TNT has canceled its summer drama Heartland, after a disappointing run in the ratings. The series, which starred Treat Williams, never really caught on with audiences, posting a less than stellar debut and dropping each week thereafter.
After debuting with 4.297 million viewers (retention of only 49% from its lead-in The Closer–8.812 million viewers), it dropped a significant 30% in its second week, and settled with an average audience of about 3 million viewers through its entire 9 episode run.
Immediately aware of the problem the show was having at holding on to audience, TNT moved it out of its plush post The Closer timeslot after only two episodes and programmed it alone at 8:00 p.m. leading into The Closer.
With Saving Grace proving that the network can program better in the timeslot (stronger debut numbers and retention–read related article here) and Heartland continuing to be the weak spot on the night, news of its cancellation shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.
