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 think it stinks hat they cancelled the defenders was lookinf forward for second season
Well, this is just about par for the course. A great show that both my husband and I enjoyed and it’s gone. Hopefully they’ll find something intellectually stimulating to replace it with like Dog the Bounty Hunter.
this is getting stupid….yeah theres some descent shows out there right now but they keep removing some of the top shows. Defenders was a great show that i looked forward to each week.
Tired of the overrated “reality” shows and stupid juvenile shows. Please keep this show on the air. Because of cancellations of such good shows, we rarely watch network. Too bad…
A great show, watched it every week and was looking forward to the new season
I was really looking forward to a new season of The Defenders. Belushi and O’Connell were great together along with the rest of the cast. CBS axed a great show.
what is wrong with the people at CBS? all the reality shows stink the defenders was a great show, jerry and jim were a perfect match america’s got talent, the voice, survivor how do they survive? CBS NEEDS NEW EXECS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
are you kidding ? What idiot made the decision to cancel one of the most entertaing shows on TV. I suppose there wasn’t room for the show with the likes of some of the greats like Mob wives ,Celeberty rehab…..not
Loved this show. I HATE that there will not be a second season. Jerry O Connell and Jim Belushi we’re great!!
I love the show, it will be missed!
This was a great show, along with Blue Bloods and Hawaii Five O. What CBS needs to do is to cancel most of those stupid sit-coms. Can’t anybody produce a sit-com that is funny without so much vulgarity?
This was one of the best shows CBS had in their line up. Great cast, great story. Yet you keep some of the real duds. No wonder cable channels are stealing ratings with their shows.
LEAVE IT TO CBS TO MAKE YET ANOTHER MISTAKE. HOPEFULLY IT WILL GET PICKED UP BY ANOTHER STATION. WITH ALL OF THE LITERAL CRAP ON T.V. IT MAKES ME WANT TO START MY OWN NETWORK. HOW DO I GET STARTED? WAIT………….I’LL BE BACK
My husband and I enjoyed waiting for the Defenders to air each week. We really liked the characters and their situations. This show was up there with Blue Bloods &
Hawaii 5-O. Our son & his wife enjoyed this show also. What a shame…so many stupid
shows with no storyline and no class are still on. BGood.
This show was awesome. The people who work at CBS should be cancelled!!!