Ratings: ‘Once Upon a Time’ winter finale sags; has ‘Frozen’ exodus begun?

The producers of “Once Upon a Time” did ultimately what we feel is a very smart thing in incorporating the characters of “Frozen” into the story. Sure, they were bowing at the feet of Big Disney, but this is a business! You have to do ultimately what you can in order to be commercially successful.

Early this season, the ratings were therefore huge for the fantasy epic, and better than just about all of season 3. However, they have predictably declined as the season has progressed, and that led to a series-low 1.7 rating in the 18-49 demographic for the winter finale last night.

What happened? We interpret it as a combination of a number of different things.

1. With both “Revenge” and “Resurrection” over for the fall, some may have felt the same thing here about this show.

2. “Frozen” fans figured that they had most of the closure they needed last week, even if there was a tease for Anna and Kristoff’s wedding in this episode.

3. Some viewers flocked over to the Dallas Cowboys – Philadelphia Eagles game, which was the highest-rated Sunday Night Football since the start of the season.

The irony here is that the past two or three episodes of the show have been probably the best since the second season, but there are fewer people around to watch them. Still, we have a major bone to pick still over how Maleficent is suddenly around with a makeover after she was seemingly done away with seasons ago. Don’t they have to explain this one further at some point?

If you do want to preview further the second half of “Once Upon a Time” season 4, all you have to do right now is head over to the link here. Also, be sure to sign up right now to get some further scoop on everything we cover courtesy of our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: ABC.)