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.
It would be a shame to cancel such a nice show!!!
You switched the Defenders to a Friday night….how many people really watch anything after a long week at work? or school? A different weeknight would probably increase viewership! Too good of a show to take off!
My husband and I love the Defenders. It is so nice to not have a show where they are always killing someone or cutting up a dead body. It just needed a better night and timeslot.
Really enjoyed the show. If it remains on Friday night then it will need to
have some appeal to the neighborhood tavern community. Thursday
might work better as this is the time of the week when the grind starts to
wind down and people want to watch something that the whole family can enjoy.
Also, if you could work a mutt dog into the script that would be fun. ttfn
Please keep the show…we love it!
I meant to add…..I would be really disappointed if it has, in fact, been cancelled!
We love the defenders….I agree it’s great to have a clean, funny show with great actors!
I loved The Defenders, please do not cancel it, its just getting started! I think it got bad rap to get moved out of its Monday night spot. This show was so refreshing to watch because of its good acting by both main characters and supporting roles….the chemistry was appealing to me. Loved the show and will be very,very dissappointed if it is cancelled.
PLEASE DO NOT CANCEL THE DEFENDERS. I LOVED IT. IT HAD HUMOR AND THE STORIES DID NOT HAVE FOUL LANBUAGE OR OR SEX SCENES, YET IT WAS GOOD!
I love the show. CBS should not cancel it. It was great on Wed night as there was nothing opposit it. It made Wed night worth staying watching.
Friday night at 8:00 is probably not as good of a time.
They are a great couple of guys don’t cancel the show.
Gotta keep it! Great show!!
This would be a big mistake for CBS. Move The Defenders to a different night and find the audience. There is so much entertainment value to this show. Great charisma between the characters.
We love the Defenders Show – it is lighthearted
And wise at the same time. We especially appreciate
The passion of the attorneys for their clients. The defenders
Do their job in that they help their audience guard
Against the stresses of everyday life with their
Good sense of humor!
I would like to see the show return to the fall schedule.
if the show axes jerry o’connel and his cute mannerism. Jim Belushi on the other hand is real and believeable. the one big problem is moving the day and time.