People love crime dramas. People love food. People love David Schwimmer. (Note: someone fact-check this just in case.) But when all three of those things came together for the AMC drama Feed the Beast, it was proven a flawed recipe. And one month after the show's initial season finale, the network has announced the table is calling for the check, and Feed the Beast has been cancelled. No Season 2 for you.
While there are probably some disappointed people out there reading this news, there definitely aren't THAT many. Part of the reason why Feed the Beast isn't going beyond those first ten episodes is because the ratings were so bad. No, wait, getting a steak slightly overcooked is bad. Feed the Beast's ratings were abysmal. The biggest live audience it got was its series premiere, which aired after Preacher, and it barely got half of that after shifting nights starting the next week. While the DVR numbers were promising and generally doubled the normal audience, there still were't over 1 million people watching. And just imagine what how dreadful the key demo numbers were.
Driving those numbers down was the almost universal shrugging and "meh" noises coming from critics and viewers. (I wasn't that impressed.) It seemed like a promising effort, with the normally reserved David Schwimmer jumping on it as the far more appreciated American Crime Story was still taking people by storm. But the end result just didn't grab people the way AMC hoped, and according to THR, the statement made by the network addressed the substandard results as the reason why Season 2 failed to materialize.
Created by TV vet Clyde Phillips, and based on the Danish series Bankerot, Feed the Beast centered on Schwimmer's wine-obsessed Tommy Moran and his best friend, Jim Sturgess' rambunctious chef Dion Patras, as they attempted to reach their dreams of opening a restaurant in the Bronx. (Something the show made it clear was about as difficult as doing brain surgery in the dark with your feet.) Of course, the criminal element doesn't make that the easiest thing in the world, with Michael Gladis playing the main tooth-pulling mobster. A great show existed somewhere in this, I'm fairly certain, especially with John Doman involved.
For what it's worth, this is the first series that AMC has had to cancel in a few years, and while nothing else has replicated the success of The Walking Dead, it appears most are keeping their metaphorical heads above water. Preacher cemented its second season, and we're waiting on the sophomore efforts from Humans and Into the Badlands coming later this year.
Luckily, there are all kinds of not cancelled shows on the way later this year, and you can find all of them in our fall premiere schedule. Have a bite to eat while you look through it.
