‘Beauty and the Beast’ season 2 improves; should the show stay in summer?

We’ve suggested as of late that “Beauty and the Beast” may be better off as a summer show moving forward, and based on the ratings that the show received on Monday night, there may be a certain amount of validation in that.

While there is certainly potential that the “Beast Is the New Black” episode adjusts down in the final numbers released earlier today, for the time being its 0.4 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 1.1 million viewers are the show’s best numbers in a year. This shows that there is at least some merit to the arguments that the show was suffering somewhat under the weight of airing in fall and the winter against “The Voice,” “The Bachelor,” or whatever else was on at that time. Without competition, it flourishes more and doesn’t seem to lose many viewers just because it was the summer.

If the show manages to actually keep a 0.4 for most of the summer, we feel like the season 3 renewal is even more justified than it was previously. Not only that, but this is a number that could in theory lead to a fourth season. Expectations are lower in the summer, and we expect that The CW will be happy with anything that is higher than a 0.3 as an average. (Granted, they renewed the show this time with basically that number, but that sort of fortune isn’t going to last forever.)

Photo: The CW