Bones has been a quiet hit for FOX but the same can’t be said for its spin-off, The Finder. FOX has now cancelled the low-rated series after one season.
The Finder is a procedural series that revolves around a man (Geoff Stults) with the extraordinary ability to help people find the unfindable. Other castmembers include Maddie Hasson, Mercedes Masohn, and Michael Clarke Duncan.
The spin-off debuted on January 12th to a disappointing 1.7 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 5.50 million total viewers. It was fourth in its Thursday night timeslot right out of the gate and lost nearly 30% of the all-important demo from its compatible lead-in, Bones. This was not a good start.
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Things picked up a bit in the following weeks, thanks in large part to the show having FOX’s blockbuster American Idol as a lead-in. Still, the numbers weren’t as high as they should have been.
After seven weeks on the air, FOX put Finder on hiatus and then moved it to Friday nights, giving its Thursday timeslot to Touch. If The Finder could maintain a healthy percentage of its viewers after the switch, it would likely garner a renewal.
But that didn’t happen and Finder’s numbers dropped like a rock. In its first Friday airing, the freshman series attracted a 1.1 demo rating — an episode-to-episode loss of 53% — with just 4.03 million viewers. The numbers for future episodes fluctuated a bit but didn’t really get any more encouraging. The network could do just as well or better by running cheaper reality programming.
The season finale of The Finder is set to air this Friday night and there won’t be any episodes after that. Hopefully the producers saw the writing on the wall early enough and won’t leave viewers hanging with any major unresolved storylines.
What do you think? What went wrong with this show? Why do you think The Finder failed to attract a bigger audience? Was cancelling the series the right decision? How would you have fixed it?
I think that the quality of people in the demographics that TV looks for is less than desirable. I believe the majority of people who watched that show was older and obviously Fox, like other networks, could give a damn less about people over 45-50. Too lazy to find the advertisers who want the demographic that did watch the show.
NetFlix, Did you hear us?? Pick this one up like you did Longmire.. This one would go further. much further. We will all miss Michael Clarke Duncan(Leo) but the chemistry could be rejuvenated with another good casting..
It is unfortunate but the character that played Leo died just last year so finding a replacement would be, I would say near impossible, but Im game to a new season just because I loved the first one so much.
Was a great show 🙁
My husband & I found this on Netflix. We throughly enjoyed this show and we’re very disappointed to discover it had been cancelled after only one season. I know you couldn’t replace Knox but it would be so great if they could bring back this show. It was very entertaining.
Well, everyone, welcome to the “Fox ruins everything good” club. My advice to everyone who loved this show is simple: Do not watch anything that Fox makes because they’ll most likely discontinue it for no good reason. Same thing that happened to Firefly. Fox aired a few episodes of The Finder, then moved it around because it wasn’t getting top ratings. Most likely the people who had gotten interested in it couldn’t keep the new schedule or just assumed it had been removed altogether. Fox is a terrible station and maybe if they get shut down due to lack of… Read more »
I also signed up for Netflix and came across this series. I came on line to find out when it would be on TV just to find out it is canceled. Very frustrating. I don’t normally watch most of the TV programs but when I find a good one it sucks when you decide to cancel it.
I did not watch any shows on TV for many years, only sports. We got Netflix several months ago and stumbled upon Finder. One of the most entertaining shows I’ve seen in many years (me – 68 year old male, two of my 18 year old sons) watched all episodes in several days with great anticipation of the upcoming season two when my son told me it had been canceled. I can’t believe that with all the crap that is on TV that a GREAT show would not be aired anymore, Now I know why I don’t get sucked into… Read more »
This was a very good show. Entertaining. Companies always cancel a show if it doesn’t have certain attributes like sex and violence. Shows can be just as good without these things. This show was one of the good ones. Jeez. You all are just stupid.
Why do you idiots cancel the good shows?
Why in the world do you idiots cancel all the nice shows? I’m now following it on netflix & was hoping there was at least 3 more seasons.
The show was awesome! Stupid ratings game- maybe they didn’t promote it right! Would have loved to see a few more seasons out of this one.
Five years later and people are still asking for a revival of this show. Too much was left hanging and the whole season finale ended on a terrible sad note. No happily ever after for anyone involved. I started watching this show when it first aired, and five years later I introduced my wife to this show as well. She, too, was in an outrage. All of the best shows which actually encourage morality, human interaction, interpersonal communication, emotion, and require you to do a bit to thinking, continue to be canceled while crap shows that dull your brain keep… Read more »
I found it on netflix and I just finished the last episode, It made me really sad but then I was like “they’ll probably resolve it all in the second season” and then I found out there is no second season. I just sat there saying WHAT!?! I’m very mad and disappointed. I’m also sad that Duncan died, I hadnt even heard he was gone until I started researching why they cancelled the show. Just overall a very dissapointing experience.
Wow! I stumbled upon this show on Netflix and this show is entertainment! Networks claiming ratings…I don’t buy it. I am a fan of Bones and if The Finder is a “spin off” of Bones, one season is not fair enough. Too bad they’ve cancelled it. It would be awesome if the network would give it another chance.
Of course they cancel all the great shows. Why keep watching. When I see season 1 I do expect to see more. All the crisp things on TV now and the get rid of the real entertainment. Too bad. No wonder I’ve given up on TV shows and use netflix to find good shows.
This was probably one of the only shows that gave my Dad and I reason to not do work and watch together. And I barely see my dad at all during week days, if you are the television industry, please bring it back. I’m only 12 and begging for there to be an unexpected second season.