Unless another network rescues the American crime drama TV series “Graceland” from cancellation, the huge cliffhangers that were left by the show during its Season 3 finale aired on the USA Network on September 17 will have no closure at all.
Although series creator Jeff Eastin has remained hopeful of the show’s renewal for Season 4 right after the Season 3 finale, it was executive producer Larry Teng who delivered the bad news on October 1.
Larry Teng made the announcement via Twitter where he said that the USA Network decided not to move forward with Season 4, leaving fans of “Graceland” distraught. It is likely that Eastin, the cast, and crew were likewise disappointed with the cancellation of the TV series, notes Seriable.
While there is no official word yet about the fallback plans of the series creator or its executive producer, it is likely that things are moving in as far as transacting with other networks or a streaming service perhaps to rescue the show from cancellation. But until an official statement or announcement is made by either Eastin or Teng, everything remains speculation at this point.
Major decline in ratings
According to When Will, the USA Network decided to cancel the crime drama TV series after three seasons due to major declines in the ratings.
Season 3 of “Graceland” has averaged only 0.85 million total viewers per episode, which is a 32% decline compared to Season 2.
Assuming that another network rescues the show from cancellation and revived it for Season 4, it would be a big gamble on its part ratings-wise so commercially, the series creator and executive producer would have very little bargaining power or leverage to push the revival of the TV series.
However, there have been TV series in the past that were not doing well in the ratings game but when they got cancelled and revived by a different network, they did better. It would be interesting to find out if “Graceland” would be able to join the roster of such TV series.
Great but not good enough
According to a source from the USA Network, “Graceland” was a great show in terms of creativity. It had a successful run for three seasons, but the ratings did not justify bringing it back from a financial perspective. It was kind of great but not good enough for a renewal for Season 4.
Days after its Season 3 finale, hopes were actually high that “Graceland” will be renewed for Season 4 and it seems that Jeff Eastin was also quite confident of a renewal which is the reason why he left a huge cliffhanger at the close of Season 3.
Unfortunately, those hopes proved to be false as the USA Network decided the fate of the show based on its commercial value. While “Graceland” did fairly well with an average of 1.7 million viewers every week, 784,000 of those viewers were from the highly sought-after adults segment, 18 to 49 years old demographic.
“Graceland” had enough creative juice flowing through it, for the most part, to keep USA Network happy. That actually gave fans and producers alike the likely hope that Season 4 for “Graceland” was on the horizon.
The move to cancel “Graceland” came after USA Network met with Fox21. Apparently, there was a breakdown in the future of the show that is why it has officially been cancelled. But there is no official word from the network why the show was not renewed whether it was because of a contract or ratings issue. However, many are saying that it was more of a ratings issue.
I cannot understand all the fuss about the cancellation of this show: it thoroughly deserved it, as evidenced by the miniscule viewership! It was bad enough to watch federal agents (supposedly “the good guys”) participating in horrible crimes (e.g., Paul sitting there while the bad guy eviscerates a poor man), with the only justification of trying to get the crime leader. But one had also to take the infighting among the agents, each one going after his/her own plan and more often than not backstabbing another (can one really fathom an agent – Paige – directing the corrupted detective to another agent’s bed – her paramour’s, my due! – so he can kill him?). And the plans, the plans concocted by these guys! Convoluted, absurdly complicated, seemingly relying on the utter stupidity of the bad guys and mostly falling apart, leaving a trail of bodies. Should we be missing the guys who came up with these sick characters and failed stories? We should rather be grateful that they have been silenced.
Thank you for writing an article on this. I think this is the only article I have found that discussed fans’ reaction to the cancellation, as well as the possibility of a streaming service picking it up. Everyone else(i.e the network/other media outlets) seemed to be ignoring us(on twitter, Facebook and some parts of tumblr), as if we don’t want Graceland back which is disappointing.
Shows like Constantine and Hannibal(shows that I also enjoyed) on non basic cable networks are the only shows where many media outlets have been giving more attention to fans reactions and petitions. Which resulted in other networks looking at the for possible revival.
I’m still hopeful of a streaming service picks the show up honestly, because as a fan of Graceland since it’s inception I have grown to love the characters/crew/actors tremendously and think it deserves to go on for a longer time.
The story-lines seemed endless, which is one of the many high points of the show. The chemistry is amazing-and the plots keep you guessing. Sure, there have been frustrating parts(regarding certain character’s decision making), but I still love the show nonetheless.
Here is the show’s petition in case anyone else stumbles upon this article or something; ipetitions.com/petition/save-graceland-tv/
I think it’s worth a shot.