The show drew a 1.0 adults 18-49 rating, making it the lowest-rated show on a major broadcast network on September 27 night.
- Sep 29, 2010
AceShowbiz - "Lone Star" officially becomes the first show that suffers the casualty of broadcast season this Fall. The premiere on September 20 surprisingly only absorbed 4.1 million viewers and creator Kyle Killen had taken a desperate measure to ensure people watch the sophomore episode. Despite Killen's urge for people to tune in, the number tanked lower to 3.2 million.
In place of the unfortunate show, the third season of "Lie to Me" will be premiered earlier than scheduled. The procedural drama was supposed to begin airing in November on Wednesday nights but it will now occupy the Monday 9/8c slot.
For one, "Lone Star" is not a bad drama, review-wise. Metacritic said "if this isn't the best-received pilot of the season, it's close" while The A.V. Club called it "the best network pilot of the year". The "Lone Star" promotional effort is not to be blamed as well, for its logo and posters had been gracing online medias in the past few weeks.
Revealing what he thought would be the cause, Killen talked to Los Angeles Times before the cancellation. "Premiere week looked like a lot of speeding trains on the same track, with lots of carnage and wreckage," he thought. "And Monday turned out to be a surprisingly difficult night. There are really strong returning shows and a heavily hyped new show. I think we got lost - we got missed by a huge swath of America."
"Lone Star" is not the only show in jeopardy. "The Whole Truth" only took 4.9 million viewers while fellow ABC show "My Generation" drew 5.2 million. "Outlaw" on NBC is not doing well either, withdrawing 4.9 million viewers which is still comparably better than "The Apprentice" with 3.8 million.
