After four seasons on ABC Family, teen drama Wildfire ends tonight. Devoted fans are understandably upset. So, why is it leaving?
Wildfire debuted back on June 25, 2005 and revolves around the world of horse racing. The series began with teen Kristine “Kris” Furillo (Genevieve Cortese) coming to the Raintree Farm from a juvenile detention center.
Season one averaged just over a million weekly viewers and season two increased to 1.56 million, an increase of over 50%. Unfortunately, season three dropped back to the first year’s numbers. Season four debuted in January. Soonafter, ABC Family announced that Wildfire had been cancelled.
Fans have petitioned ABC Family to continue the series. The folks at SaveWildfire.com have sent truckloads of hay, 500 cast iron horseshoes, apples, rope, and 1,000 pounds of carrots. Unfortunately, it’s higher ratings and additional viewers that the show really needs. As CBS learned from Jericho, a passionate campaign doesn’t necessarily mean that viewers will tune in.
ABC Family’s media relations manager, Amy Maloney, told the Albuquerque Journal that the fan support doesn’t come as much of a surprise. She said, “It is par for the course, in a sense that we’ve always known there is a strong fan base for the show… It’s flattering. It’s exciting.” In other words, Wildfire has a core audience but it’s not big enough for ABC Family.
Word is that Lionsgate, the company that produces the series, is looking for a new home for Wildfire. If the series is renewed, producer Lester Berman the cast and crew are ready. He says, “We’re saving a lot of the set dressing and the uniforms. We’re putting it in storage just in case there’s a miracle that [Wildfire] comes back.”
When the cast and crew wrapped their filming in June 2007, they were unsure if they would be back for season five. A few months ago, Cortese spoke proudly of Wildfire and the season four closer. She said, “I think we have one of the best casts and crews in television… On the other hand, we also end (this season) on a really cool note. I’d be glad to go back and get to work again with people I love, but if not, at least I’ll know we did a great job.” Stay tuned! 
in all honesty, I just started watching the show from the beginning because I had never heard of it before. I love that it actually stays with horses and doesnt spiral into only being about drama, I’ve been waiting for a new interesting show for forever and this is it. if they wanted a bigger fanbase, they should have actually tried to advertise it better, I know so many horse people who would love this show but don’t even know about it, SERIOUSLY it’s sad!
wildfire should not be cancelled it is such a brillant show and i love it!! i started watching it on da 1st season and i’ve never missed an episode! im only 14 and i think that it is one of the best shows in the world and that all the fans are really sad that abc family have decided to cancel it!! it is a very bad move to make and it will be losing money and less people will be watching the channel anymore as wildfire will no longer beon so whats the point of cancelling wildfire!! if they… Read more »
I CANT BELIEVE YOU GUYS CUT WILDFIRE ITS LIKE THE BEST SHOW EVER I STARTED WATCHING IT THE THIRD SEASON AND WAS HOOKED IM ONLY THIRTEEN AND I LIKED IT BETTER THAN THE TEENAGE SHOWS!!!!! I MISSED THE LAST EPISODE CAUSE I WAS AT MY COUSINS AND NOW I CANT EVEN WATCH IT ON THE FLIPPIN INTERNET!!!!!
Exactly!! What the hell?! My 9 year old daugher and I have watched it together since it started. That was one of the things we did together!! She was devistated that it ended!!!!! PLEASE COME BACK!!!! I’m 35 and love the show!!! We will keep our fingers crossed!!! 🙂
umm.. what the hell.. it just ends like that.. a wedding and no real ending.. are dani and matt back together? do jean and pablo make it offical to everyone? umm.. does kris end up going further in her horse racing? hello this suck! i want wildfire to come back to ABC family.
oh my good god!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i just only found out 5 mins ago, wildfire got cancelled, what the, why do this to us, in ireland we are on the last 3 episodes of series 3 and series 4 will start next week, like all other wildfire fans i have been watching since the start. why do channels do this, a great show like wildfire gets taken off the air when there is so much rubbish and re-runs left on. i hope in the future there will be a series 5, but untill then i suppose i have the final series to… Read more »
You know WildFire was the reason why i came to watch abcfamily. You take that off and i don’t have nothing else to watch on abcfamily. So i demand to bring it back. If not im gone form abcfamily cause there isn’t nothing for me to do on this website or the channel abcfamily. So i wish you can bring it back. I do argree with some of the people that said take of that nasty kid show they watch and put this. Any way thats all i have to say.
WILDFIRE WAS THE BEST SHOW ON T.V. TAKE SOME OF THE NASTY CARTOONS OFF OF THE AIR THAT SMALL KIDS WATCH AND GIVE THEM WILDFIRE WHICH IS MY VERY FAVORITE SHOW OF ALL TIMES. PLEASE CONSIDER BRINGING THAT GOOD CLEAN FAMILY SHOW BACK. PLEASE …PLEASE… AND THANKS TO THE GREAT ACTORES AND ACTRESSES. LOVE YOU ALL.
Well I recently discovered Wildfire last summer. I was watching a marathon or something one morning and I got hooked. Wildfire IS my favorite tv show. When i heard that it was the seris finale I was crushed! My mom told me “Oh get over it, its just a tv show,” but for me it was my way of forgetting every problem in my life and just get completely into the show for the hour. That was the highlight of my Mondays. If you think that people aren’t watching the show well you know there is this little device that… Read more »
I have watched this show since 2005. I actually started watching it just becuase it had horses, but as I watched it, I really didn’t care about the horse racing base of it, I just got hooked on the drama and relationships of it all. After every episode I was always just like ‘thats it? that CAN’T be it!’ It made me want to fast forward the week just to get to the next episode. When I heard that they canceled it I didn’t believe it. I was just like oh it’s just another rumor circulating but when I looked… Read more »
I absolutely love wildfire!Its the best show EVER! I still dont understand how abc family could cancel such a great show.I hope their channel goes down the drain.PLEASE RENEW WILDFIRE!!! Save Wildfire! 🙂 There is still so much u can do with the show.There r definately many unanswered questions.Please dont cancel wildfire.
My daughter and I loved to watch Wildfire! We would hushhhhh everyone and sit and watch it together.
I think that if they advertised it more they would have gotten more of a responce of watchers, and then gotten better ratings.
I would really enjoy it if they brought it back.
hi i’m from uruguay, i watched wildfire since the first season, and i love it! you can?t cancel it? just please bring wildfire back for a fifth season. thanks,
First of all I apologise for the mistakes I’ll posibly do but it is just that my English is not very good. I don’t know if it is still possible to do something for the show but I dont care, I need to write something. It is jun 2008, and I have just watched the last episode of Wildfire and even it have passed a lot of time since the show had its end, I can’t believe that such an amazing show had finished like this. Nowadays, there are a lot of shows, not only in abc channel, but in… Read more »
Hello, My name is michelle and I have watched wildfire sence it aired in 2005. I remember it like it was just yesterday i was at my summer house and just got back from horse camp. I turned on the TV and a advertisment showing this new series called wildfire and it was about horses and life changing experiences. Well i wrote the date down and monday when it started at 8pm sharp i was there in front of the tv watching it in a toltally whole new world. THis show has changed my life from then to now 3… Read more »