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.
DO NOT CANCEL THE DEFENDERS!!!! I LUV THIS SHOW !!!! PLEASE DO NOT CANCEL IT !!!!!!!
Oh, please don’t cancel. Though why it’s not doing so well?? Demographics. Many adults young and older watch “reality” TV. Maybe the show worked better on Wed. nite…but my husband and I were already hooked, so of course we followed it to Friday nite. All I know is we love the show, the combination of series cases mixed with comedy…and the Vegas of long ago…………..
Put the show back on Wednesday nights!!! Friday is the worst night to have it on!!
I love the show, The Defenders. It’s smart, funny, and the characters have great chemistry. It’s the one show on CBS I try not to miss. Everything else is pretty much “meh.”
I love the show….It needs to be aired on the original day and time slot it started with….then give it time to get a following…..
This is my favorite new show. Hope it gets a second chance
If they wouldn’t keep jerking shows around and/or pre-empting for something else, maybe this show (or any show) would actually succeed
Don’t cancell, I really enjoy the show, don’t like that they switch it to Fridays
I love The Defenders’ humor, the relationship between Morelli and Kazmarik, their irreverent approaches in court, the warmth between the attorneys and their team, and the lack of violence. The writing is lively and the actors’ timing is great. I don’t know why people have abandoned the show, but I’m guessing that they can’t appreciate the low key character development and the clever-could-be seen-as -odd twists to the endings. Please don’t cancel The Defenders.
keep the defenders on tv, but stop changing the days and times its on!!! No one watches tv on Friday nights before 10-11pm!! good show, lousy time.
Before you cancel “The Defenders” … get rid of some of the real dogs.
All you have to do to get more people to watch “The Defenders” is:
Give Zoey more “Exposure”.
Let her do “Operative work” and play exotic characters.
Bingo!
We really like this show. Our age group – 55-65. Friday night at 8 pm is not the
best day to be on tv as many go out Friday night. I really hope the show is not canceled.
Our household enjoys The Defenders – it would be a same for CBS to cancel and show that is thoroughly entertaining!
The Defenders should be picked up for season two. No questions asked. No hesitation on the decision. This cast has meshed from episode one and has evolved into a cohesive group. Each character is well defined and well written. Episodes are scripted to encompass each person as well as bring in some of the “fringe” characters. (Personally I love the judges.) Jim Belushi and Jerry O’Connell are superb together. I am 70 years old and love this show. No I am not in the demographic target group. So????????????? Just keep the show! It is one of the top five shows… Read more »
Renew……Renew……….Renew..Please CBS. The show is GREAT!