Back in the 1960’s, CBS had a successful courtroom series starring E.G. Marshall and Robert Reed. Now, CBS has premiered a very different legal TV show with the same name, The Defenders. The first one ran for four seasons. Will the new version outlast it or be quickly cancelled?
The Defenders follows a pair of lawyers operating out of Las Vegas. They’ll do just about anything for their Sin City clients, often taking on cases no one else will touch, and try to keep their sanity while doing it. The new TV show stars Jerry O’Connell, Jim Belushi, Jurnee Smollett, Tanya Fischer, and Gillian Vigman.
In its first week on the air, The Defenders dominated its timeslot with a 2.9 in the coveted 18-49 demographic and 12.2 million total viewers. That put the new show in first place in both categories and essentially doubled the performance of ABC’s new law show, The Whole Truth.
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On the downside, Defenders did lose 27% of the demo audience from lead-in Criminal Minds. It also lost viewers during the hour but that wasn’t huge. In the same timeslot, last year’s CSI: NY scored a much better 4.0 and 15.06 million.
Ultimately though, The Defenders had a solid premiere (especially if you compare it to Whole Truth). If they can retain or grow the audience, CBS should be quite happy with this new drama. They certainly can use it since some of their returning dramas have been around for quite some time and have been showing audience declines.
But, what do you think? Did you tune in? Is The Defenders a show that you’d watch week after week or would you rather see it cancelled?
Image courtesy CBS.
This is one of the shows I love. I don’t care what night it is on, I watch it every week. Give this show a better chance. It is GREAT!
PLEASE Do Not Cancel The Defenders. I Love this show and looked forward to watching it every week, I Love Jim Belushi he’s a great actor and so is Jerry O’Connell.
Love this show!!!
I love it ! so does all my family….. keep it keep it !
I love this show. I do not like that new Criminal Minds show they replaced the Defenders with. I hope there is a 2nd season of The Defenders.
Keep it, it’s a lot of fun. We watch it every week. One of the best new shows, give it time.
I love this show, I hope it comes back for another season.
I love this new show. It has drama and comedy. It is a breath of fresh air. Please keep it. I have always loved Jim Belushi. He and Jerry O’Connell make a great duo. I also love the glitz and glamour of Las Vegas. I think that as people hear about it and watch it that it will become a long lived show but you are killing it by putting it on Friday nights. You should switch it back to mid week. Thanks for listening.
PLEASE keep the Defenders! It is one of our fave shows and we’re in the 25-49
demographic group.
Love the show, cannot fathom why it would be changed to 7:00 on a Friday nite, but I still watch it.
I love this show. Keep imagine why it would be removed
My husband and I both love this show. Please give it a change. Friends I have talked to wanted to start watching it, but did not realize that it was on. Then the night was changed. One of the few shows I most looked forward to watching every week.
I thought the show was great and really feel it should be kept on. Even when you changed it to Friday nights, I watched it. I didn’t like that it got changed to a defferent night, but I followed it.
KEEP IT ON THE AIR!
Keep this funny great show.
This is one of my favorite shows this season. It is fun to watch and I love the characters. They have great chemistry.
Don’t cancel it give it a chance. It seems like shows don get a chance to catch on before they are cancelled.
If I am not home to watch it I always tvo it. and it is the only show I do. Perhaps the time slot isn’t the best one. Who it home on a Friday night anyway.
Mae