Gearing up for the upfronts, most of the networks are beginning to put the last bits of spit and polish on their fall schedules. While that turned out to be good news for Community and Cougar Town today, the sword of Fox was somewhat more swift and terrible, falling upon the embattled Bones spinoff The Finder as well as J. J. Abrams’ Alcatraz.Alcatraz, despite having the Abrams pedigree and a a seemingly inescapable (see what we did there?) ad campaign before its first episode aired, sunk quickly in the ratings as viewers found less to love in the show than they had in Lost, but all the same confusion and conspiracy.The Finder, meanwhile, started out weak and just kept on going. Guest appearances by familiar faces from Bones and a stellar cast couldn’t keep the show from feeling like just another police procedural with a snarky leading man, and Geoff Stults was never as compelling as Psych‘s James Roday or The Mentalist‘s Simon Baker. It also faced some of the toughest competition on TV, butting heads with The Office and Grey’s Anatomy. That combination virtually ensured that not only didn’t very many people watch, but most couldn’t even DVR the series, as their box was already busy on two stations.
