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.
There wasn’t any promotion for this show and I watched both episodes and loved it. It is different than anything else on TV. It should have been given more of a chance. It is like the CBS wanted it to fail. The first time I saw it I was surprised there was something good on Saturday night. Let a season finish ….summer has nothing but reruns most of the time.
Best new police drama in a while and they give it 3 weeks!! Who are these idiots who think a show on a Saturday night is going to get the great ratings after 3 weeks.
actually really liked the show and told my husband about it. I watched both episodes online and had never even heard of the show. We watch a decent amount to tv so I was rather suprised. Was just searching to find out what time it aired and found that it’s been cancelled instead. CBS is killin me. They should’ve made another series of The Unit too!
We enjoyed the show. We were surprised to find it pulled off the air. We watched the Cold Case that was in its place that night, but we don’t think we’ll watch it any other time. We liked the different idea shown in The Bridge. CBS ought to have given it more time.
Loved the show in that time slot. We have DVR’s you know.
We can watch Xops and America’s most Wanted. One
of the best shows I’ve seen in long time.
CBS sucks!!! The Bridge debuted in Canada at #1 in its time slot. I guess because it was put on on Saturday night in the USA and didn’t star any one of note, nobody watched. But I did, and I think it’s the best police show I’ve ever seen on network TV, and second only to HBO’s The Wire overall. Obviously CBS wanted it to fail. I wish CBS would have the decency to either find a way to place the remaining episodes on its web site, or work with CTV to unblock all 13 episodes which are currently available… Read more »
I really liked this show. I wish they would keep it or release the season on DVD. I was hooked from the first episode.
The Bridge is FANTASTIC. What is wrong with CBS? They never advertised the show. I only new about because I read it the TV Guide. The show was so GREAT, I had to google to see who Aaron Douglas was and where he came from since he is sooo good. Another station better take over the show. I enjoyed the show so much.
I thought the Bridge was a great show and looked forward to seeing it. I don’t think CBS gave it a chance. How could you cancel a show only after 2 episodes. CBS needs to get a life. You just made a big mistake.
I enjoyed the show very much
When I lived in Buffalo, I could get Canadian shows
I wish I still could here in Brooklyn
One question I have is, since it is summer, why not keep it on?
I mean so it is getting poorer numbers than Americas Most Moronic and Craps er Crops or what ever Rupert the Jerk has on
To replace it with reruns of a canceled show?
Pretty dumb
My husband and I just sat down to watch The Bridge. We had it on our DVR, or so we thought. We couldn’t figure out why we got Cold Case instead. So, we thought maybe our cable company got something wrong and we checked the “Find Shows” and it didn’t show up, so I checked to make sure it would be taping this coming Saturday night since it was listed in the TV guide, but nothing. So, got on line, and this is what we found out. IT WAS CANCELLED ! ! Unbelievable. You have to give shows time to… Read more »
I thought the first episode was not very realistic — one cop getting all the others to walk out to support two other cops caught on video apprehending a suspect who died after being cuffed. It was too “Polly Anna” and sappy for me. I really liked the grittiness of “Southland” and its believable characters much more. NBC should have kept that series.
CBS has repeatedly shown poor judgment.
This is the best new series on TV.
Put it on another night up against NBC, you will see.
It wasn’t that long ago that CBS would give a show a chance to find it’s audience and reap the benefits of taking the chance. Remember “M.A.S.H.?” “All In The Family” AND most of it’s spin-offs? “Lou Grant?” “Chicago Hope?” These shows and many others got really poor numbers and grew to become critically acclaimed and, in some cases, cult favorites! Dropping shows just because you can’t get Season Three “Friends” numbers right out the gate is one of the many reasons viewers are leaving the networks in droves!
The show was awesome, but CBS never gave it a chance. Who airs a new show on a Saturday night with no promotion and expects it to succeed? Sounds to me like they wanted the show to be cancelled all along.