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 really enjoyed the humor in watching the Defenders show. I agreed with previous comments. Please Please Please bring back the Defenders and stop switching days.
It’s the best show on CBS!
the defender is such a great show..i’m anticipating for the new season..
This show was fresh. Not really a show you would normally see on a network station. If CBS passes on it, maybe USA will pick it up. CBS should quit moving it around. Great Clean, Well produced/Acted Show
Bring back “The Defender’s” and stop changing time slots. It is a great show. It was great on WED..
I loved The Defenders. I am so pissed off that it got cancelled. Put it back on the air.
I liked when it was on Wednesday nights. It was easier to watch it at that time. Friday at 8pm is for kids shows. I thought it was a great show, I hope they bring it back. It just needs a better time slot. Most adults can’t get a chance to watch TV at 8pm. Please bring the show back.
The Defenders was a great show….a refreshing change from all of the csi/ncis/criminal minds/etc. uniformity that seems to have taken over prime time cable television. It is a shame CBS thought otherwise.
I love the show and hope CBS brings it back, they kept changing the time slot and I had 2 watch it on Demand. Its not many shows left on CBS for me 2 watch You canceled Medium, cold case Please bring back The DeFenders!
The Defenders is a great show! CBS made a mistake by cancelling it.. maybe they should not have changed it to Friday nights.. no one watches tv on a Friday night!!
The defenders is great! There is a lot of humor and the actors are really good.
I loved every minute of it, so hopefully they are going to make a new season!
The Defenders was great. Bring it back and stop switching days and time slots.
The acting and interaction between both of them and office staff is real and entertaining.
Its refreshing and little quirky in comparason to other lawyer shows. Please keep it alive.
My wife and I really enjoy it. We watch it on Comcast “on demand” Thanks
I just watched the legal show Franklin and Bash, and it was OK, but nothing like the excellence in The Defenders. PLEASE CBS, bring this awesome show back. Who can we write to, how do we make a difference in keeping some of the good stuff on?? I loved the clever writing, and the actors were spot on for the parts. Come back!!
The Defenders is one of the best new shows. It should definately NOT be cancelled!!
Defenders was a great show and if CBS would stop switching it to different nights people might would be able to keep up with it and be able to watch it…They cancelled *Cold Case* and it was a great show, so I hope they do not cancel this one cause they are getting fewer and fewer shows to watch