This news doesn’t come as a surprise. CBS has pulled their new Saturday night drama, The Bridge, after just three episodes. Though it’s been cancelled in the US, the TV show will continue.
The Bridge follows Frank Leo (Aaron Douglas), a charismatic cop who’s voted unanimously to become the leader of the police union. He ends up fighting crime on the streets while also battling corruption on the force. The series features Douglas, Frank Cassini, Michael Murphy, Ona Grauer, Paul Popowich, and Theresa Joy.
The TV show debuted on Saturday, July 10th with two episodes. Per the overnights, the first episode attracted a tiny 0.5 rating in the 18-49 demographic and just 2.98 million viewers. It was easily beaten by repeats of Cops and America’s Funniest Home Videos.
The second episode of The Bridge drew a 0.5 rating in the demo and viewership increased to a still meager 3.51 million. It was trounced by America’s Most Wanted but did beat a repeat of ABC’s struggling Scoundrels.
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Last Saturday night, the show’s ratings dropped even lower, to a 0.3 rating in the demo and 2.88 million viewers. It came in last place in the demo and third place in total viewers (beating NBC’s Persons Unknown).
The network has clearly not had any faith in the TV show from the beginning, airing it on the least-watched night of TV. The network has pulled it off the schedule with 10 unaired episodes left. Cancelled Cold Case reruns will take their place. CBS has made no indication that they plan to air the remaining Bridge installments at a later date or make them available online.
In Canada, it’s another story for The Bridge. CTV began airing the series in March and completed the season in May. The run was successful enough for CTV to order a second season for Canadian viewers.
Unfortunately, unless another network decides to pick up the series, it doesn’t look like viewers in the United States will see the rest of season one or season two.
What do you think? Did you like The Bridge? Should it have been cancelled by CBS? Would you watch it on another channel or on DVD?
Image courtesy CBS.
I loved the bridge! It was my new favorite tv show!
We only saw the premiere and loved it, but then when we went to find it we couldn’t. We think they should run the rest of the season. We love Flashpoint and Bridge is even better.
I really enjoyed this show and am disappointed that it was canceled before it was even up and running.
US does not give a show a chance, it is just nuts
From a strictly-business viewpoint, CBS made the right move. The ratings sucked, even for a summer saturday eve. But CBS coulda at least promoted it a little during the week.
What is wrong with CBS !?? I never saw a promo for “Bridge”, did you?
Saturday night is a terrible night for TV on ALL the networks. If CBS was airing a new show on that night, most of us would have been happy to have given it a look, if we’d KNOWN about it. Now they’ve pulled it after 3 eppies?
Another in a long series of bad decisions by CBS.
Some good comments above. During each episode I lost at least 1/3 of the dialogue because: 1. It was uneven in volume from excellent to poor, 2. It was drowned out by loud, oftentimes inappropriately timed, and obtrusive “dramatic” music, i.e., I NOTICED the dramatic music like you notice the sound of a bad guitarist frequently sliding his fingers along the strings to the next note or chord, and 3. The dialogue was occasionally mumbled into poor microphones. Fix the above and you have a significant improvement in not just the technical but the overall quality. The scripts were good… Read more »
I really liked this show. It was cancelled too quickly without being given any PR. “The Bridge” was unique and, I think, the first show on U.S. network TV produced, directed and acted completely by Canadians.
There was nothing wrong with the show. It had an attractive cast–good acting and
intriguing plot lines.
I think there is a built in prejudice in the U.S. against network television shows not produced by Americans.
I ran across the first episode by accident and was intrigued. I then watched the entire episode again online and really liked it. It is a little different, but I really wanted to see where it went. I wish there had of been some advertisement for the show and it have gotten a better following. CBS, I think you should let the season run and see what happens. I’m just saying!
@bob costa, what about Corner Gas? Trailer Park Boys? Honestly, that’s a little discriminatory
Did they even advertise? I have no recollection of them ever doing so; in fact, I had no idea what this show was till now ^
I was going to stop watching it anyway. It just didn’t grab me in those first three episodes.
I decided not to even record this show. I am frankly tired of getting burned by the networks who cancel a series after a couple of episodes. Come on CBS this was a summer show on Saturday night, what did they expect from the ratings.
I have already seen the complete first season of The Bridge. It is a show that require the viewer to watch all 13 episodes because the next episode builds in the previous episode. Even when we weren’t home to watch it it was PVRed and watch either when we got home or ASAP. Unfortunately US viewers will not get to experience one of the best season finales broadcast this year. It sets up the second season and opens up a complete new can of worms also it has one the best car chases since Bullitt. CBS killed this show before… Read more »
I think Canadian TV sucks, thats what I think.