Midnight, Texas canceled; season 3 not happening on NBC
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The network formally canceled the series late Friday, doing what is the typical network PR move of trying to bury some rather-unwelcome news right before the arrival of the holiday season. Clearly, someone over at NBC knew that there would be some unhappy viewers after this news came out, and now it will probably just vanish through the Christmas news cycle.
So why was the show canceled? It’s for the same reason that the majority of other shows are: Low ratings. The second season of Midnight, Texas averaged as a whole a 0.4 rating in the 18-49 demographic, down more than 40% from the season 1 average in live+same-day measurements. There are a couple of things that you can blame for the big drop-off. For starters, Midnight, Texas season 2 premiered more than a year after the conclusion of season 1, and having that enormous of a wait for any network show is never good. After being off the air for so long networks have to remember that viewers may have found other shows that they are interested in during that time and while they may still love Midnight, Texas they may be watching other shows that they love too that are in competition.
Beyond just that, there’s also the troublesome Friday-night timeslot. Season 1 had the luxury of airing earlier in the week, where it became a little bit of a summer sleeper hit for the network. We don’t know how many ratings prognosticators really felt going into that season that it would be renewed, but Midnight, Texas proved some of the doubters wrong. It seemed to us, though, that NBC hurt the show severely by waiting so long to renew it for a second season, given that this is one of the reasons why the premiere may have been held until fall rather than the summer. While we don’t know if the series would’ve fared better if it aired this past summer, it certainly seems possible in comparison to the alternative we’ve witnessed here.
Other cancellation news
NBC has also officially canceled the summer comedy Marlon after two years — this news is not a surprise, given that its ratings fell by a fairly-large margin in comparison to its season 1 run. Maybe its performance is a little bit of evidence that it doesn’t necessarily matter if a summer series remains there or not for a second season; it’s just very hard to retain viewership for network shows when there is this much of a layoff in between seasons.
Related News – Check out some information on the Midnight, Texas finale
What do you think about this latest set of cancellations by NBC? Be sure to share right now in the attached comments. (Photo: NBC.)