Skip to main content

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.

Popular posts from this blog

What's Done is Done: The Eternal Struggle Between Good and Evil on the Season Finale of "Lost"

Every story begins with thread. It's up to the storyteller to determine just how much they need to parcel out, what pattern they're making, and when to cut it short and tie it off. With last night's penultimate season finale of Lost ("The Incident, Parts One and Two"), written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, we began to see the pattern that Lindelof and Cuse have been designing towards the last five seasons of this serpentine series. And it was only fitting that the two-hour finale, which pushes us on the road to the final season of Lost , should begin with thread, a loom, and a tapestry. Would Jack follow through on his plan to detonate the island and therefore reset their lives aboard Oceanic Flight 815 ? Why did Locke want to kill Jacob? What caused The Incident? What was in the box and just what lies in the shadow of the statue? We got the answers to these in a two-hour season finale that didn't quite pack the same emotional wallop of previous season

Pilot Inspektor: CBS' "Smith"

I may just have to change my original "What I'll Be Watching This Fall" post, as I sat down and finally watched CBS' new crime drama Smith this weekend. (What? It's taken me a long time to make my way through the stack of pilot DVDs.) While it's on following Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars on Tuesday nights (10 pm ET/PT, to be exact), I'm going to be sure to leave enough room on my TiVo to make sure that I catch this compelling, amoral drama. While one can't help but be impressed by what might just be the most marquee-friendly cast in primetime--Ray Liotta, Virginia Madsen, Jonny Lee Miller, Amy Smart, Simon Baker, and Franky G all star and Shohreh Aghdashloo has a recurring role--the pilot's premise alone earned major points in my book: it's a crime drama from the point of view of the criminals, who engage in high-stakes heists. But don't be alarmed; it's nothing like NBC's short-lived Heist . Instead, think of it as The Italian

The Daily Beast: "How The Killing Went Wrong"

While the uproar over the U.S. version of The Killing has quieted, the show is still a pale imitation of the Danish series on which it is based. Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "How The Killing Went Wrong," in which I look at how The Killing has handled itself during its second season, and compare it to the stunning and electrifying original Danish series, Forbrydelsen , on which it is based. (I recently watched all 20 episodes of Forbrydelsen over a few evenings.) The original is a mind-blowing and gut-wrenching work of genius. It’s not necessary to rehash the anger that followed in the wake of the conclusion last June of the first season of AMC’s mystery drama The Killing, based on Søren Sveistrup’s landmark Danish show Forbrydelsen, which follows the murder of a schoolgirl and its impact on the people whose lives the investigation touches upon. What followed were irate reviews, burnished with the “burning intensity of 10,000 white-hot suns