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.
It was one of my favorites. It will be missed. Belushi was fantastic.
That’s crap…great show…CBS has no idea what the hell they’re doing…they could be killing it in the ratings if they stopped doing stupid **** like canning good shows like The Defenders!
What are these execs thinking? This was one of the most entertaining shows. I guess it’s back to nbc
CBS sucks…..it was an awesome show.
I enjoyed the show an looked forward to the season ahead. The harsh reality is disappointing. Anyone old enough to remember the red Skelton show?
One year (toward the end of the searies) this enjoyable standard variety show featured Sly & the Family Stone. Ratings trump all other considerations.
Frankly I watch most shows on demand. If the actors writers and production team are reading this- I thought the defenders was well done and enjoyable. Thank you.
“wanna bet now”
We were so disappointed to see the Defenders had been cancelled. There are so few TV shows that are actually entertaining anymore, and especially on Friday evenings. I think they made the wrong call on this one. But then, it’s all about the numbers and the $$, isn’t it? Shame on you, CBS.
I was a fan of the show too, particularly Belushi, but I have to say that it was indeed losing steam just after a couple of episodes. They had a good thing going by showing Nick’s personal turmoils but after a few episodes they just forgot about the whole thing. The show became a simple ‘case of the week’ thing, and although the comedy retained, any drama that was present was solely about their clients rather than the main characters themselves. They brushed up Nick to look a little younger, gave him a girlfriend, and nothing was delved into Pete,… Read more »
I am very angry. The defenders was an excellent show and we never missed one. We recorded it so we could still watch it when we weren’t home on their night. I don’t think bouncing back and forth between Wed and Fri helped it any. We ranked it with the other shows we watch such as Hawii Five O, Blue Bloods, Terms of Endearment, The Big Bang Theory, and Mike and Molly. How can a show like How I met your mother which is stupid and makes no sense stay on the air. I can’t believe the stupidity of people… Read more »
Very disappointed. I think the pole of 18-49 is a little limited. What is the logic in this.
HOW in the WORLD could they GET RID OF THIS SHOW ???????????? It was a great show that made you …. use your mind … and never let u know everything till the END .. but yet you keep that BLUEBLOOD crap on ! what a SHAME !!! We couldnt wait to see the show every week … THANK CBS !!!
another hit down the DRAIN !
Darn it–a really good show cancelled. Figures! I loved that story line, characters, and actors. Hope it gets another chance!
I never missed an episode. I am very bummed it was cancelled. I live in the Vegas area, and really felt it captured the feel of Las Vegas in a way that was different from other shows like CSI. Cinematography was vibrant, clean.
Incensed. Angry. Having a show based in Las Vegas, showing a pretty accurate capsule of how the criminal justice system works, and interesting players…what makes a good show? I really thought this was a great hour of television and my husband just adored the reality aspect of it. This was a regular tivo item. Really sad. Incensed…Angry.
It was one of the best shows on TV. Will definitely miss it!!!!!!!!!!!
This Neilson rating system has to be fixed somehow. There is no way this show should be cancelled.
We’re bummed!! It was one of our favorites!!!