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Not So Lucky Four-Leaf Clover: AMC Cancels Rubicon

It's official: AMC has announced that they will not be renewing Rubicon for a second season. The series, produced by Warner Horizon Television, premiered in early August on AMC.

AMC made the following statement about the cancellation:

"Rubicon gave us an opportunity to tell a rich and compelling story, and we're proud of the series. This was not an easy decision, but we are grateful to have had the opportunity to work with such a phenomenally talented and dedicated team."

I do have to say that I'm surprised by the decision, given that when I met with AMC President and General Manager Charlie Collier and Joel Stillerman, senior vice president of original programming, a few weeks back for a feature for The Daily Beast, they seemed more positive about a possible pickup, telling me that a decision would be reached in the next few weeks.

It was.

Rubicon, despite its much publicized launch numbers (at the time the highest rated original series launch for the network), ended with relatively low numbers, even for AMC. (The first and only season ended with just with 1.04 million viewers overall.)

What do you think of the news? Has AMC made a mistake ending Rubicon? Or did you tune out along the way? Head to the comments section to discuss.

Comments

rockauteur said…
NOOOOO!!! Show was so good. While it was slow at first, it got amazing as of episode 4... such a three dimensional portrait of intelligence analysts with a amazing twists and edge of seat intrigue!
ted23 said…
Good riddance. It was BORING. couldn't get through one ep.
Tonya Ricucci said…
I actually made it through five episodes before giving up - I kept expecting it to get interesting and it never did. But woohoo for The Walking Dead renewal - much better choice.
Page48 said…
It was the best show to debut in 2010. Cancellation speaks volumes about viewers' lack of taste in these matters.
Lazy Ichi said…
I heard AMC was going A&E one better and replace it with a reality tv version of "My Name is Earl". That's what Amurka tunes into see since the "Dukes of Hazzard" went off the air.

AMC caused the low numbers with its scheduling, therefore it had to be cancelled.
Anonymous said…
Really disappointing. Intelligent TV is so rare these days.
graeme said…
bah, it was the best thing on tv.

AMC - FAIL
David Muir said…
I sensed that the show had intelligence, but it was quite slow-paced. Granted I didn't make it to episode 4 when it supposedly got interesting, but if I am betting on a lost cause, I would much rather bet on Terriers.
David said…
I watched the entire season, and liked it okay. I'd give it 3 out of 5 stars. The concept was intriguing but absolutely NONE of the characters were truly intriguing, and I think they missed so many opportunities for tension, suspense and thrilling drama.

In fact, I'm almost positive they did that on purpose. By getting rid of any "24"-style excitement, they show that what happens to the world cannot be controlled or really even affected by individual effort; only the Powers That Be can do it.

All in all, the cancellation doesn't both me too much. I think they wrapped up the story with the season finale. The next season would have had to have been a whole new conspiracy.

I'm much more intrigued by "Hell On Wheels" and "The Killing".
Anonymous said…
Great pilot. Very badly run show. Given that the pilot writer and creator was replaced early on, this was not a total surprise, but still very disappointing. Not to mention the waste of s very very good cast.
Anonymous said…
I watched the entire season and enjoyed it, but I don't care very much that it wasn't renewed.
wdavi said…
Pilot episode was great! The creators were replaced? I didn't know that! Tha'ts probably why after about 2 episodes, I stopped watching. The show became way too dense. I no longer cared.

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