Traffic Light: A New FOX Sitcom; Cancel or Keep It?

FOX hasn’t hit a home run with a half-hour sitcom in years. Even though Raising Hope’s already been renewed for a second season, it’s hardly a big success. Running Wilde didn’t even get to air all 13 episodes before it was cancelled. Will FOX have better luck with Traffic Light?

Traffic Light follows the changing lives of five thirty-somethings. Mike (David Denman), Adam (Nelson Franklin), and Ethan (Kris Marshall) have been friends since college and have seen each other through both highs and lows. They now find themselves in different places in their lives. Mike’s a lawyer who’s married to Lisa (Liza Lapira) and they have a young child together. He’s trying to carve out a little space for himself. Adam recently moved in with his girlfriend, Callie (Aya Cash), and is discovering how this change impacts his life. Meanwhile, Ethan is the perpetual bachelor who loves women is only committed to his pet bulldog, Carl.

The sitcom debuted on February 8th to a disappointing 1.9 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 4.59 million viewers. The next week, the show’s ratings dropped by 36% in the demo to a 1.4 and 3.49 million viewers. In week three, they popped back up a bit, to a still-disappointing 1.6 in the demo and 3.99 million viewers.

For the fourth showing, FOX gave Traffic Light a special timeslot, leading out of a 90 minute edition of American Idol. With that great lead-in, the sitcom scored a 2.8 rating and 7.32 million viewers. That was a much more positive sampling and FOX was surely hoping that more viewers would then tune in on the following Tuesday night. They didn’t. Last week’s episode attracted a 1.5 demo rating and 3.82 million viewers.

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Thus far, Traffic Light is averaging a 1.8 rating in the demo and 4.64 million viewers — essentially tied with Fringe, one of the lowest-rated scripted series on the network. If you remove the special post-American Idol ratings from Traffic Light’s average, the sitcom falls to a 1.6 in the demo, matching the average of now-cancelled Running Wilde. That’s terrible.

It’s inconceivable that FOX would renew Traffic Light for another season. What’s more, at some point they may start replacing Traffic Light with something else. Will FOX air the eight remaining episodes? We’ll have to wait and see.

But, what do you think? Is Traffic Light worth watching? Is it funny? Would you keep it or just cancel it now?