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 agree with all. Finder was fun, quirky, intelligent, and counter intuitive. the performances were stellar and the cast charismatic. different from any show on TV. I will miss it. Fox is nuts.
I watched on HuluPlus. Whomever keeps track of these things needs to factor in that hardly anyone watches t.v. in time slots anymore. Almost everyone I know watches it on different devices through different sites at different times.
This was the best show on T.V. , I stopped watching T.V. because nothing good was on and now we get a show every one can watch and come away feeling good about and they take it away . Get ride of the reality shows there awful and keep The Finder .!
I totally agree! There’s too many trash shows on t.v. They finally get a clean show that everyone can watch and they don’t even give it a chance. I just happened to stumble acrossed it trying to find something to watch. I never even seen any advertising to give it a better chance.
I am so disappointed to hear that The Finder was cancelled. I too only got to watch the show after my kids were in bed. I have three ages 11mths, 5 yrs and 10 yrs. I don’t understand why FOX had to go by the raitings of people watching real time only. With so many other ways to watch tv shows and movies now it would have made better business sense to research and record all media playing sites to get a real idea of how the show is really thought of. I would have personally canceled the Kiefer Sutherland… Read more »
This is sad to read, my wife & I loved watching this show. It was good clean entertainment with some great story lines but enough qwackey things to make you smile and giggle.
They never even gave it a chance! It was fun, different, not as predictable and some wonderful quirky characters. Bring it back and give it a chance for heavens sake! Lots of viewers watch recordings after the kids are in bed. You can’t depend on Nielson ratings anymore!!
My husband and I are very disappointed that The Finder has been cancelled. We eagerly looked forward to it every week. It was quirky and new! It is sad that there was no wrap up of the story. 🙁
We loved this show! Great repartee; interesting plot lines. We watched it on Comcast OnDemand, as I’m sure many others did, which would affect their statistics. We hope they either change their mind or that another network picks it up. We would even commit to watching it live if that would help.
I also watched the show almost exclusively on Hulu. I sometimes wonder how much emphasis, if any, the networks put on those numbers. I actually just now got around to watching the last couple of episodes and was so excited after the season finale that I immediately went to look and see when Season 2 was set to premier. I was devastated to learn it had been cancelled! Unfortunately, this article was wrong about the producers seeing the writing on the walls. Fans of the show were left hanging with about a thousand unresolved story line. Walter being arrested, Isabel… Read more »
I’m destroyed that it was cancelled. Witty and funny and so well written. I also didn’t know about it until later in the season and I was hooked. I truly hope it gets picked up by another network!!!!
I would be interesting to see the numbers of people who watch THE FINDER on Hulu or some other non-TV. I don’t have TV service, and any shows I watch are via Roku or on my computer, but my household watched THE FINDER religiously. I actually didn’t like the premiere, but watched a couple more episodes just in case the show got better, and it did! It was a great show, charming, funny, and intelligent. That could be why it failed to appeal to the general TV public. I wish it could have had a second season. I know it… Read more »
I too am saddened by the loss if this show. I thought
it was very clever, funny, and sweet. I guess
that it was that and didn’t have lots of blood and guts
was it’s downfall. Should’ve have gotten the
market share fir people who liked shows like
Monk and Psych. Bones followers wouldn’t
like it as Bones is now so dearly and boring.
Oh well. Another good show bites the dust.
This is simply another example of how the idiots in charge of programming for the networks just can’t get it right. But, unfortunately, the almight dollar rules, and these days, what sells is mindless crap for the mindless masses. The Finder TV servies is smart, funny, very well-written and well-acted, and quite frankly tons better than 90% of the mindless crap that continues seemingly endlessly to drone on-and-on (much like I am doing right now). Hopefully, the USA network (or FX or someone else with a brain) will pick it up as they have done with several other very good… Read more »
[…] show dates: January 12, 2012 – May 11, 2012 Series status: Cancelled following low […]
Leave it to FOX……They never gave it a real shot. Why get started on any of their programs they just cancel them anyway. I never seen a network give up so easily in my life. Believe it or not, some of of want to be entertained…..sick to death of reality crap. When Bones gets canceled, I am done with FOX