The news is that, Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector won’t be returning to NBC. The cancellation, reported via Variety, was a two-birds-with-one-stone move, which also saw the nixing of another freshman offering in the Bradley Whitford-headlined comedy, Perfect Harmony.
What do we know about Lincoln Rhyme?
The broadcaster cancelled the freshman drama series which launched in January. Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector ran for 10 episodes and is based on Jeffrey Deaver’s Bone Collector book-series, which also identifies it as an adaptation of the hit 1999 movie, starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie. Starring Russell Hornsby as Lincoln Rhyme, who’s a brilliant but hardheaded forensic criminologist. He suffers near-fatal injuries while on the job, leaving him a tetraplegic. Nevertheless, he continues his work remotely, working with others to solve cases. The series has also been starred by Arielle Kebbel, Roslyn Ruff, Ramses Jimensez, Brooke Lyons, Tate Ellington, Brian F. O’Byrne, Courtney Grosbeck and Michael Imperioli.
The show was created and executive produced by Mark Bianculli and VJ Boyd. The pilot was directed by Seth Gordon, and was also executive produced.
What is the reason behind the cancellation?
Lincoln Rhyme wasn’t a phenomenal performer, rating wise. But, it was hardly a flop. Debuted in its Friday 8 p.m. timeslot to Nielsen numbers of 4.3 million viewers, subsequently experienced typical post-pilot viewer decline to finish its 10-episode Season 1 run with an average of 3.656 million viewers, with a 0.47 rating in the 18-49 demo.
The move obviously occurs during a time of intrinsic uncertainty with NBC’s 2020-2021 season plans still draped in mystery. There’s no official explanation to this. But a probable reasoning can be that productions have remained halted in the wake of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. We can say that the pandemic has become the go-to generic answer for delays and cancellations. Nevertheless, it is an unavoidable factor.
However, NBC had already renewed a number of its current shows prior to the shutdown, which includes “This Is Us”,”New Amsterdam”,all three “Chicago” shows, and “Law & Order:SVU.”
NBC and ABC have not yet released their fall schedules. But, Fox, The CW, and CBS have. By far, CBS is the only broadcaster to commit to airing its normal fall lineup.
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