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?
What the Heck! Bring back the finder! Great show with very good chemistry between the
Characters , will miss Michael Clark Duncan , but am sure can fill in someone else. That show had every single episode entertaining . Put it on another network instead of those stupid fake reality shows! Sick of them, there are other people who appreciate good writing before tv . Bring it back!
I watched a few episodes when the show was on originally, and was not impressed at the time–plus, being on Friday night, it wasn’t a night I was looking for TV to watch. Recently, however, my son and I have been watching it on Netflix and love it! It’s fun, creative and I like the sleuthing that each episode brings. I agree with many of the other comments about there being too much reality TV. I want diversion when I watch TV, not reality. For that, I live life.
Also found the show on Netflix and loved it. It’s a shame it was canceled. Excellent family show.
I found the show The Finder on Netflix and have fallen in love with it. It ranks right up there with Leverage as far as I am concerned. I cannot get fox tv on my regular cable so I watched the show on Netflix from beginning to the season finale …. I went looking forcseason two and was very disappointed it was not there. I have downgraded my cable subscription to the basic package because there was nothing good to watch on the other stations in the time frame I had available. I had to watch all my favorite shows… Read more »
That was a great show. Left us hanging. The location (by the way, I am a Floridian), the chemistry between the actors, the plot lines, all worked for me and I’m sure a gazillion others. Walter’s unique ability alone was enough for brainiacs like me. He was better than Sheldon Cooper on the BIG BANG THEORY. But the writers who solved the plots get credit for that. I found myself wanting to live where they were and be their besties. Too bad it had to go away. That was just WRONG.
PLEASE PLEASE BRING IT BACK….This is a good family show. We need more of these type of shows instead of all the reality shows. I watched a few eposides on tv but had a hard time remembering when it was on to catch all of them. I think they should’ve advertised more for it and left it in the time slot as it was instead of moving it. You don’t move shows to a friday night and think they will make it. I am currently watching the episodes I missed on netflex. PLease reconsider and bring it back. Advertise more… Read more »
I loved The Finder, But the way they left it was just plain messed up. I know Michael Clark Duncan died, but they need to at least do a movie to close all the story lines. FOX would not know a good tv show if it appeared in their corporate office naked, tap dancing wearing a bright green bow tie and pissed in their cheerios.
I have just watched The Finder”again “on Netflix. I was one of the what you consider to be few millions that watched it when it was on the 1st time. I am a big Bones fan so I was aware the show was going to be on. I am also a fan of Geoff Stults, and the late Michael Clark Duncan. I remember Geoff from 7th Heaven. I still love the show, and think it is a real shame it was cancelled. Is there any way it could be brought back? I realize MCD left some big shoes to fill… Read more »
I loved the show and think Fox should have put more into promoting it and letting people know when they changed the night it was on. I found it on Netflix and have loved watching it again, great story line. PLEASE RECONSIDER AND BRING IT BACK!!This was a really good show!!!
I’m with Marge. I also discovered this series on NetFlix and fell in love with it. I had never heard of it before but decided to give it a chance when I found it in the NetFlix queue. Now I’m attached to the characters and the writing and will miss it a lot. I just saw the final episode. You gotta give the producers credit. The last show messed me up, but I loved what they did. Now I have to find the episode of “Bones” that gave birth to this series and its wonderful characters. I would love to… Read more »
Really? Bring it back? Michael Clark Duncan passed away a few months ago. The show was good….for a moment in time. If it was all that good, perhaps the finder could have found a few more people to watch the show.
Fox has and always will be morons. They prefer quantity over quality. They are known for canceling good shows because numbers weren’t good, and replacing them with so-called “reality shows” despite the fact that the reason why people weren’t watching the canceled shows is because there is competition from well established shows airing at the same time on another network. Other contributing factors are advertising(which they hardly did for this series), and putting it in the Friday night “death slot” where its pretty much a given that a show will be canceled.
BRING THE SERIES BACK. ! ! Found it on netflix, watched it, LOVED IT !! WOULD HAVE WATCHED ON THE NETWORK HAD I KNOWN IT EXISTED. I surfed the channels but never noticed it and since you never bothered to advertised it I missed it ! ! Had you advertised it, it would probably still be on the air, it is THAT good.
Like many people have already said, I also caught The Finder on Netflix. It was a great show and if it was advertised more I would have watched it. I was kind of surprised how the season ended. I think the show should come back. I really love it!
I happened upon this show on Netflix and I love it. I just watched the last episode and I wish they would bring it back.
This is a great show. Please someone bring it back. We need a season 2
Like so many others, I just caught the show on Netflix and really enjoyed it. I hope they bring it back!