By A month ago NBC opted not to renew its “Quantum Leap” reboot for a third season. It was surprising news as the series scored a quick second-season renewal and was well-regarded amongst its fanbase.
It also was a decent performer for the network’s streaming service Peacock, which raises the obvious question of why the show simply wasn’t renewed for a third season to premiere on that streamer.
There’s precedent for it as NBC did exactly that for “Law & Order: Organized Crime” which will shift from the network to Peacock next season.
Now, speaking with TV Line, NBCUniversal Entertainment’s President of Program Planning Strategy Jeff Bader has explained why ‘Organised Crime’ moved and ‘Quantum’ didn’t:
“Organized Crime is a VERY successful show; this isn’t a show that was on the bubble. It’s a show that works across the board, and it’s very, very strong on streaming.
[Moving Season 5 to Peacock] is a win-win for us – 80% of its viewing isn’t in the time period where we schedule it, it’s delayed on Peacock, so it just made sense to move that to free up the time period.
[It’s] a different discussion with Quantum, which was just a much softer show, performance-wise.”
The second season of “Quantum Leap” averaged near 3 million total viewers and a 0.4 demo rating in Live+7 – a drop of 23% from its first season – and was their second worst performing drama series.
In comparison ‘Organized Crime’ averaged 5.3 million viewers and a 0.6 rating – matching its prior season numbers.
The two-hour second season finale of “Quantum Leap” aired on February 20th, wrapping up many of the storylines but left the door open for a whole new paradigm in its final moments.
Raymond Lee, Caitlin Bassett, Ernie Hudson, Mason Alexander Park and Nanrisa Lee co-starred, whilst Peter Gadiot and Eliza Taylor had key roles in the second season.
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