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 should come back. We love it, but I think it would do better on Wednesday slot. There’s not alot on then. Even a Thursday slot would be good. There is a
Hello to all……My wife as well as myself enjoyed the show from the start. Would liked it more if they would have left it on Wednesday. Wondering why a show like this would be canceled! ……………..Instead lets drop some of the reality shows !
“In MY Opinion!”
My wife and I really enjoy the show!!! Please do not cancel it just stop changing the time slot!!! Love the actors also.
CBS ….Wake up listen to everyone. Keep changing the time slot and by the time you figured out where it went to you’ve lost two weeks. NCIS is my favorite show I set my mind tuesday eight o’clock. I never miss it. People are creatures of habit don’t break our routine. DON’T CANCEL . PLEASE!!!!!!
So..if CBS doesn’t get a “100 share” on every show, then cancel it? “The Defenders” was excellent..we loved every bit of it..especially after losing “Numb3rs” and “Medium”! Once upon a time, you had us for the entire Friday lineup..no longer! We certainly won’t be watching tonight, for example (4/22/11)..and probably not in the future, either. People’s tastes vary greatly. Can’t you folks be happy to get a steady, dependable “share” over a long period some nights..even if it isn’t the entire viewing audience in the country? You’re “cutting your nose to spite your own face”..and it’s the viewers who lose… Read more »
don’t cancell this show…change time slots but don cancel.
Both my wife and I like the show. We both would like to see it return for the 2011-2012 season.
Loved this show. Got confused because they kept changing the time and place. I thought Wednesday at 9 was great. Didn’t conflict with any other show I wanted to watch.
I don’t know why the series has not attracted a bigger audience. Perhaps you need some famous guest stars. Put more Vegas in the show. If you decide to cancel, I hope you at least put the season on DVD.
The defenders is a great show. I think that if you have the money you should give it a second shot. It looked like start trek was a flop after three seasons and now look at it!
Please don’t cancel.
I love the show and the cast. I think it got better as the season progressed. Don’t know why this show would be cancelled and crap like the bachelor, CSI Miami, etc. would remain on.
I enjoy this show. Don’t cancel
i think it is one of the best shows on tv but they change the time slot twice and then wonder why people arent watching it because they cant find it
don’t cancel it. One of my favorite shows.
Love this show! Very entertaining. Plenty of room for new episode material. Good stuff. Don’t cancel