Awake billed itself as a procedural with a twist, and, ultimately, that is why it failed.  The twist, that Detective Michael Britton lives in two realities, one where a car accident claimed his wife and the other where it claimed his son, was likely a little too out there for the audience looking for a straight procedural.  The audience that would normally embrace a show like this was likely put off by the fact that the twist was mostly used as window dressing.  There was no mystery as to what was causing the double life, it just was, and Britton just went about his business without ever trying to figure out what was happening to him.

At the end of the day, the show managed to alienate both audiences, and what could have been an intriguing show that scratched an itch that has gone unscratched since Lost went off the air will be quickly forgotten now that its small run has concluded.