FOX has cancelled its comedy Breaking In and pulled it out of its schedule. Unfortunately, the ratings were abysmal (see the evolution week after week at the end of this message), with not much retention out of its lead-in (New Girl).
Season 2 premiered on March 6 and episode 2.05 of Breaking In aired on April 3. The show was supposed to return on FOX for 3 weeks, starting on April 24 at 9:30pm (after New Girl), since Raising Hope will conclude its amazing 22-episode second season next Tuesday. But FOX just decided to scrap those plans and instead, on April 24, May 1 and May 8, FOX will air New Girl repeats after New Girl originals.
And thus this enjoyable comedy from director Seth Gordon (Horrible Bosses, Parks and Rec) and writer Adam Goldberg (Fanboys, Aliens in America), starring Bret Harrison, Alphonso McAuley and Christian Slater gets cancelled, again.
The 8 remaining episodes will probably air this summer. Another FOX comedy (not the same caliber at all though), I Hate my Teenage Daughter, will burn off its 6 remaning episodes on June 3, 10 and 17. After Breaking_in has burn off its episodes, the show will go offline, and quite probably (and quite sadly) permanently, this time.
Breaking In had a bumpy ride.
At first, the show did not get picked up for the 2010/2011 season, but a few months after the May 2010 Upfronts, FOX chose to pick it up for a 7-episode first season. After airing in April/May 2011, the show was announced as cancelled in May 2011, it did not perform well enough after American Idol. But FOX and Sony never really gave up on it : the idea of having a 2-hour comedy block at some point was looming already, and they kept options on the main actors' contracts. Eventually, in August 2011, they committed to a 13-episode second season included in that comedy block supposed to blossom in March 2012. But that miraculous save wasn't without consequences.
The budget of the show was reduced, with much more of the stories taking place indoors in the Contra Security facilities rather than missions on the field — if season 1 was sort of a sitcom version of spy comedy Chuck, season 2 was more like The Office with a little action every once in a while, if you will.
Furthermore, Michael Rosembaum (Dutch) and Trevor Moore (Josh) were replaced by Megan Mullally (Veronica) and Erin Richards (Molly), while Odette Annable (Melanie), aka the female lead of season 1, appeared only in episodes 2.01, 2.02 and 2.03 before being given an exit due to her commitment to House's last season. There are rumors that both Rosembaum and Annable might appear in episode 2.13, the season (now series) finale. Plus, in season 1, Cash had a crush on Anna Ng, played by Ali Wong in 3 episodes. She was not in season 2 either. That's a lot of departures.
It's worth pointing out that despite all these changes in the cast and the kind of stories featured on the show, Jennifer Irwin kept her small recurring role of Creepy Carol. Lance Krall (Ricky, an employee) and Terrell Lee (Buddy, a security guard) joined the show as recurring characters (Krall was also writer on season 2).
Yeah, in order to save money, FOX pretty much did the equivalent of sabotaging its own show (which probably wouldn't have been renewed without those clear cuts in the budget). Breaking In never had a chance. Had it been given a full first season instead of a very short run at the end of the 2010-2011 season after the very demanding post-American Idol time slot (sure, it's the greatest spot, but only if the compatibility and audience retention is optimal), things might have turned out differently for Breaking_in.
Here are FOX's ratings on Tuesdays at 9:30pm in 2012 :
January 17 : Raising Hope (episode 2.11) : 5.03 million viewers / 2.3% of the 18-49 demo.
January 24 : American Idol (encore presentation) : 9.64 million viewers / 3.4% of the 18-49 demo.
January 31 : Raising Hope (episode 2.12) : 4.62 million viewers / 2.0% of the 18-49 demo.
February 7 : Raising Hope (episode 2.13) : 4.47 million viewers / 2.1% of the 18-49 demo.
February 14 : Raising Hope (episode 2.14) : 4.58 million viewers / 2.1% of the 18-49 demo.
February 21 : Raising Hope (episode 2.15) : 4.73 million viewers / 2.1% of the 18-49 demo.
February 28 : American Idol (new episode) : 16.11 million viewers / 5.1% of the 18-49 demo.
March 6 : Breaking In (episode 2.01) : 3.60 million viewers / 1.7% of the 18-49 demo.
March 13 : Breaking In (episode 2.02) : 3.38 million viewers / 1.5% of the 18-49 demo.
March 20 : Breaking In (episode 2.03) : 2.84 million viewers / 1.3% of the 18-49 demo.
March 27 : Breaking In (episode 2.04) : 2.70 million viewers / 1.4% of the 18-49 demo.
April 3 : Breaking In (episode 2.05) : 2.55 million viewers / 1.3% of the 18-49 demo.
April 10 : Raising Hope (episode 2.21) : 3.81 million viewers / 1.8% of the 18-49 demo.
April 17 : Raising Hope (episode 2.22) : X.XX million viewers / X.X% of the 18-49 demo.
April 24 : New Girl (encore presentation) : X.XX million viewers / X.X% of the 18-49 demo.
Source : Deadline.
Does it influence somehow on Fringe decision?
