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?
Typical rightwing FOX
What a shame. It’s a good show and original, with none of the high tech stuff we see on tv nowadays. Everything’s back to plain paper, pen,…and dreams!
Boo, why cancel such a great and entertaining show like The Finder and keep Touch. Touch is a good show but its still the same thing week in and week out. At least The Finder is entertaining, funny and exciting. Why doesn’t Fox get teir head out of their arses and renew such a great show?
The finder had no publicity!! It was a great show never supported by the network. The characters were deep and multiple-layered. It ended sadly with everyone’s dreams crushed The finder was funny and intelligent–was that the problem ?
I don t watch too much tv at all. Did someone use the word dreck? Yes, that s it. Somehow my teenage son gets it and he brought “The Finder” to my attention and that s a quality piece of work. This is good tv- intelligent, witty, well-paced writing matched with insanely good actors all around. It was a great piece of entertainment that we d DVR every week. Sorry to see it cancelled. Boy, that final episode was powerful!
I’m going to STOP liking tv shows because all the ones I enjoy seem to get cancelled. I LOVE this show! The story lines are different and the actin is excellent. The only problem it had was being put on a losing tv night of the week. and YES, it is much better than Bones! I will gladly sign a petition…..unfortunately, those never do any good 🙁
Another great show ended prematurely to make room for garbage programing. What a horrible way to leave everything. You could have at least made another episode to rap it up.
Better than bones! Completely original! Loved the characters! FOX is made of numbers that only see quantity and leave out the quality! Hope the finder comes back!
sign the petition!
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/406/663/146/save-the-finder-on-fox/
Bad decision Fox. Put on another garbage reality show so I can work outside instead of watching tv.
This is the only show on TV that I even watch. In a world of mindless reality dribble this is a smart and captivating show that set a new bar. Its canceling is the most disappointed I have been in Television in a really long time! Please bring it back!
What a shame.. I really enjoyed The Finder. I thought it was well written and different, with excellent characters and plot lines. I will really miss it.. I watched it no matter what night they shuffled it to. Typical to cancel a quality show and dredge up more reality crap.
Why is the 18-39 demographic so important? It seems to me as a retiree with a good income that those of us who are older have the time to watch TV and the money to spend on sponsors’ products. This show was fun, different, with interesting characters and a newer premise. We watched this show every week and used FIOS’ “On demand” when necessary. Shame on FOX! AND they left the show with NOTHING settled and everything left dangling.
So upset The Finder cancelled, no substitution will do. This was one of the few TV shows my husband and I enjoyed together. It had everything except a fair chance! Great Actors, excellent writing, I wish Walter could find another network. Due to time slot changes we missed some shows. Do they have stats for how many of us have to watch online or on demand to catch up? Fans want a regular time schedule. Don’t get us hooked, move it, and cancel it. Please, give us back The Finder!
Fox is making a huge mistake taking this show off the air. One of the only shows that I take time out to watch, if fox dosent pick it back up I think another network should grab it and run with it. It’s a different kind of show that dosent come around all that often.