Ratings: Juan Pablo Galavis’ ‘Bachelor’ finale down vs. Sean Lowe; ‘Beauty and the Beast’ low

Given how terrible the finale for Juan Pablo Galavis’ season of “The Bachelor” was, we wouldn’t have been too surprised if the ratings went completely down the toilet. However, what we were at least reasonably surprised to see here instead was that the ratings were by and large pretty constant compared to what we had on the show in past seasons.

Overall, the first two hours of the finale were at a 3.2 in the key 18-49 demographic, whereas the “After the Final Rose” (which we tried to give a G grade for how terrible it was) scored a 3.8. The former is down slightly versus the finale for Sean Lowe’s season, while the special scored the same exact rating. The fans of the show are either very loyal, or there was just a strong legion of people interested in watching what was ultimately a massive trainwreck.

Either way, these numbers signal to us that this franchise is not one that is going to be slowing down at any point in the near future, despite the clamor of everyone who hates it. This is just the way the world works sometimes, people! You don’t always get the show that you want doing well!

“The Bachelor” did seem to hurt “The Voice,” which fell this week to a 3.7 for a pretty weak series of blind auditions. In turn, the premiere of NBC’s new series “Believe” failed to do any better than a 2.7 in the demo … which is still a pretty good start to the show.

The biggest disappointment of the night was seeing “Beauty and the Beast” at a 0.2 for its last episode before a long hiatus; we’re not happy to say it, but this is more or less the show’s figurative nail in the coffin. It is very hard for any show to survive with that rating, and the only thing really working for “The Carrie Diaries” (which posted similar numbers) is that it aired on Friday, where expectations are a little lower.