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.
Loved the show it is unique.
I think it is unfair to judge audience participation on just two or three episodes. Give this show another chance, for at least six episodes. We need something besides reruns on Saturday night, and this is an interesting premise. At least give this show a chance.
It is inconceivable to me that a network would only give a show two episodes to prove itself. I, for one, stay home on Saturday night a lot and would like to see a new show rather than reruns. I thought the acting was very good, and the story line. although not superb, was good. How ridiculous not to at least give a show six or seven episodes to prove itself. Let the viewers decide what they like. Obviously the network had no faith in it to begin with, and this is why I go more and more to USA… Read more »
Sent wrong gmail adress last time liked the first episode of bridges which I found
by accident know cbs did a horrible job of letting the viewers know about the show
they did’nt give it a chance.
Good grief, I just heard about the show for the first time tonight when I saw an ad on my homepage! I was going to give it a try because I remember the actor from Battlestar Galactica.
CBS is just awful. They don’t even attempt to give shows a chance.
I don’t know how unbelievable it would be for the head of a union to show up on a crime scene when people he knew were involved. Also, I would assume the union head and police chief would go head to head all the time with negotiations. The fact that Craig Bromell, who was a beat cop and became a union head is also an exec producer makes me think that yeah, this could happen and SDM just doesn’t understand the backroom politics of urban policing. I for one thought the show was good. I also heard in an interview… Read more »
I liked the show…it takes more than a few episodes to learn the characters and to tell other people to watch it. I was very disappointed it was cancelled. The networks have trained us not to watch TV on Saturdays any more…it’s just reruns of the previous week’s shows. Not everyone goes out on Saturday night and everyone uses their DVD!!! We need good shows to watch…not AFV and Cops.
I loved the show….went to NYC last night and recorded the series only to find out it was a rerun of Cold Case….Bullshi*….It has low ratings because most people never heard of it… Poor advertising and awful time slot & night.. Miss it
I liked the show as well. I thought it had an interesting story line and cast. I would watch it on another network or DVD. Too bad, CBS.
I liked the show it’s amazing how shortsighted hollywood seems to be. Yes I would watch it on another network.
I enjoyed the show. There must be some kind of politics working behind the scenes at the network, because the show was not given much of a marketing push or well placed on the schedule.
Never saw any promo for the show. Good show with no effort by CBS to give it a chance.
saw the first 2 hour show and thought it was the best show on tv.the next episode
was just as good. What a shame to cancel such a good show.
I liked the show. Acting and characters were interesting. Sorry they cancelled it. Some shows need a little time to pick up an audience. Maybe it would do well on TNT or USA or FX.
Since “The Bridge” is filmed in Toronto, Canada, it was easy as Torontonians to recognize the city event though they tried to pretend it was an American city. We also easily recognized the Bloor Street viaduct (bridge) that the black & white cop cars kept speeding across. We found the story line somewhat unbelieveable though. There’s no way that a beat cop is going to get elected as head of the police union and then all of a sudden go around telling the Chief of Police what to do, and then show up at crime scenes (even though he’s no… Read more »
I would agree it is unlikely for the head of the union to show up at crime scenes but the character’s background certainly explains it – enough for the world of make believe. But I guess you’d rather watch the typical police drama – another “Law & Order” or “CSI” spinoff. Like the average viewer, you’d rather watch the same re-hashed cop or hospital drama so when something different comes along you find it too unbelievable. I got a great idea for the TV executives who pander to viewers like you – “Law & Order – Parking Enforcement Division.” Enjoy!