FOX has cancelled a number of series this week and some have been a bit of a surprise. Lie to Me, Human Target, and The Chicago Code were all canned and most had been expecting at least one to survive. One cancellation that doesn’t come as a shock however is Traffic Light. No one was expecting the low-rated sitcom to be back for a second season.
Traffic Light follows the lives of three men who’ve been friends since college — Mike (David Denman), Adam (Nelson Franklin), and Ethan (Kris Marshall). Now in their thirties, they find themselves in different places in their lives and various stages of relationships. Mike’s married to Lisa (Liza Lapira), Adam lives with girlfriend Callie (Aya Cash), and Adam’s still the perpetual bachelor.
The premiere of Traffic Light attracted just a 1.9 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 4.59 million viewers. In week two, the numbers fell more than 25%, to a 1.4 rating and 3.49 million. With figures like these, it was pretty clear that Traffic Light was doomed.
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The ratings for subsequent episodes kept falling and even went as low as a 0.9 in the demo and 2.24 million viewers. The newbie sitcom averages a pitiful 1.5 in the demo and just 3.66 million viewers. It’s currently the lowest-rated series on the network, even ranking below Fringe which airs on Friday nights.
FOX has now officially cancelled Traffic Light after one season and 13 episodes. The final unaired episode of the series is scheduled to air next Tuesday, May 17th. The last episode produced, titled “Tommy Guns,” ran last night.
For now, FOX plans to air repeats of Traffic Light at least through the end of June. In light of this cancellation news, that schedule may change.
What do you think? Are you sorry that Traffic Light didn’t get a second season? Is the series better than the ratings indicate?
Image courtesy FOX.
The best show on TV and it gets cancelled. Fox sucks.
The Israeli original, which won an Emmy, is very funny and has been running for 3 seasons. A pity it didn’t take in the US, most US sitcoms are so dumb.
Too bad, this was a very funny show. I was looking forward to next season. Kinda of feel like any show I like gets cancelled these days.
It wasn’t funny, wasn’t clever, wasn’t… good. It had ratings so bad one suspects that the people commenting above who, somehow (no accounting for taste) seemed to actually like Traffic Light must have been it’s entire audience. Fox can do better (much better with the bar set this low).
ThatBob, get a clue, the ratings system is broken… There are few shows that I have time to watch in their respective timeslot, however Traffic Light was a must-watch live. Being a thirtysomething myself, I related to some of the situations the characters found themselves in and they were extremely funny. Marketing for this show was non existent, if NBC brought this along they would have touted the Office link with Denman and it would have picked up some viewers as a result. Although it rarley happens, I will be campaigning to see Traffic Light get picked up by another… Read more »
I am totally bummed that Traffic Light got cancelled. It’s such a smart, funny show. I don’t think there’s another show on tv right now that I can relate to on so many levels. I feel like Fox didn’t give this show a chance. Boo Fox 🙁
wow so disappointed to hear that Human Target, Traffic Light, Lie to Me, and Breaking In all got cancelled and are joining Running Wilde (awesome show) in the boneyard. I’m especially surprised about Breaking In being cancelled so soon when it looked promising and had a funny Christian Slater lead. FOX and NBC are making such dumb decisions these days.
This is a great show. I’ve been following Kris Marshall since his days on “My Family” in the UK and was happy to see him join an American cast to get recognition on “this side of the pond”. It’s a pity that this show has been written off so quickly. It’s brilliantly written and is representative of that awkward transitional stage between single and married life that so many go through. (I’m also a little biased because I now have an English bulldog.) 😛
Best show on TV right now. I will miss the series almost as much as Firefly! I can’t believe Raising Hope is doing better then Traffic Light….
Soooo bummed. We really enjoy this show. And Lie to Me?? WTF? WHY?????? Why would they cancel Lie to Me???
I like the show. Cleverly written and funny.
They never gave the show a chance. This was one of the best shows on TV. Problem is they brought it in mid season. If this started with Raising Hope in September this would have been brought back.
I’m going to seriously miss this series. Just because it doesn’t have a laugh track doesn’t make it any different from other sitcoms on TV. It’s a truly great show with truly great characters and I was looking forward to it lasting. 🙁
wtf, not really surprised but i was hoping it did good enough to warrant a second season. all the good comedies are never given a chance to grow and find a fanbase. RIP traffic light
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