After six consecutive weeks of falling ratings, ABC’s Agents of SHIELD finally saw its numbers rise just a bit this past Tuesday. Its latest episode pulled a 2.4 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 6.9 million total viewers. That’s only up two ticks from the series low of a 2.2 score it had the week prior, but at least it stopped its downward trend for one week and got itself off the hot seat for the moment. That episode had a direct tie-in to Thor: The Dark World which is currently playing on the big screen, so that may have given it that extra boost. Though it seems like Marvel/Disney flubbed the chance to give a stronger push to the TV extension of their comic book franchise. I saw this Thor this past weekend expecting some sort of callout to the show, but there was nothing. They could have run a quick promo before the movie and even worked in a cameo appearance by Coulson and perhaps the rest of the team, but no. Aren’t the TV show and the movie produced at the same studio, and they likely would have been in production at about the same time. Thor gave Captain America a nod, so why not Agents of SHIELD? Seems like a major lost opportunity. According to Hollywood Reporter, the series will have a tie in with next Spring’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, but it’s possible that could be too little too late. Maybe they thought the show would be a sure fire hit (I did) and wouldn’t need any help from the movies, but it definitely could use any help it could get at this point. Expect the show to drop off again next week because the Thanksgiving week is alway harsh on viewership. And then it has a two week break before its mid-season finale, so we will likely have to wait until January to gauge whether this show can turn things around.
Also on Tuesday, The CW’s The Originals was preempted for a Lady Gaga special and that seemed to hurt its lead-out Supernatural as that show dropped to a 0.9 rating in the 18-49 demo with two million total viewers. Consider that just a blip, though, as Supernatural has been having its strongest season in years ratings-wise and seems a sure bet to ride into a tenth year. On CBS, Person of Interest held steady with a 2.0 rating and 12.3 million total viewers. Its ratings in the demo have suffered since moving to Tuesday nights, but it still usually ranks in the Top 5 CBS shows based on total viewers (which holds more weight with that older-skewing network), so this show remains safe.
On Wednesday, NBC’s Revolution slipped back to a 1.4 rating in the 18-49 demo with 5.4 million total viewers. That network’s spin department keeps trying to make this one’s numbers look good, so I’m thinking they have not given up on it yet and will let it ride out the full season order they gave it last Spring. But I can’t believe it will go any further than that short of a drastic ratings turnaround. On The CW, Arrow continues its up and down performance as it slipped to 1.0 rating with 2.7 million total viewers after reaching a season high of a 1.2 the prior week. Still, this one is doing well for the fifth place network and could potentially be paired up with a Flash companion series next year. And that put’s The Tomorrow People on notice as it pulled another mediocre 0.6 rating with 1.7 million total viewers. It received a full season order, though, so it has until Spring to turn its numbers around. Over on FX, The American Horror Story: Coven again won the night among cable shows (and topped half the broadcast network offerings) as it pulled a 2.2 rating with right at four million total viewers.
The preliminary numbers for the Thursday night shows will be available later this morning, so keep an eye on the Cancellation Watch Twitter Site for those and other ratings-related news. You can see the current status for all this season’s genre show at this link. And for more information on the ratings numbers and how I determine the Cancellation Alert status of a show, see the Cancellation Watch FAQ.
Ratings Source: TV by the Numbers
Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2013 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved.
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