Rubicon on AMC HD - Page 9

figures. bummer!




be nice if another network picked it up...

And thus begins AMC's downward spiral towards HBO mediocrity.

I think we all pretty much figured that was going to happen, but to finally see it confirmed is very disappointing.

I'm surprised this got cancelled, I've been staying away from the thread since I haven't watched it yet, but I thought it was doing great from all the reviews, buzz etc .... and The Walking Dead has already been picked up for another season, is it doing that much better than this one?

Rubicon (series finale)
- 1.042 million viewers
- 0.7/1 HH
- 0.2/1 A18-49

Walking Dead's record-breaking premiere on October 31, that drew 5.3 million viewers, 3.6 million of them in the 18-49 demographic...Even more impressive than its big debut was how well Walking Dead held up in its second airing last night. It drew 4.7 million viewers, only 11% down from the debut which was supported by a massive promotional campaign. In adults 18-49, it averaged 3.3 million viewers, down 8%. - http://www.deadline.com/2010/11/amc-...-for-season-2/.

Once I saw the 18-49 demo numbers for Rubicon down into 0.2 (which held consistent for most of the show's run) I knew it was a dead show walking. Not even AMC can justify economically a show with so few viewers and that low a demo number.

Great series and probably too smart for most people in the US (not to mention more enlightening than some people might like). TV is a vast wasteland anyway (didn't someone say that recently) and ya gotta keep the waste coming.

Oh well. Rubicon sailed over the head of the American television viewing public, who apparently have no use for any show that has the nerve to ask you to think while watching it. Makes me proud of HBO, who kept the The Wire going even though it had similar ratings throughout its run. At least AMC put Rubicon on the air, so I give them credit (and thanks) for that.

bummer.... what a shame. The show had a lot of good things going for it--- writing, cast, locations, it didn't have that fake studio look or the same old shot in NY feel. It never had a chance to get some legs. I wish they would have given it a chance-- or at least a proper ending.

Very sad news. Unbelievable that such a compelling and intelligent show, which didn't pander to its viewers in any way, shape or form, couldn't draw much more than a million eyeballs a week. I wish they had held the premiere and given it the post Walking Dead timeslot. At least then a few more people might have seen and sampled it.

I thought, being on AMC, it might have had a chance even with those numbers. Guess not.

Exactly, or at the least, they should have re-aired the season, popped it in the schedule somewhere, maybe with promos during the Walking Dead. But the fact that they just pulled the plug without even trying is a pretty lame business move.

They could have done a marathon or something. There would have been DVRs working and it would have picked up some new fans. After all, it's the type of show that if you didn't come on board from the beginning, it was difficult to join in.

I honestly thought better of AMC. FX stuck with 'Damages' in spite of low ratings because they knew they had a remarkably good show regardless of the audience numbers. And the people that did watch were in the most desirable income bracket, and that makes a difference. Same with this show, I would imagine.

Well, DirecTV picked up 'Damages'; maybe they'll ride in on their white horse and save this one too. We can always hope.

Still, this makes me wish there was some way to finance a show like this apart from the standard network model. I'd gladly pay something ($10? $20? What would be required?) for another season of 'Rubicon' if there was a method by which that could be accomplished.

I was disappointed and surprised in equal parts by the news that Rubicon has been cancelled. Because of the show's quality and its being run on a second tier network, I thought there was an excellent chance it would be renewed. This is bad news, indeed!

This was the only show I have ever posted about. I am absolutely po'd and shocked. I thought the lame finale was holding back some good stuff that was going to pop in season 2. Oh well I guess I won't comment again on something on tv I might actually like again.

i also hope someone picks it up.

sort of funny you mention paying to finance the show. just about an hour ago, it was thinking (dreaming) that if i was a multimillionaire, i'd look into financing another season for the show.
but, silly ideas like that are probably why i'm not a multimillionaire .

bah, humbug! my kingdom to see the demise of spangler!

and what kind of parents name their kid 'truxton'? no wonder he's the way he is.

edit-or kale.

Bummer

The pilot episode was given two preview showings; once after the season 3 finale of Breaking Bad on Sunday, June 13 and again after the season 4 premiere of Mad Men on Sunday, July 25.
AMC gave it prime exposure. The initial episode did ok but it bled viewers after that.

Yeah, I've played that fantasy game. I'm a zillionaire and instead of spending my excess loot on cases of Crystal and yachts and bimbos, I'd go to FOX and offer to subsidize a revival of 'Firefly' (and because I'm obscenely rich, I'd buy out Cap'n Tightpants' 'Castle' contract) and 'Dollhouse'. I'd see that additional seasons of 'Sarah Connor Chronicles' and 'Pushing Daisies' and 'Rubicon' would likewise get made. There are probably half-a-dozen more I'd like to subsidize but those immediately come to mind. I'd recoup some money on the back end, but I'd still spend millions on reviving these great shows because of my love for my fellow lovers of quality-but-doomed TV. That's you, ya'll.

Now, if I can just get my boy Warren Buffet to return my calls....

go warren!

****! ****! ****! And ****! I really enjoyed this show.

^^^ It seems like the folks that liked 'Rubicon' really liked it. And very few others in the vast viewing public felt it was worthy of sampling, or thought it too complex or challenging. That's true of all these densely plotted serialized conspiracy dramas. I suspect the demographic group that enjoys reading that genre of novels overlaps significantly with those who enjoyed this show.

