expedition: Impossible and Friday night’s Karaoke Battle USA. Still, it is relatively inexpensive to produce so you never know. After all, this reality show is easily beating Rookie Blue and Combat Hospital.

What do you think? Is Take the Money and Run worth watching? Should it be renewed for a second season or just cancelled?