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 am SUPER bummed that there will not be a 2nd season!! As the season finale ended I couldnt wait til fall to see what happend with all the characters. so sad!!!
Can you tell I’m peeved? EPIC FAIL! fox! Sports it is….
I really liked The Finder and am sad to see that it got cancellled. Like someone else said I hope one of the cable networks will pick it up.
I cannot believe they cancelled this show, and then I see an ad for ANOTHER reality show called The Choice with one of the Jersey Shore guys about picking girls?????? Really?????? THAT choice makes me sick. I LOVED The Finder so much, and the season finale left EVERYTHING hanging. Thanks FOX. The dumbing down of the American TV audience continues…
Seriously. This was shameful to cancel. Truly unique and entertaining. See past ad revenue and build a fan base.
So f@@@ing ridiculous. This was my favorite show in years. These network ******** don’t promote unique shows well enough OR GIVE THEM A F@@@ING CHANCE!!!
I’m boycotting reality tv! I like survivor but I’m not even going to watch that. I’m really just over tv period. Nothing good pleases the dumb masses.
They brought Eric Roberts in as a character.
Every show I like gets canceled! Maybe its me? I don’t know. I do know that this sucked me in like not many shows have. Thank god The Glades is coming back. Shouldn’t a show get some time for peoole to find it? I’m a tech age guy, and I get that things move faster now-a-days, but really? 1 season and you give up? Whars my motivation to watch your new programming if just when I’m hioked you cancel it? I guess I’ll just stick to reading my books. Lee Child’s &the Jack Reachers books are really good, for anyone… Read more »
Josh, you didn’t pull the Lee Child’s Jack Reacher card! Love, love, love Lee Child. Jack Reacher is my heart. I got my sister so hooked on this series of books she can’t see straight. Great choice, Josh.
This. Is. Awful. This was a fantastic show, and FOX simply mishandled it. So disappointed.
Friday night is a bad time slot. They should have left it on Thursday. It’s a great show where you actually have a plot as opposite to the mindless reality cramp. Shame on the network. With hundreds of channels on satellite I can’t find a thing to watch.
This was the best series to come along since The Closer. Can’t believe they didn’t give it a longer time to garner a following. One of the cable networks should pick it up. Great cast, great scripts. Too few series like it around these days.
And this is the last season for The Closer. Major Crimes is to take it’s place.
“The network could do just as well or better by running cheaper reality programming.” It’s all about money. It’s cheaper to have some stupid reality show, than to pay writers to make a good quality script for a show that’s actually entertaining, and to pay real actors and not dumb people. I can promise you, I won’t be watching the reality show replacement. Why don’t they just cancel ALL shows and replace them ALL with cheaper reality shows? Yeah, that’ll bring in the money. And whoops, FOX goes bankrupt and disappears, because they thought they made the right money decision.
i am about to make a formal complaint to fox to try to keep this show on the air, theres just no reason that it should be cut short. its also not like they actualy made a satisfactory ending after fridays episode i was deeply angered about this. im about to get my pitch fork and torch and go to the fox station and complain like a madman
I didn’t even see the show until a few weeks ago but I was hooked right away. The is one of the best shows and I am truly disappointed it has been cancelled.