Why Did ABC Cancel The Mole: The Mole Season 6 on Netflix is the first season of the mystery competition series in 14 years, and viewers seem to be loving it.
Naturally, this has led many of them to wonder why the show was cancelled in the first place.When The Mole aired on ABC in 2001, it became an instant hit and kept viewers on the edge of their seats.
The series was exceptional thanks to Anderson Cooper’s (yes, that Anderson Cooper) awesomely dramatic presenting and viewers’ ability to anticipate which of the candidates was undermining their fellow players. However, it struggled on conventional TV before making a comeback on Netflix.
How long did ‘The Mole’ air on ABC?
In the show’s January 2001 debut on ABC, Cooper presided over a group of amateur participants. Their task was to make as much money as they could while also figuring out who was undermining their efforts.
The second season, which took place quickly after the first and increased the number of contestants from 10 to 14, debuted in September 2001.After that hectic run, though, ABC appeared to slack down their promotion of the program.
The third season didn’t start until 2003, and by that time the program had been changed. Ahmad Rashad, a former NFL player, took Cooper’s place, and the show was renamed Celebrity Mole. As the title implies, the cast members were now famous people performing for a good cause.
When the two celebrity seasons didn’t garner a huge audience either, another hiatus followed. ABC brought The Mole back one last time in 2008 and returned to the show’s original format.
Jon Kelley took over as the third host. However, the series didn’t recapture its former glory, though having inconsistent premiere dates over its ultimately seven-year run didn’t help!
Why Did ABC Cancel The Mole
The Mole experienced the same fate as numerous other TV shows, scripted or not: it was canceled as a result of poor viewership. A respectable 4.73 million viewers tuned in live for the Season 5 premiere, but by the season finale, that figure had dropped to just under 3 million. According to TV Series Finale, even with DVR viewing included, that number only increased to 3.09 million.
Since the DVR audience had barely increased and the show had already undergone a makeover into Celebrity Mole, ABC probably didn’t see much of a future for The Mole. It’s unfortunate because the Netflix relaunch shows that there is still interest in the formula 20 years after the premiere.
But with the seasons not airing consistently and the changing of format and hosts, The Mole never really had a chance to find its legs. If it had, it could have been a reality TV powerhouse like Survivor or The Amazing Race. Hopefully the Netflix reboot will hang on for more than one season.The Mole Season 6 streaming now on Netflix. Seasons 1 and 2 are also available on Netflix.
SOURCE: Ghnewslive.com
