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 found this show to be a breath of fresh air compared to some of the junk on TV. As much as I liked MC Duncan, there has to be a replacement out there. They did it with Darren Stephens years ago on Bewitched (Dick York to Dick Sargeant). There was nothing gory, ghoulish, sexual, or just plain disgusting about this show. It was just plain entertaining. Of course it is the old adage “Money Talks” and the sponsors are selfish to not care about the quality of television broadcasting these days.
The finder was a great show people where just getting into it even my husband who doeant like tv watched it..you took it of not bc of th rating it was bc of the death of a great actor figure it out bring it back
Очень многим людям в России понравился этот телесериал и все ждут продолжения. Сожалеем о смерти Майкла Дункана.
Por el amor a lo que más quieran,que continuen emitiendo The Finder! Hace poco descubrí la serie y ya la amo.
The Finder was one of the best shows out. There should be a reality TV show where all the management at FOX try to survive in the jungle and one by one they lose their job. Lets call it “The Fox Hunt!” and the only survivor will be someone at FOX coming up with a good idea.
Come on. A multi-billion dollar company cant keep a TV program running. I know why not Rupert give some of his money to something useful for a change.
The Finder was one of the best shows out. There should be a reality TV show where all the management at FOX try to survive in the jungle and one by one they lose their job. Lets call it “The Fox Hunt!” and the only survivor will be someone at FOX coming up with a good idea.
Come on. A multi-billion dollar company cant keep a TV program from bad viewing. I know why not Rupert give some of his money to something useful for a change.
i loved the show, really have no idea why it was canceled. im a big fan of bones, and i liked the finder just as much. i just don’t think they gave it enough of a chance. maybe with some more advertising it might have picked up. i didn’t know it existed till recently, so it pretty much was canceled by the time i heard about it. though i dont know how they would replace michael clarke duncan.
I just finished watching this show on Hulu Plus. I started watching it on Fox during the 2nd to last episode and was so bummed out that it was cancelled a week later. I wanted to watch this show from the beginning but I never saw any advertisements and never could find it. I think this is a really original show and very different from all the copycats. I wish they would bring it back. It was a great story and the characters were unique.
The time slot is what killed the show. I really loved this show, and i’m so sad to find out that it’s not coming back on : (
Geoff was/is great. Stupid/INSANE to place it on Fri timeslot…..Absolutely little/ZERO promo’s and execs wonder why it had low numbers… really???? Mercedes and Maddie are excelletn. Re-cast Michael ( a Gem) and then give this show another chance WITH PROPER PROMO TIME/DECENT SLOT.
Loved the Finder. People need to give it a chance!
Cliff ending left us hanging. Replace Michael and lets try it again in a good time slot.
Since Michael Clarke Duncan has passed the point is moot for new episodes but I’m watching on HULU and love the show. Putting it in Fridays Death Slot killed The Finder is one thing. How would I have saved the show? Sacrifice a good time slot
It is really too bad that a creative, entertaining show was cancelled. It sometimes seems that decisions to cancel good shows are made too quickly by people who do not patiently build a viewer “base. Letting word of mouth spread the word that there is a good show to watch still works given adequate time. Changing days sometimes creates problems in finding shows that “disappear”. As viewers use DVR and “miss” the ads and announcements we also miss changes in date/time….that has happened to me several times. Good fiction is much better than created “reality fiction” in reality shows!
Once again Fox has shown that it cancels a good t.v. series (The Finder) that it is totally out of touch with the viewing public. I say sack the V.P.who pulled the plug. The person has no concept of intelligent plot lines compared to the absolute dross it keeps showing.
Your a waste of time and money
I think it was a good show and should not have been cancelled. It seems to me that all the producers wants is realistic shows and not any good shows like the Finder, CSI Miami etc. There are too many realistic shows on TV now as well as sitcoms. I have a hard time trying to find something good to watch on TV as it is.