Terra Nova is
extinct on Fox.
The network has opted not to renew the freshman drama for a
second season, Fox announced late Monday.
Twentieth Century Fox Television, the studio that produces Terra Nova, said it is currently
shopping the series to other networks.
Terra Nova's fate
had been in question since it wrapped its 13-episode first season in December.
Its much promoted premiere opened solidly at a 3.0 rating with adults 18-49 butthe series fell to a 2.2 rating by its season finale.
The show's modest ratings prompted Fox to play wait and see
on a second-season renewal, though the decision had to be made prior to the May
upfront because of Terra Nova's
extended production schedule. The series also had an expensive production price
tag working against it -- $2.2 million an episode, according to one well-placed
source.
Addressing Terra Nova'sfate at the TCA press tour in January, Fox Entertainment President Kevin Reilly
defended the series despite the cost.
"If the show hadn't worked, I still wouldn't be
apologizing," he said. "I wish it was creatively more consistent this
year but I don't have a lot of regrets about it."
Fox still has three midseason freshman dramas in contention
for second-season renewals, including Alcatraz,
which started off strongly but has collapsed a bit on increased competition
from NBC's The Voice and the Bones spinoff The Finder, which Fox recently downgraded to Fridays.
Touch, starring Kiefer Sutherland,
previewed to a strong 3.8 rating out of American
Idol in January, prompting Fox to give it the plum post-Idol timeslot when it premieres in
March.
