Fox is home to a lot of shows, including the hit reality competition The Masked Singer and the Tim Allen-led sitcom Last Man Standing. Unfortunately, they are losing one of their network neighbors. The network has cancelled a freshman series, and it is reportedly citing poor ratings as the reason for the decision.
The Stephen Dorff-led Western cop procedural Deputy has been cancelled, per THR. As with many cancellations, the ratings tell the tale of Deputy’s end. The series debuted back in January and reportedly averaged 3.66 million total viewers during its run. What explains those ratings?
Deputy had a great lead-in at the start of its run on Fox, as Last Man Standing returned from its considerable gap between seasons on the night Deputy premiered. Following its own scheduling change, Last Man Standing aired two back-to-back episodes until January 23, thus acting as the lead-in for Deputy during that time.
A Fox show could not ask for a more solid start on Fox than the ever-popular Last Man Standing. Regardless, Deputy didn't manage to find a large enough audience to land a Season 2 renewal as its first season progressed. Its latest (and now last) episode aired on March 26.
Thankfully for Deputy, it did wrap all of its episodes before its premature end. So those watching were able to see the season in its entirety, which ironically can't be said for the latest season of Last Man Standing.
Deputy marked Stephen Dorff’s latest bid at playing a law enforcement officer. Before landing the project, he was fresh off playing a detective in the third season of the HBO anthology series True Detective. Despite the close proximity between projects, Dorff decided to take on Deputy. In it, Dorff starred as Bill Hollister, a deputy-turned-newly-appointed sheriff of Los Angeles County.
For whatever reason, Deputy did not catch on enough with viewers for Fox to decide to keep it going, which is usually the case for a number of TV series around this time of the year. As for cancellations, Fox is far from the only TV entity pulling the plug on different project. Netflix, in particular, has been one of the content producers making some of the most noise in this department.
Now that Deputy has reached the end of its journey time will tell if it becomes a cult classic that viewers inevitably want a revival of (à la Longmire). It's unlikely but in the age of reboots and revivals, anything is possible.
Fans of the cast will have to stay tuned to see where they land next and, although Deputy will not be returning to Fox, the network has a lot to offer while you find your next TV obsession. Just confer with this spring’s premieres.
