Why did 'The Mole' get canceled? Find out why ABC axed the truth TV series after five seasons and why it moved to Netflix for the reboot.

Brittany Frederick - Author

Netflix viewers are taking part in The Mole Season 6, which is the primary season of the mystery pageant sequence in 14 years. That's naturally prompting lots of them to ask the question of why the sequence went off the air within the first place.

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The Mole was a phenomenon when it debuted on ABC in 2001, conserving audiences on the threshold of their seats. Between Anderson Cooper (yes, that Anderson Cooper) webhosting in awesomely dramatic fashion and audience guessing at which of the show's contestants was undermining their fellow avid gamers, the series was one thing special. Yet it had a rocky time on broadcast TV before resurfacing on Netflix.

Why was The Mole's historical past as wild because the series itself? Read on to find out.

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How lengthy did 'The Mole' air on ABC?

The Mole premiered on ABC in January 2001, with Cooper presiding over a bunch of civilian contestants. Their process was to earn as much cash as possible whilst also identifying which one in all them was sabotaging their efforts. The 2d season premiered in September 2001, capitalizing on the display's popularity with a snappy turnaround and by means of expanding the sector from 10 to fourteen gamers.

However, after that whirlwind run, ABC seemed to decelerate on its promotion of the show. Season 3 didn't premiere till 2003, and the show was made over at that point. Cooper was replaced via NFL veteran Ahmad Rashad and the series was reimagined as Celebrity Mole. As that identify signifies, the solid members were now celebrities taking part in for charity.

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When the 2 famous person seasons didn't garner a huge target market either, any other hiatus adopted. ABC brought The Mole back one closing time in 2008 and returned to the show's authentic format. Jon Kelley took over as the third host. However, the series didn't recapture its former glory, regardless that having inconsistent premiere dates over its in the end seven-year run didn't lend a hand!

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Why did 'The Mole' get canceled on ABC?

The Mole suffered the similar destiny as many different TV series, unscripted or now not — it was canceled due to low scores. Season 5's premiere drew a good 4.73 million reside viewers, however by means of the season finale, that number had petered out to below Three million. Even with DVR viewing added in, that quantity most effective went up to 3.09 million, in line with TV Series Finale.

With little expansion from the DVR audience, and already having tried to redesign the collection once through turning it into Celebrity Mole, ABC most likely did not see a long run for The Mole. It's a shame, because because the Netflix revival has confirmed, there may be interest in the structure, even twenty years since that first episode.

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Source: Netflix

But with the seasons not airing persistently and the converting of format and hosts, The Mole never in point of fact had a possibility to find its legs. If it had, it can have been a reality TV powerhouse like Survivor or The Amazing Race. Hopefully the Netflix reboot will hang on for more than one season.

The Mole Season 6 streaming now on Netflix. Seasons 1 and 2 are also available on Netflix.

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