Pete Kaczmarek and Nick Morelli consistently get themselves and their clients out of some pretty big jams. Unfortunately, there’s one that they can’t escape. Their TV series, The Defenders, has been cancelled by CBS after one season.
The Defenders follows a pair of Las Vegas lawyers who will do just about anything for their Sin City clients. They often take on cases no one else will touch and try to keep their sanity while doing it. The TV show stars Jerry O’Connell, Jim Belushi, Jurnee Smollett, Tanya Fischer, and Gillian Vigman.
The TV series got off to a decent start with a 2.9 rating in the all-important 18-49 demographic and 12.17 million viewers. In weeks two and three, those numbers started to tumble however with the demo falling 14% and then another 12% in weeks two and three. Airing on Wednesday nights, the ratings kept falling and hit a low of a 1.5 in the demo and 6.8 million.
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Because The Defenders was already registering poor numbers, CBS decided to try it on Friday nights, an evening with fewer viewers. If most fans followed and the show could sustain the Wednesday numbers, CBS would likely have been satisfied.
That didn’t happen and the remaining six installments fell even lower, hitting a 1.1 in the demo. That was a much worse performance than the timeslot’s previous occupant, already-cancelled Medium.
While The Defenders was supposedly still in contention for a second season until recently, most knew it was a long shot at best.
Word is that CBS has now cancelled The Defenders. All 18 produced episodes have aired. The series finale ran on March 11th.
What do you think? Are you sorry that there won’t be a second season for The Defenders?
Wondering where the rest of your shows stand? Check our CBS cancel/renew page.
Image courtesy CBS.
I am just shocked that this show lost a following. It was one of the best out there. Terrific writing, humor, cleverness and strong chemistry between the stars and the rest of the cast. We never missed an episode. VERY, very sad to see show go off the air.
I am in this demo and never missed a show. Guess I was the only one! Hope CBS reconsiders…this is a great show that just was not given much time to pick up an audience especially with the changing nights and certainly not pushing advertising on the show…Think again CBS……PLEASE!
This was the only good new show of the season. It was the only thing worth watching on Wednesday evening. Then CBS changed the night to Friday. Oh well, we will have to read more.
Good show, sad to see it go. It’s a shame, too.
My wife and I are very unhappy that it got cancelled. I couldnt see Belushi in a show like this but it was great.
They always cancel the good shows. They don’t advertise the good shows enough. Then, they change around the schedule. They should’ve left it on Wednesday nights.
Why end another family show? Good humor- entertaining. All we need is one more cheap reality show. Tv land and Hallmark are our only alternatives.
Defenders was a good show. A good mix of humor and serious subjects.
I am very disappointed that this show was cancelled. I watched it faithfully every week. I was perturbed when they changed it to another night. It takes a few weeks to get used to a show on a certain night. When you start switching it around it makes it more difficult. CBS, you have made some poor decisions this year including changing characters on Criminal Minds. Now there is a JJ lookalike replacing AJ Cook. One of the most popular shows on TV and you change the lineup. I think I might stop watching shows on your network.
That stinks!
I really liked this show! It’s a shame they cancelled it. Why does if seem they always cancel the good ones? I hope they change their mind, but seriously doubt that will happen. I will definitely miss it!
I have started a petition to bring the show back. This petition is for Twitter users, but I am also putting together a petition for non-Twitter users. This show deserved a second chance and got shafted because of the fact that it was left on Friday nights to die.
http://act.ly/3on for the petition (for Twitter users)
Matthew Milam >> There’s been a petition on this site for awhile. There should be a linked box appearing in the post.
It was my families most favorite TV show, bar none. Also, everybody we knew loved it. They don’t know that it’s been cacelled yet, I’ll have to tell them soon. I know that they won’t like it either.
My wife and I loved the show. It had plenty of humor and no blood and shooting like so many of the shows now. Sorry to see it taken off.
I thought this was a pretty good show. Unfortunately, 18-49 rules.
im in the 18-49 and I loved the show….