Image Credit: Jessica Brooks/FXFX has canceled its fledging series Terriers, a show starring Donal Logue and Michael Raymond-James that follows two best friends who become become unlicensed private investigators in San Diego County. The series from Ted Griffin (Oceans 11), executive producer Shawn Ryan (The Shield) and Tim Minear (Dollhouse) ran for 13 episodes but only averaged about 500,000 viewers per episode.
For more on Terriers:
SAD!!!!!!!!!!!
I was sincerely hoping FX would take a chance on a 2nd season letting this show find it’s audience. Hopefully both leads will land somewhere else soon, otherwise my TV really is going to be a sadder place.
Donal Logue is apparently incapable of leading a series. Which is sad because I really like him and have liked nearly everything he’s done.
Knights of Prosperity was awesome.
I see this on On Demand and just assumed it was some NAtGeo or Animal Planet show I would not care about. Not that I would watch another “clever” show on FX about crime. Or any show about crime. Or Vampires. Or dogs.
While it had a stupid name the show was fantastic. It seems like if you can’t pigeonhold a show as a comedy or a drama or a vampire show it has almost no chance of making it. The theme song alone made it worth tuning in.
My jr high school son and i loved the intro song…we would walk around the house singing it for a few days after every episode…the lead actors were great…sadly reality tv still makes ratings and reality shows are about as fake as it gets!!!
Too bad. I really liked this show. Theme song is Awesome!
I agree with you one hundred percent, Terriers is a great show, and I hope some other network has the forsight to pick it up, I was really looking forward to a second season.
This sucks The best show on tv and people just couldnt find it. FX is part of Fox and they just let this great show lay limp just like they do for fox shows I thought fx had a bigger backbone but i guess not
There is a petition site to save terriers – just do a websearch and go sign it!
Sad news. Very good show that unfortunately did not have nudity, foul language, or any other attention-grabbing gimmicks except strong characters and good storytelling.
That’s the problem. The show had strong characters and good storytelling. That has no place in today’s televison.
That is what happens when you put a good cable show against the Fall lineup. This would have been the perfect summer show.
I thought the commercials sucked — I could never figure out what it was about. Dog-racing, right?
I thought it was a reality show about terrier-loving dog owners.
I’ll be honest, I never knew what this show was about either and played the wait-and-see game to determine whether or not to watch it later. Why was is called Terriers?
rj631–it was called Terriers because the two main characters were scrappy and tenacious.
this show definitely wins the award for worst title/ad campaign. nothing about either interested me, and it wasn’t until i heard friends raving about it that i became intrigued.
Yea I thought reality show. Terrible marketing
No, it was called terrier because there first job was to retrieve a terrier for a lady that divorced her husband and they always get into those kind of weird jobs.
Ron – No, that was a bulldog they got in the first episode. You really think they named the show after the first case? It was named after the two main carriers who had similar characteristics to Terriers.
the show was called terriers because that was an old term for a private investigator
Exactly my thought!
WHAT?! This suscks! I’m sure they’ll replace it with some Reality crap or a doctor show. Upset, yeas but more disgusted than anything else that good series with good stories and excellent actors keep getting ditched (Rubicon on AMC for examople and now Terriers)
FX doesnt do reality shows or medical dramas. It was a great show but only had 500k viewers which is terrible. I really cant blame them.
No! Fx got rid of one of it’s best shows? Lets hope Archer isn’t next.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! One of my favorite shows.
Me too. I’ve been checking for news over the last few days and dreading hearing this. I can’t blame the network for cancelling it I suppose (the numbers were spectacularly bad), but I DO blame them for terrible marketing which is a direct cause of the bad numbers. When you look at it from that perpective, it’s hard not to blame the network outright and be pissed that they didn’t give it a second chance with a new strategy next year, given all of the critical acclaim.
And I do think that EW could have done more to promote it – it’s clearly a show that critics love, and while other critics were going to bat for the show (Sepinwall, Mo Ryan, etc), has EW even mentioned the show other than Ken Tucker’s online recaps? I do recall seeing a nickel-sized blurb at the bottom right corner of the Bullseye on the last page of a recent print issue, but c’mon.
Sadly though, this is mostly just a reflection of the plague of bad taste. As long as the majority likes crap, that’s what we’re going to get. And the majority has proven again and again that crap is their favorite thing ever. Tons of my own friends have never seen Arrested Development or Freaks and Geeks or Terriers and yet will discuss the intricacies of Dancing with the Stars or American Idol or the freaking Kardashians for hours. Welcome to the underserved minority, people with discerning taste. It’s pretty lonely.
Well said Nicole. The crap that passes for entertainment is just depressing. And then Terriers gets killed. . .
Sadly, you’re right. The majority enjoys crap.
Amen Nicole, well said!
Ooooh yes good lord, the radio DJs were talking about the damn Kardashians this morning – as in a RECAP!!
exactly. even if only half a million people watched this show (and i always doubt the numbers), considering the fact that this show had NO publicity, that’s pretty impressive. and that 500,000 turned in week after week. i know i watched it every week on demand. because i wanted to make sure i didn’t miss a thing. wonderful wonderful acting all around. wonderful writing. it was a serious show without being depressing. i enjoyed taking the ride with these guys each week even though everyone had their flaws. it was also a beautiful balance of having story of the week eps with a season long story arc. but i expect nothing less of tim minear who whetted his chops on one of the best at that type of storytelling in modern era of tv- the late lamented buffy…
Well said Nicole. Yes we are the lonely minority, but at least we keep excellent company.