ReplyDeleteseason 2 had no action at all.
ReplyDeleteShould have never made such a drastic changes. Mullaly's character was annoying and she never should have been cast. Should have kept Michael Rosenbaum and Trevor Scott. They should have had Annable's character written out in the first episode and replaced with Erin Richards (Molly) as another thief extraordinaire. Just a stupid decision to make it an office show. Most of the better episodes last season where them out doing jobs.
ReplyDeleteGuess FOX just had Sony over a barrel on this one production/budget wise
um...no
ReplyDeleteDoubt it.Fringe is probably based on if Warner Brothers will give FOX a deal. Right now not including the Sunday Night animation lineup and Idol & X-Factor and probably whatever Gordon Ramsey show. There are only 4 shows coming back. Three have been renewed and those will probably be the Tuesday Night Lineup (Glee, New Girl & Raising Hope) the other one is Bones and that is more than likely staying on Monday. Touch seems like it is the only likely renewal of a new show and I don't really see them moving that to Friday.
ReplyDeleteI mean unless they decide to just show a Gordon Ramsey block on Friday next year barring FOX and Warner Brothers not hashing out a deal it should be back.
I love how things come back to Fringe even in a Breaking In discussion ^^. Dor, I don't think it's impacting Fringe's renewal/cancelation odds at all, comedies and dramas are two different entities. I even read somewhere that even House's cancellation didn't necessarily improved Fringe's chances to come back for a fifth season, However, Terra Nova's and quite possibly Alcatraz's cancellation might help. We'll know for sure within days, I for one am confident we will get a 13-or-15-episode fifth and final season.
ReplyDeleteWhen I say action, wazoo, I mean missions. In the five episodes, there were two 'missions' outside, I think, protecting the bra made of diamonds and some other mission (the other three episodes being pure office comedy, with Veronica wanting be to liked by her new employees, Veronica wanting to be respected by Oz, Veronica causing trouble, etc… yeah, I didn't like Veronica). But in the end, most of those few spyish moments outside were basically just problems revolving around issues started at the office… the budget got gutted so much, I think we were lucky they got a van equipped with computers. But there were no actual breaking ins performed this season, that's a bummer.
I'm not sad because it was expected, but it's definitely bad news. I liked that show. Season 1 was excellent, it was a really cool and unusual comedy. But season 2 was disappointing, indeed. I didn't care for Josh (kind of invisible) but season 2 was clearly lacking some Dutch moments, and Melanie leaving after 3 episodes wasn't a good thing at all either. Plus, as I said, Megan Mullally's character was just plain annoying most of the time, and her high-pitched voice can be irritating. Such a shame to see such a great potential wasted. But i guess it was either that or no season 2 at all. It may not be nearly as good, but it's definitely not become a bad show though, I will watch the 8 remaining episodes this summer.
this show could have been better esp. after it came back from the dead .. it's expected news although, I'm sad to lose my weekly fix of Cash & Oz :(
ReplyDeleteYo, I think it says something that I COMPLETELY forgot about Trevor Moore`s existence coming into this season lol.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, it was a fun show, but honestly, it tried too hard to be a show in the same vein as Community or Happy Endings while managing a respectable job of being better than the average sitcom. It was by no means great, but it was fun.
I never watched it but I think a long break between season and a cast shake up probably didn't help a dead show to begin with.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely disappointed by this news. :( I will sorely miss Oz and his cache of movie props and whatnot as well as his casual demeanor when saying some of the craziest things and of course the antics of geek-boys Cash and Cam. They really should have kept up the little back and forth pranks they had going last year between them. Although I still love this show and laugh out loud while watching, the loss of Dutch and then quickly after of Melanie definitely took a toll on the story. It seems like the budget really cratered the fun-loving Oz's attitude as well, he just didn't seem to have the same spirit as last year. Regardless though, this show will go down as the only comedy that I've made a point to watch every single episode...and enjoyed every minute of it.
ReplyDeleteI just got into it this season then watched the first season which I enjoyed with only 7 episodes (Why so short?). To not minding the changes of this season to have it pulled, why can't they just be played out now, I don't need to watch any more New Girl!
ReplyDeleteBummer but completelly expected.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I didn't dislike the changes as much as most people did, but I will acknowledge they didn't add anything to the show.
Cutting the field and case stories was the bigest problem IMO.
When are networks going to realize, people are starting to give up on shows when they first come out because Networks just screw you and cancel them. I kept waiting for the 1 Season of Breaking in to get onto Hulu just so I could get more people hooked. As an example Suburgator, I heard it was good. I went to Hulu, only 5 Episodes. Not gonna watch it now.
ReplyDeleteI don't get the concept of Ratings anymore. Ratings help with Add Money. I don't watch commercials on TV. I either flip over them or leave the room because I have a good 5 minutes. Hulu has 2 commercials, commercial I can practially tailor to myself. I'm not leaving the room for 30-60 seconds so I sit though and watch those Geico, progressive, and every other commercial they play.
If this is what Joel Wyman was hyping up to... it makes no sense.
ReplyDelete