What a pity there seem to be so few of us. There are probably several reasons for that; none of them particularly pleasant to ponder.

Critic's Notes
AMC cancels 'Rubicon'
By Alan Sepinwall, Hitflix.com - November 11th, 2010

In a disappointing but unsurprising move, AMC has declined to renew of "Rubicon," the slow-burn conspiracy thriller that wrapped its first and only season a few weeks ago.

"'Rubicon' gave us an opportunity to tell a rich and compelling story, and we're proud of the series," AMC said in a statement (not attributed to any specific executive, as opposed to the various statements celebrating the huge "Walking Dead" ratings). "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."

"Rubicon" had a troubled creative beginning. Creator Jason Horwitch quit after the pilot was produced over creative disagreements with the network. Producer Henry Bromell was brought in to run things and reorient the show a bit (he changed the central workplace, for instance, from a civilian think tank into an independent consultant for American intelligence), the first few episodes moved along at a crawl, and Bromell never quite figured out what to do with some elements Horwitch had introduced, like Miranda Richardson's role as wealthy conspiracy widow Katherine Rhumor.

But within a few episodes, "Rubicon" began to find itself, focusing as much on the office - and the emotional cost of being an intelligence analyst - as on the conspiracy. The supporting characters - particularly Michael Cristofer as the delightfully-named conspiracy mastermind Truxton Spangler, Arliss Howard as an ex-spy of nebulous loyalty and Dallas Roberts as a twitchy analyst struggling to accept that he'd lost his family - became just as rich and compelling as our confused hero Will Travers (James Badge Dale), and the deliberate pace began to feel like an asset, not a liability. Thanks to an ominous score and beautiful cinematography by "Breaking Bad"s Michael Slovis, the series had a sense of atmosphere most dramas would kill for.

Unfortunately, the ratings were awful, particularly in the 18-49-year-old demographic that's the lifeblood of the TV business. When "The Walking Dead" debuted to such big numbers, some readers asked if that was good news for "Rubicon" - did the zombie show's success give AMC license to renew a (mostly) well-reviewed charity case? I felt it was the opposite. AMC already has a pair of dramas in "Mad Men" and "Breaking Bad" where the ratings aren't commensurate with the critical praise (though both shows do a lot better than "Rubicon" did), and "The Walking Dead" success showed that the potential ceiling for an AMC drama was much higher than the followings for Don Draper and Walter White might have suggested. A network that's destined to be a home of boutique dramas maybe can justify keeping around a terribly-rated show, but a network that knows that, with the right show and marketing, they can be actual ratings players wouldn't necessarily want or need to bother with its fringe shows.

And I have to say that I'm much less broken up about this news than I would have been before I saw what turned out to be the "Rubicon" series finale, in which Bromell delivered a very unsatisfying end to the conspiracy story. It wasn't so bad that it soured me on the series, but it was yet another reminder that the show was vastly stronger on mood and character than on plot, and it meant I would have gone into a a hypothetical second season with my expectations vastly lowered for any big story arc. (Bromell did say that a second season would have focused more on the day-to-day operations of the American Policy Institute, but there still would have been some kind of arc.)

"Rubicon" is a show that I liked but didn't love at first, then got vastly better as it went along, but sputtered at the finish line. I'm glad I got to see it. I'm disappointed I won't get to see any more of Spangler and Kale Ingram. But I understand the cancellation from a commercial position, and the finale made me less confident in the show's creative long-term potential.

http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/whats-al...ancels-rubicon

Just the four leaf clover. They'll get the message.

It’s really not fair to criticize the season (series ) finale since no one (specifically the filmmakers) knew it was the actual end. It is obvious that if this were a one season show from the get go any writer would have wrapped things up much neater and more conclusively. Damages is the only show I know of that ends a season as if it’s gone forever in a satisfying way--- but is more than welcome to be front and center in my living room when the new season starts.

Arrrgh. This blows.

just when we're getting to know the characters a bit, 'will', 'miles', 'kale', 'miranda', 'maggie', 'tanya', 'spangler', etc, they get whisked away from us probably forever.

no wonder i've not gotten into many tv shows like i used to. the last show i gave a hoot about was cbs'es 'hack' (david morse, andre braugher)(which was yanked away after two seasons) which i absolutely loved. or 's.t. enterprise' which at least made it thru four seasons.

other than those, i've been rewatching M.A.S.H. reruns since forever.

i should add, i do very much like 'the event' on nbc. wonder how long it will last.

The four leaf clover mail-in sounds like a great idea! The press will love it. Let's get the ball rolling.

It is disappointing, but not surprising. Many people said that if The Walking Dead did better than Rubicon then Rubicon would be canceled. Since The Walking Dead did better than any previous AMC show, that turned true. Of course, there were quite different levels of promotion and different target audiences for the two shows. I would have liked it if they could have found some place for it on their schedule.

Regarding The Event, TV By the Numbers has it at "toss up between renewal or cancellation by May, 2011." If I were to bet, I'd say it will just get one season, but maybe we'll be surprised.

Well I was critical of Rubicon early on in this thread based on some Intelligence related inaccuracies (Windows, Open Storage of Intel, People in the SCIF that are not red-on, et al), but I am sad to see it go. It was generally well written and well acted and even though the production values were not real high I liked the realism of Rubicon.

I just think the pacing killed this show. I'm not saying that the show needed car chases or weekly gun play, but in the pilot the train crash alone was enough to get your pulse going and your mid reeling. Sadly moments like that were few and far between.