Did The Last Ship season 4 ratings suffer due to Game of Thrones?

Leading up to the premiere of The Last Ship, one of the big questions that we wondered was rather simple: Would we see the show be impacted in some way by Game of Thrones? Airing the first two episodes on Sunday opposite the biggest show in HBO history is not something that we would’ve asked on anyone. Yet, this is what the Eric Dane – TNT drama had to deal with, and it just had to try and make the best of what was a pretty inopportune/terrible situation.

Based on the ratings for the first episode, The Last Ship did suffer. However, it didn’t quite suffer in any way that is necessarily devastating to the show’s future. Let’s start with the bad news, mostly because that is the sort of thing best worth getting out of the way now. The first episode that aired Sunday night drew a 0.3 rating in the 18-49 demographic, which is one of the lowest ratings that we’ve seen for the TNT series. Yet, as we’ve noted, that is almost expected when you think for a moment about some of what the show is actually up against over on HBO, plus some other contenders like Ray Donovan on Showtime and Power over on Starz.

Now, let’s shift things over slightly to focus on how things are going in terms of total viewers. With 1.87 million people watching, the show actually performed better than it did during the season 3 premiere. That episode, for the record, also aired opposite Game of Thrones and that is definitely something that is a factor here. While the two shows don’t necessarily share the entire audience with each other, they do share a good bit of it … or at least enough for it to be a huge factor. Luckily, there is only one more episode of Game of Thrones this season and then after that, we’re going to be switching to just getting The Last Ship exclusively the rest of the way through the later summer and then the early fall.

Of course, there is another significant challenge coming up for the show: Having to air against the remainder of the fall TV lineup! This includes new episodes of a number of different network shows, but then also of course NFL football — that’s the competition we’re really worried about. The one silver lining is that The Last Ship already does have its season 5 renewal under its belt and there isn’t anything to worry about there.

What do you think about The Last Ship season 4 premiere ratings, and do you think that the show’s numbers will improve from here? Share in the comments below right now!

Meanwhile, you can head over to the link here in the event you want some other news when it comes to the show! For those of you who do love the show, there will be an interview with Jocko Sims coming up in the days ahead. (Photo: TNT.)