Tonight marks the final episode of The Defenders for the season. How likely is the CBS freshman series to be back next fall with season two?
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 TV show stars veterans Jerry O’Connell and Jim Belushi as well as Jurnee Smollett, Tanya Fischer, and Gillian Vigman.
For its premiere, the series 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 now-cancelled, The Whole Truth.
Unfortunately, The Defenders’ audience slowly eroded over the course of the season and by January had hit a new low of a 1.5 rating in the demo and 6.81 million viewers. CBS switched the series to Fridays in February and, not surprisingly, the ratings got worse. On Fridays, Defenders has averaged a 1.3 demo rating and that’s worse than what now-cancelled Medium was getting in the same timeslot.
If you look at the season averages, The Defenders is one of CBS’ worst performers. Though the network has not officially cancelled it yet, it is hard to imagine that CBS execs would consider renewing it for a second season.
What do you think? Should The Defenders be cancelled? Why do you think the series hasn’t attracted a bigger audience?
Image courtesy CBS.
I LOVE The Defenders!! I can’t always watch on Friday night but I definitely record it and watch it every single week!! love love love the show!! don’t cancel!!
DO NOT CANCEL! Love the show! It got better and better…..CBS killed it when they moved it! Promote it and help it be successful!
It really does surprise me, especially in the information age, you would think that with internet companies like CBS would look at ratings and combine them with viewers who watch T.V. Even with sites like Hulu that are out there that help those companies get there material out there and CBS doesn’t take advantage of it. NBC realizes that it helps and they post their episodes on there just in case someone missed it because they realize, yes it’s true, we have to work to earn money to pay for internet and cable. That kind of limits our “viewing time”.… Read more »
The defenders has one of my favorite actors in Jim Belushi.I’ve watched the series since it started
and watch it every week. It is believeable and cosistent in it’s appeal Whgatever it takes to revive this series would be worth the effort. Please consider a second series as there are no that many good series on TV.
Bob lutman
One of the best and smartest shows on television…please, please don’t cancel it. Can’t wait to see what happens in a second season. I know ratings are low but give it some more time. More promotion!
CBS, are you kidding me, this show is great, funny and smart, but the only way I can see it (with your lousy programing) is by downloading it from utorrents, so yes, we pay cable and are not able to watch our favorite shows because of your programing, still we get to download them… check that and add it to your ratings and then say rating are going down. Don´t cancel the show because the shows airing now are not that great. the event, v, the middle, chicago code, cougar town, we watch this shows a while and get board… Read more »
Don’t Cancel. This is a very entertaining show about lawyers, which are usually boring. Love It Love It Love It
It will be a shame if this show doesn’t get renewed. The cast has really developed some great chemistry over the course of the first season. I love the show and I say this as someone who normally hates cop/lawyer series. The cast and the location were what pulled me in and the chemistry and performances kept me hooked. It’s too bad that the studios don’t realize that their old methods of determining revenue stream and series viability are no longer that practical. I will definitely look forward to the DVD set and hope that interest in secondary sales markets… Read more »
i love the defenders if it got cancelled i would be very upset i cant even beleive it got bad ratings i think for sure they should give a second season a chance at least
It hasn’t attracted a bigger audience because CBS has given it lousy time slots. It was too late on a Wednesday & followed bloody Crimial Minds, then they dumped it into an 8PM Friday night time slot. That’s one of the weeks busiest times. Move it back to 9PM when we can sit down, relax and watch this wonderful show. Give it a break! CBS has caused the problem. Let people have a chance to watch it.
DO NOT CANCEL!! take into account that most people DVR this because of the time slot. this show is GREAT!
The show shows true promise, Jim Belushi suprised me as a lawyer. I have never pictured him as one as I have been a long time fan of his work. The show has a problem with the comedic side of things. The back and forth comedic banter between the two main characters is needed to be tried differently. You have two great actors, why aren’t they given any better material. Over all, the show shouldn’t be cancelled as it show alot of promise.
The Defenders has been one of my favorite TV series, right up at the top. Don’t cancel, please!!!! I have been upset to find that in the last 2 weeks the series has not been shown.
Please tell me it will be there next week.
Don’t Cancel! Set it up to succeed NOT fail!
Don’t cancel. Every good show you create, you cancel, it’s beyond annoying.