Nicole, you need to come down off your high horse of TV snobbery. First, it is not EW’s job to bring viewers to Terriers. They rarely talk about NCIS & that show has millions of viewers. Second, as you pointed out, it is the network’s marketing team responsibility to promote a show properly. I never clearly understood what the show was about from promos & neither did a lot of other people. It was a marketing failure. Third, just because someone watches a TV show you consider “crap” does not mean they can’t watch or recognize intelligent shows. I have seen those shows you deem worthy but that doesn’t me from watching some reality TV or silly shows like Glee. I am sorry your show was cancelled but there are plenty of entertainment of “good taste” that the masses enjoy.
Well, I don’t think EW could have done any more to promote Terriers but I completely agree with you otherwise, Nicole.
There’s something about the American public’s fixation on shows like American Idol and Dancing with the Stars that concerns me. They just seem to fuel the stereotype that TV is just a mindless wasteland. As a person who loves intellectual TV, it’s offensive!
Its not like I don’t watch these shows sometimes, too. I love the Amazing Race and Project Runway, but I also watch other shows like Terriers that are what good television should be.
Let’s just say if FX cancels Justified, too, I won’t be happy.
could not have said it better, i guess we will just wait for celebrities to do gymnastics next. With LOTS OF PUBLICITY AND MARKETING!!!
Hey Nicole — don’t be lonely! I’ll be your friends.
While I’m really sad this was canceled, at least it wrapped up in a fantastic way. Mystery solved, relationships mended, adventures ahead. What a superb 13 episodes.
I agree with you – even with blaming EW – they have come to bat on other shows with more umphh. But I do place blame on the network. It was hard to find sometimes and the show itself took a bit to find its niche, but once it did, I was hooked. I will miss these characters and their story. I believe this was a major error on the network’s part.
One of my favorites. Never missed it. I had expected more of FX..
There was a show called Terriers on FX?
First Rubicon, now Terriers. I can’t believe that Dancing with the Stars is so popular. This year’s new TV season was a bust but some shows really stood out. I guess I’ll have to return to my mystery books.
I am so with you; I’m still getting over Rubicon getting canceled; yet DWTS is on it’s 151st season. Loved Terries too; so sad….
IDIOCRACY is becoming real. People don’t like to think anymore.
So true!! I have thought this before and totally agree with you.
Damn it, I really liked this show. After Dish Network lost FX, I missed some episodes in the middle and switched to DirecTV but haven’t caught up. Like Firefly another show that will probably gain more following after it’s gone.
This is horrible news. I’m just fixing to watch the season finale, now I guess it’s the series finale. Where is the publicity for good shows. EW is too busy with crapola like “16 and Pregnant” and any “Housewives” garbage.
YES, I think EW is partly to blame for being too reality and Glee driven. (and Twilight, f twilight)
I hate that crap too but like the networks, they’re only going to go with what sells. Can’t blame EW.
fine. but instead of naming yourself entertainment weekly, name yourself “whoever has the best publicist” weekly. only reason this show died was lack of publicity/marketing. only reason people talk about reality crap is usually to talk about how crappy it is. if you give people good stuff to watch and publicize it, they will. but if all you feed a person is crap, eventually they will convince themselves that the crap tastes good, that they like crap…
Yes, EW is to blame. Wait. EW rarely talks about NCIS, Criminal Minds, etc…yet, they get loads of viewers! And oh, they championed an excellent show called Lone Star earlier this season…but wait, it still got cancelled! Yep, EW is partly blame here. NOT!
Wow, worst news of the day. This was the only show I was watching with any regularity. Best theme song, too.
This was possibly the best show on TV. FX should have done a better job hyping it like they do with every other show. Most people had no idea what it would really be about until they watched it.
Shawn Ryan please keep it up. Watch the Chicago Code his new show coming to Fox soon!!!!!
Chicago Code? Boston Team. Dallas PD. Miami Legal. LA Squad. DC Insiders. St. Louis Blue. Seattle Triage.
Yaaaaaaaaawn.
Why so they can cancel it too? I Emailed FX and I hope others will too. And I do blame EW. They’ve turned into a big sellout.
This was the best new show I was watching this season. There were 2 camps for Terriers; the first camp saw this show and watched every episode or camp two never heard of it. Very little advertising by FX or Fox.
Camp three heard people talk about it but it wasnt advertised enough for me to go and watch it.
This is tragic. I really enjoyed Terriers.
Well then, I hope he took the left.
Hahaha!!! Agreed!
NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO DAMN IT!
WORD! This was really the best show this year! I even bought the theme song from I-tunes. I’ll be watching for these guys in other shows!
They may have had bad ratings, but those who actually found it, loved it and were fiercely loyal.
best show on TV other than RUBICON. Both were marketed bad but great shows!!!!!!!
Ted Griffin said he went straight.
I absolutely adored this show — it was the one show I looked forward to every week. FX has only itself to blame for its poor showing — crappy marketing, no promotion. I agree with everything Nicole said. Let’s try to bring this puppy back — e-mail FX!
Ha! DITTO!