Carlos Gómez and Matt Passmore
In a move that was surprising to many fans, A&E has abruptly cancelled The Glades just a few days after its fourth season finale.
The light crime drama, starring Carlos Gómez, Kiele Sanchez, and Matt Passmore had a strong fan base, but not strong enough to avoid the axe. It seems to be entirely a numbers game at A&E these days–or rather, a numbers trend game. Even though the finale pulled in almost 3.5 million viewers (higher than previous years’ finales), the average Glades episode this season was more like 2.6 million, well below earlier years’ average…and the ratings were going the wrong direction. Worse, barely 750,000 of those average viewers were in the much-coveted 18-49 demo that advertisers want the most.
Matt Passmore and Kiele Sanchez
This is in marked contrast to another A&E crime drama, Longmire, that had similar numbers but had been increasing its ratings share as the season progressed, rather like Devious Maids over on Lifetime. And these days, it’s all about the trends.
We’ll still see plenty of both Gómez and Sanchez. Carlos has two movies scheduled for release this year, Coyote with a host of other Latino actors, and Gina M. Garcia’s abduction/hate crime drama, Untold. And you can catch him in a supporting role of a rebroadcast of Kevin Spacey’s The Negotiator on Monday, September 2 at 1P on AMC, or later that night at 8P in Hard to Kill, also on AMC. No word on Kiele’s plans yet, but she’s kept busy with horror movies and TV appearances throughout the run of Glades; that’s certain to continue in the months to come.
Fans of the show are understandably upset; the season ended on a major cliffhanger with Kiele’s character stranded at the altar. No word on how or if the many plot threads will be resolved. Meanwhile, it’s only a matter of time before Season 4 is available on DVD, and individual episodes are already available for instant viewing on amazon.com.
