FX Cancels 'Lights Out'

Will Hart/FX

"Lights Out"

It’s a knockout for FX’s Lights Out.

Despite critical accolades and heavy internal support, FX has decided to cancel little-watched Lights Out after just one season.

FX has pulled the plug on its first season boxing drama. The pilot reached a modest 1.5 million viewers when it bowed last January, and that was the high point for the show, which continued to shed viewers. The network will air the final two episodes March 29 and April 5.

To be sure, the news comes as little surprise, given both the viewership and FX boss John Langraf’s candor. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter earlier this month, Landgraf said Lights’ results, along with the similarly disappointing performance of since-canceled Terriers, have caused him great pain.

In attempting to explain why viewers didn’t connect, he said, “if you look at both Lights Out and , they’re superb shows, but they feel, when you market them, quite familiar. Interestingly enough, if you watch them, they’re not — but the things that are so fresh and original are not easy to market because they’re subtle.”

What’s more, he said it has made him rethink his approach. “We’re a network with a median age of 38, and as a 48-year-old guy, it has really caused me to have to dig deeper into the head of that younger viewer,” he said. “What I’ve learned is that while older audiences are content to watch something they like over and over again, the younger demo doesn’t tend to want to watch anything that feels reminiscent or derivative.”