Fox has renewed freshman drama series Touch for a second season and cancelled it’s other two remaining new drama series: Alcatraz and The Finder. I’m also being told that the intial order for the second season of Touch is for 13 episodes, with the network eyeing a fall premiere.
The renewal of Touch comes as no surprise, with the Kiefer Sutherland fronted drama series averaging 8.6 million total viewers and a 2.6 rating in the 18-49 demo in live +same day. The drama series is produced by Fox’s sister studio, 2oth Century Fox Television, and revolves around a father trying to connect with his autistic son. Touch stars Kiefer Sutherland as Martin Bohm, David Mazouz as Jake Bohm, Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Clea Hopkins, with Danny Glover in a recurring role as Arthur Teller.
Elsewhere, the cancellations of both Alcatraz and The Finder had been expected for some time (despite some initial talk, earlier this week, that The Finder may make a comeback). The JJ Abrams/Warner Bros. produced Alcatraz premiered to a respectable 10.05 million viewers and a 3.3 rating in the 18-49 demo in live+same day, but consistently slipped in the ratings with the series finale attracting a mere 4.8 million total viewers and a 1.6 rating.
Bones spin-off The Finder also struggled to find an audience this season. The series premiered to a lukewarm 5.5 million total viewers and a 1.7 rating in the 18-49 demographic, and while the series did see an uptick in viewing in subsequent weeks, the series was eventually moved to Friday nights were it effectively lost half of its audience, with the most recent episode bringing in a mere 4 million total viewers and a 1.0 rating in the 18-49 demo in live+same day. The series finale of The Finder will air this Friday on Fox at 8/7c.
TVWise’s Broadcast TV Scorecard has been updated with this new information.
