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?
This show had action, comedy, sex appeal and great characters, and the reason it failed is due to mismanagement. The show was definitely not advertized properly and Walter’s character has a lot more room for development.
Season Two: Walter gets an offer from an important government official that wipes his record clean along with his girlfriend’s. She gets her job back in the end only with a higher position. For this to happen, occasionally Walter will have to take some more government assignments. Ancient archeological find in the desert of a middle eastern country would be my first episode.
Fox this is addressed to you. You think the show tanked but did u take into account all the people watching it on Hulu plus, and downloading it on I-tunes. It’s a new age my friends and more and more people r not watching it on tv; they are viewing it On Thier iPads, iPods, TV’s with Internet access if u could look at those numbers I think u would find that ur show did very well
The Finder was a great show, and I hope that FOX reverses itself or someone else picks up the series. I also thought Human Target was excellent–so basically FOX is 0 for 2 in my book. Those were the only shows I watched on FOX.
Not putting the show in the Friday death slot would have helped, I’m sure. And what’s up with giving a show only half a season to prove its “worth”? The Finder had great potential, interesting characters, original and unique plot ideas, and a very likable cast. It should have been given more chances to shine. I’ll definitely miss it as one of the few shows that wasn’t totally dark/serious/dramatic in nature.
It is very disappointing that fox cancel a show like the finder. Fox fox is never been known for making good choices they kept married with children on for way too many years so I really hope that a nother network will pick it up.
This was very clearly the best show in the last year or two. I’m heartbroken to hear it didn’t get renewed, but then again, that seems to happen to every smart and well written show on Fox I like.
The final episode left me wanting alot more. Really hope someone else does something with this.
I wonder if the writers knew the show was getting canned, that last episode just left so much wondering!
This is so dissapointing! I love this show. The Finder is a refreshing change.
100000000% Disappointed! I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED THE FINDER!!!!!!! My new FAVORITE show and basically the only show other than Bones that I watch on Fox! I think Idol should be canceled! Fixed moved the Finder to Fridays for an intentional fail. Anything on Friday nights fails cause people start to enjoy their time off, its the start of the weekend, dug people!!! I think I might boycott Fox!
So disappointing, this was a great show an FOX didnt give it a chance, every show should get 2 seasons to see how they end up after the initial freshman season kinks. Maybe a miracle will happen and USA or TNT will pick it up.
Now i need a new awesome show with 2 awesome characters like Walter an Leo to watch any ideas?
Come on this was a great show. Just watch the last espisode and it rocked. Hope fox wakes up or USA picks it up.
The finale completely sucked – no answers and they completely left us hanging. Wow, way to go, NBC…
Wake up Amy–The Finder was on FOX, not NBC!
This show demonstrates the FOX schizoid attitude to shows. They produce unique HBO quality series then cancel them after 13 episodes (see Firefly, Finder, etc.). Change your rating to reflect reality–web viewers, DVR, on demand, etc and Fox would “FIND” their shows have millions of loyal fans enjoying their programming. Bring back the Finder and realize your target audience rarely watches the your shows on your time but we love them more than reality garbage!!!
Amen to that! I can dissappointed that this show is not returning! Wished I would have found it sooner rather than later. As it seems the good shows that keep interest never return but garbage can stay on the air season after season!
This was quite possibly my favorite show. So irritating when good shows get cancelled and reality garbage is renewed year after year.
The always cancel the great shows! After they move them around and stab them in the back!