BBC America’s fantasy series The Watch is headed into its first season finale this Sunday, and there is a fair amount of doubt over whether this show will be returning for a second year. Across its first seven episodes, the show has only averaged a 0.04 rating (four one-hundredths of a ratings point) based on same-day viewing for the 18-49 demographic with about 220K total viewers per ep. It has not seen much in the way of delayed-viewing gains either, nor has the show developed much buzz among fans and critics. I currently have the show On the Bubble, and its prospects do not look good beyond its first season.
This series, which is based on the Terry Pratchett Discworld novels, was already facing some bad press before it even debuted. It was criticized for veering too far from the books and for making some significant changes to the characters. The look and feel of the show also differed notably from the fantasy origins of its source material. It currently holds only a 50% Fresh Rating and 32% Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes which does little to inspire confidence in the show’s viability. The feedback that I have seen has been mostly negative, and I have not seen much in the way of a fanbase rallying around the show.
Currently, The Watch has aired only in America from what I understand, though I expect it will show up on the BBC in Britain at some point. It may also have international syndication deals and/or financing that could keep it afloat, but that may not be enough to offset its poor performance on BBC America during its initial run. The basic cable channels are having trouble attracting viewers to their scripted programming, and shows that are only pulling a fraction of a fraction of a ratings point are certainly not attracting much in the way of ad revenue.
I will not be moving this to Cancellation Likely status because the cable nets sometimes have deals behind the scenes with the syndication market and/or streaming services that can keep a show going even though the ratings are bad. But consider this one right at the edge of Bubble status and likely cancellation. If there are any fans out there, now is the time to make a Call to Action on the social networks. If they make some noise and bring some attention to the show, perhaps that will convince BBC America to keep this one around and give it the chance to hit its stride. Because as of now, I’m thinking that a second season is a longshot for this show.
Are you watching The Watch? Should it be renewed for a second season?
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Please, if there is ANY justice in this world there will never be a second series of this abhorrent catastrophe of a TV show.
Sir Terry will be turning in his grave. Its an insult to his memory.
Hopefully this gets cancelled , terrible show based on great books. We need to stop this continuous string of tv and film taking stories and fecking them up. The watch never even got a faithful adaptation before someone thought they could do it better.
Though the writing has veered from the source material to the point of non-recognition. if taken on its own it is entertaining. I really wish they had cleaved closer to Sir Pratchett’s original material. I will continue to watch, ahem. I do wonder why I saw no advertising for the program, I only found out about it through a facebook group.
Such a pity it has nos seem too much of an audience. I am a huge fan of Discworld (booked gamesz everything) and I really loved this show. Also, it was fun that my wife also got into the show (something really rare and unexpected). I really hope this does not get cancelled!
The show is a TRAVESTY. They have taken a work of genius and destroyed it. If they wanted to write a fantasy comedy of their own they should have done so, not vandalised and hacked at the work of a writing genius. They took his characters and changed them beyond all recognition and rewrote the story beyond all recognition. I watched the first episode and screamed aloud. And funny? Not in the slightest. Where was Pratchett’s rib tickling humour in this mess. I used to be banned from reading Pratchett in bed because I woke my ex husband with laughing aloud. This thing didn’t even crack a smile.
Hello please do not cancel The Watchshow as i think it is refreshing and something that is needed to take you away the pain and frustration of everyday life on other covid-19 pandemic and i think that the show could go for a long time if it is given a chance to run don’t listen to all the naysayers as they probably watch the stupid reality shows like the bachelor and temptation Island and survivor and all this other crap! THIS SHOW is refreshing and new and deserves a chance to run it’s course please keep it running for posterity sake! But please above all don’t cancel it as it deserves a chance, every show has slow start to begin with but given the chance I believe it could do very well. As at first i didn’t think i’d like it but the more i watched it the more i like it now i’m hooked so please don’t let other shows like the kardashians and the wives of and all this other stupid reality stuff run an degregade and pollute people’s minds and dummy down society when this is a good comical relieve that can take you away from the daily pains of everyday life ttry promoting the show more on other platforms and you get followers trust me I’m a hard sell and I really love the show since the first episode. Thanks for creating the show now promote on YouTube Facebook twitter and other Internet platforms. Sincerely;Jerrod