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?
FOX made an absolutely terrible decision here. Especially after leaving us with THAT finale, of all things… I agree with Mark in that promotion was probably Finder’s biggest (and only, in my opinion) problem. Myself and a few fellow dedicated Bones watchers were aware of Finder and very excited once it premiered, but everybody else I knew had absolutely no idea it even existed. I really hope USA picks it back up.
BRING BACK THE FINDER, FOX!!!
I am not happy. The Finder is one of my favorite shows. It is so refreshing and not like any other show. I so hope that USA picks up the show.
great show, great chemistry and it is sad to hear that it will be cancelled. I guess fox doesn’t want to produce shows that get people to think and would rather have mindless reality tv shows – someone earlier mentioned Lie To Me that was in a similar predicament.
fox suck!! stop cancelling quality shows! if enough people make noise about it, they will have to put it on for another season. Lets make some noise!!! oh and im in the uk.
I happen to watch the first show by accident and was really unimpressed. I love many of the Fox shows such as Bones and House, but this one seemed really contrived and trying too hard. I went back again and saw another couple of episodes and only then did I start to understand the characters and their interrelationships. It still needs alot of work in that area but as of late, I was really getting hooked into the backstory, especially Walter’s. We were beginning to get a glimpse of his childhood, etc. So disappointed in Fox for not giving this… Read more »
I am very disappointed to hear that The Finder has been cancelled. It was a good show that everyone in the house enjoyed watching. These networks need to advert. more and give the shows more time to get a following. Maybe show repeats in the summer. 1 season is not long enough.
I love this show. It’s different and refreshing, not like any other show.
It has its serious moments as well as funny ones. Cast works
very well together. Cancelling it was a huge mistake and that ending,
totally wrong. I hope USA or some other network picks it up and
continues it. I’d like to see some reality shows cancelled. I’m very, very disappointed!
As usual FOX cancels yet another good show. Hopefully this show will be sold to another channel…USA anyone!?! I think I’m going to stop watching FOX shows for awhile after all if you find a good one it is only going to get cancelled anyways.
You’ve got to be kidding? Another CHEAP TO MAKE reality show to take its place…..
Give it at least another season and adverise it !!!!! CONGRATS FOX ON ANOTHER SCREW UP…REALITY SHOWS …..PLEASE!
Please do NOT cancel this show! It is one of my favorites. I liked it from the first moment it was on Bones. Great characters, great premise, lots of room for creativity. Geoff is a hunk.
I am very disappointed. I was watching The Finder via the internet since I live in germany.
Great show with a very entertaining chemistry between the characters and I enjoyed the plots and ideas about their lives and the fun way of working with situations in an “outside the box” kind of style. Too bad fox doesn’t have the courage to do another season…and sadly it’s one of many times they are cancelling a good show which stands out of the broad mass of tv productions. Can’t Walter find a way to continue his existence as The Finder…;)
Words cannot be found to describe the disappointment I felt at hearing that FOX had cancelled yet ANOTHER funny, smart, worthwhile program. Last year it was “Lie to Me”, and I hoped that with “The Finder” that the execs were starting to realize their mistake. My family loves this show, and I do all I can to promote it (after what happened to “Lie to Me” I wanted to make sure this one stuck around!!). Removing programming that is witty, entertaining and intelligent only serves to strengthen my view that FOX cares nothing for it’s viewers, and everything for the… Read more »
This is a great show with humour and wit in all the right areas. It was entertaining and one of the few programs we worked our schedule around to see, even after the change of days and with extended breaks to put cruddy reality T.V that was only a hit in the early 2000s. Time to give it another go and put some real advertising in to it, you would be surprised what can happen. Plus this only ever takes into account the viewing numbers in the US. What about the rest of the world or does that not exist… Read more »
I would have put it on directly after Bones. Then those who watch that show would already be on fox for it. I loved it…to bad it was canceled.
BOOO!!!!!!! One of the very few decent shows on TV anymore.
Very glad they are renewing “Touch” but they need to keep “The Finder” also.