‘Cult’ officially canceled by The CW, pulled from network schedule

While in many ways the following news is a foregone conclusion, it is still rather sad to report: “Cult” is officially no more on The CW. The thriller starring Matt Davis has been officially pulled from the Friday-night schedule, and this comes after several weeks of the show drawing 0.2 ratings in the 18-49 demographic for new episodes after the show originally aired on Tuesday nights.

It’s hard to be surprised about the cancellation, given that we knew that the series was never going to stand a chance at coming back while airing on Friday nights. We’re just a little shocked that the network didn’t let this play out for the people still watching the show, especially since we don’t really see much faring better in that timeslot after “Nikita” at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time. The network’s head Mark Pedowitz has repeatedly stressed the importance of giving fans closure, and then he goes and makes this decision? It’s just strange.

What is also sad about this show in particular is that we actually thought that “Cult” was one of the better new shows of the season: it wasn’t perfect, but there were some good performances and the story was at least creative and interesting. Its biggest problem may simply be the product of airing on the wrong network, and at the wrong time. The show didn’t fit tonally with most of what The CW has on the air, and we never quite understood why Davis’ past on “The Vampire Diaries” was never used to really promote the show using the former as a lead-in (at least for a week, if nothing else, to see if it could get people hooked).

Tuesday nights at 9:00 continue to be where CW shows go to die. Just ask “Emily Owens MD” or “Ringer” how it feels right about now.  If you want to read more on the state of some other CW programs, you can do so over at the link here.

Photo: The CW