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.
In this day and age of networks begging for our attention..you have a show (THE DEFENDERS) we watch..record..watch again..you really want us to go away..people age 18 to 25 do not watch TV..my nephew and his wife are that age group..they do not watch network or cable..they have the internet..so if you are programing for them..understand.. have no tv set to hear you with
I am usually out Friday night so I watch on CBS.com during the next couple of days. You shouldn’t judge a TV program by its live ratings in this age of TiVo, Comcast Infinity.com, iTunes, and the stations themselves. It is a fun program to watch. Hope they keep it.
I love the show!!!
I am looking forward to a second season. Actually placed a request on Amazon to notify me when Season One CD became available. This is one of the most entertaining and refreshing TV series to come out in a long time. I rarely watch network TV because of the poor, non talent programming. This program brought us back to network TV. My husband and I looked forward to each episode and watched weekly. Belushi and O’Connell are fab – the entire cast work so well together. Network changed time slots several times which impacted the ratings I am sure. Even… Read more »
This show is one of the better tv shows. The two actors have great chemistry together much like abc show castle. The new day and time hurt the show. Friday people dine out see friends. The time was poorly choosen. I for one recorded this show so I wouldn’t miss it. Please try a new time and day plus advertise the show. I’ll bet you will see the ratings go up. This show is one of the best shows of all the shows on any network. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to air my thoughts…. jack.
What a great show! Please don’t cancel it!!! PLEASE RENEW THE DEFENDERS.
It is one of the few shows that have talented actors. TV is too much into reality shows, its great to have shows with real actors. Please keep it.
CBS finally gets a franchise that could easily make
Syndication and because they put it in the wrong
Time slot .they cancel it.No wonder abc owns it all.
You cannot cancel the show. It has helped you remain on top on Friday’s. Move it back to Wednesday’s. But either way, just DO NOT cancel the show. Next to Survivor, it’s the best show CBS has.
Please do not cancel ” The Defenders” It is about time that we can watch a show that is entertaining , humorous, and just DOWN RIGHT GOOD.
We are continuing to stay away please prime time TV with the boring shows that television likes to put on such as mediocre comedy ,etc. Keep “Defenders” so that we can at least enjoy a few shows that CBS has to offer.
Thank You !!
Please, please keep The Defenders on the air. The character development of Morelli and Kaczmarek has advanced far enough to attract a lot of interest and I, for one, never miss an episode. CBS has disappointed me more than once with their premature cancellations. Please don’t let it happen this time.
Funny show I look forward to each week. I recommend building the characters (leads and support) with a little more background. This is perry mason on the strip. Add the same on the stand surprises. What about integrating a character or two from other shows like 50?
This show is GREAT!!!
Belushi and O’Connell have awesome chemistry together…and there is FINALLY something good on a Friday night!!!
Keep this show!!
BAM
This is a great show! The only thing worth watching on Friday night!!!!! We love it!!!!!
Please so not cancel this great show; I look forward to watching it via Internet TV every Friday night. DO NO CANCEL — RENEW!
We love the show what shame if they take it off they are great together