Last year, FOX renewed The Following for a third season — despite the fact that the series lost a third of its audience during the second season. Will the ratings continue to fall this time around? Will The Following be cancelled or renewed for a fourth season? Stay tuned.
The third season of The Following picks up a year after former FBI agent Ryan Hardy (Kevin Bacon) and his team put serial killer and cult leader Joe Carroll (James Purefoy) back on death row. The rest of the cast includes Shawn Ashmore, Jessica Stroup, Michael Ealy, Sam Underwood, and Zuleikha Robinson.
The higher a show’s ratings (particularly the 18-49 demo), the better the chances for survival. This chart will be updated as new ratings data becomes available — typically the following morning, around 11:30am EST/8:30am PST. Refresh to see the latest.
5/8 update: FOX has cancelled The Following after three seasons. Details here.
Final season averages: 1.12 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 3.45 million total viewers.
Note: If you’re not seeing the updated chart, please try reloading the page or view it here.
It’s worth noting that the second season premiere followed the NFC Championship game and attracted a 4.4 demo rating with 11.18 million viewers. In its regular timeslot, the second episode drew a 2.0 with 6.02 million.
Last year comparison: The second season of The Following averaged a 1.8 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 5.19 million total viewers.
Note: These are the final national numbers (unless noted with an “*”). These are different from the fast affiliate numbers which are just estimates of the actual ratings. The final nationals are typically released within 24 hours of the programming or, in the case of weekends and holidays, a couple days later.
What do you think? Do you still like The Following TV show? Do you think it should be cancelled or renewed for a fourth season?
Regardless of what the rating say anybody that uses cancel the show is just insane. I can only compare two shows like the blacklist, Sons of Anarchy, shades of blue. In my opinion this is one of the best written shows it’s ever been on TV I am 53 years of age.
It was the only show I watched every week! I won’t be watching Fox anymore!
Please bring back a fourth series! It’s one of the best shows around and series 3 was much better than series 2 – can’t wait for Ryan to find out who Eliza works for!!
NOOOO!! Don’t cancel it!!!
I’m getting t the point where I no longer want to watch Fox at all – every show that I have taken interest in has cancelled at some point or another – and they leave you hanging. The following was a great show. I think I’m going to go to other channels that don’t cancel so quickly.
I can think of a lot of other shows that’s on Fox and other network that should be cancel, not The Following. I’m upset and piss about this.
This show gets better every season! Don’t think it should be canceled AT ALL! Maybe needs more advertising or a different time slot to get more viewers.
From the beginning, I thought this show was too good for TV and should’ve been on a paid network. It only got better each season with plot turns and twists. I absolutely loved it. The writing is superb and who doesn’t love Kevin Bacon? It was creative, dark, deep, and sometimes kind of corny; which made it so charming and addictive. I am very disappointed that it is ending and only hope someone with intelligence enough to see the talent and opportunity will pick up the show.
Always looked forward to Monday evenings. I loved watching the Following, I thought it was a well written show. Will truly miss it!!
I’m so tired of fox canceling shows that are fantastic. I love the following, and it’s getting better. The season 3 ending left everyone hanging.