Court will soon be adjourned for ABC’s new legal drama. The Whole Truth has been cancelled.
Airing on Wednesday nights, The Whole Truth stars TV veterans Rob Morrow and Maura Tierney. He plays a powerful defense attorney who was raised on the wrong side of the tracks. Tierney is on the opposite side as a Senior Trial Assistant District Attorney whose father was a sheriff. Viewers are shown how each side builds their case, using their own version of “the truth.” The rest of the cast includes Eamonn Walker, Sean Wing, Anthony Ruivivar, and Christine Adams.
For whatever reason, most viewers haven’t been willing to even give the series a try. The legal drama got off to a very poor start right out of the gate. Whole Truth debuted on September 22th to a poor 1. 5 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 4.85 million viewers. The news got even worse in week two and the rating dropped by 20%. The last two episodes seem to have evened off, registering a 1.3 rating and about 4.4 million total viewers.
The Whole Truth’s been ABC’s lowest rated show, attracting an even lower rating than My Generation; another freshman drama that was pulled after just two episodes. Likely because of the caliber of the show’s cast and because it’s being co-produced by Jerry Bruckheimer’s company, ABC has been more patient with it. That doesn’t mean however that they’re going to order any more episodes. ABC has now cancelled The Whole Truth.
Via Twitter, co-executive producer KristieAnne Reed confirmed that the cast and crew will complete the initial 13 episode order but that will be the end. At this point, it’s unclear how many of those will actually air.
Whole Truth remains on the schedule this week but will be preempted next week for the In the Spotlight with Robin Roberts: All Access Nashville interview special. On November 10th, ABC airs the Country Music Awards. Whole Truth is tentatively scheduled to return after that but those plans could certainly change.
Though Whole Truth has been cancelled, there is some positive news for fans of the show. With the news of the cancellation coming this far in advance, producers have time to give the series some closure. The cast and crew are still shooting and are scheduled to continue until mid-December.
What do you think? Should The Whole Truth have been cancelled? Why do you think it didn’t catch on?
Image courtesy ABC.
I have been looking for this show for weeks, but in it’s time slot there was always something to shove it out of the way, how can any good show that you might use your mind thinking about the ending ,ever make it when mishandled as this show has been. How much reality or Award shows do we have to put up with? I know they are cheaper to produce but how good are they when many of us turn them off? This was one of the best new shows this season! And YOU CANCELED IT. Who makes these decisions?… Read more »
ABC seems to be catching up with the other networks and killing shows that make you think. I am 47 and all of my friends were watching it but stopped once they found out it was going to be cancelled. The general thought was why get invested in characters that aren’t going to be around. How do you know what a show is going to do if you say you’re going to cancel it before you allow the word to get around about it? “The Whole Truth” is (or should I say was) a great show! It was completely different… Read more »
Damn shame… it was the most interesting show of the season, with a novel format that I really liked. While most others assume the suspect is generally guilty, this one kept you guessing to the very end. Based on the way a show’s merit is judged these days, if the networks can get away with it, they’d fill the entire schedule with reality shows, talk shows and news. After all, it’s quantity not quality that the networks care about. Until we stop enabling them by watching low-budget garbage, they are more than happy to feed us a steady diet of… Read more »
I thought it was the cleverest of the new programs. The characters were dynamic and had good chemistry between them. I liked the twist at the end….it was refreshing. I’ve tried some of the other new programs and they don’t hold up to this one. I’m really disappointed…it was really the only Wednesday program I watched. I felt the same way when Eli Stone was cancelled.
I only got the chance to watch it 1 time. The next time I was ready to watch it it was pulled off the air. Too bad it didnt last long enough.
I am really disappointed that this show has been cancelled. This the second show that ABC has cancelled that I like Outlaw and now whole truth. Gessss I don’t know were you get your ratings from.
What a mistake! The show was excellent. The concept was clever. ABC should have merely changed the time slot. I hope another network picks up the show.
I loved the show the whole truth. Too bad it was cancelled. I thought the plots of the shows were good and the actors did a great job!! As soon as I decide I like a show it seems it gets yanked off tv.
I LOVED that show! It was my favorite show this season. The format of having the truth come out the way it did at the end of the episode was a new and innovative idea – like the idea for the first Law & Order. They should give the show a decent chance instead of just throwing it away.
What a mistake. They didn’t give it much of a chance. I thoroughly enjoyed the show and couldn’t wait until the end to find out whether they were really guilty or innocent. They kept preempting the show so it didn’t get a fair rating.
The Whole Truth is one of the few new shows I actually watch. Big mistake taking it off.
Writing was good. Acting was good and compared to some of the DRIVEL that is on today it was an Emmy winner!! I’m tired of getting to like tv shows and then having them cancelled. Studio 54 on Sunset Strip and many others just got jerked away. Now here is another one.
I like the whole truth. I wish that numbers was still on that was the best show and las vegs was two.
the whole truth was awsome. i will miss it!! nobody has ever asked me what shows i like!!
The reason The Whole Truth didn’t catch on was its time slot. Really poor time opposite another lawyer/courtroom drama. It has a good cast, clever forward/back plot movement and good writing. It should have been given another time and much more chance to catch on. It is so aggravating to have shows pulled out before you have time to find out whether you like them or not. These programmers are like five year olds and have to have instant gratification. Good thing they weren’t in charge in the past or shows like the Carol Burnett Show and Mary Tyler Moore… Read more »
Really big mistake—with the clever endings, and popular cast, ABC disappoints by not hanging in there until people’s viewing habits settled in the for season…with 25% of the viewers in that time slot–it wasn’t doing all that badly. It joins a long line of the prematurely axed excellent shows…so, I guess it’s in good company.