Saturday night is the lowest viewing night for broadcast television, yet CBS has become the second network this week to alter its schedule on that night. It has pulled Canadian-produced cop drama "The Bridge" and replaced it with repeats of its canceled veteran series "Cold Case."
That move comes after ABC pulled Saturday night repeats of game show "Wipeout" and drama "Castle," replacing them with repeats of its summer hit cop drama "Rookie Blue."
Often, networks many times never announce that shows are canceled, particularly mid-season or summer shows — they just pull them. Same was the case with "The Bridge."
Vulture first reported CBS had canceled the series after just three episodes. CBS then put out an announcement saying that "Cold Case" would begin airing on "a special night and time" on Saturday at 8 beginning on July 24, and was that it was being "substituted for the programming previously scheduled" in that time period. No mention of "The Bridge" or what happened to it.
What happened was the show in its last episode on July 17, averaged only 2.8 million viewers and a 0.3 18-49 rating in first run, fourth in its time period. CBS figured it could get at least that many viewers with a repeat of "Cold Case" and not have to pay an additional license fee.
"Cold Case" was canceled after seven seasons, but is airing in syndication on cable network TNT. Although there are some industry observers who believe that CBS should keep "Cold Case" in production as a possible mid-season replacement in case returning Friday night at 8 drama "Medium" falters, or new Friday night at 10 cop drama "Blue Bloods" does not make it with viewers.
What's interesting is that the networks seem more concerned about making moves on Saturday night during the extra low viewing summer, while during the regular season they just put repeat episodes there and let them run their course.
CBS Pulls ‘The Bridge’ After 3 Episodes
Replaces Saturday night series with canceled “Cold Case” repeats
