Ratings: ‘The Flash’ defeats ‘Agents of SHIELD’; ‘NCIS’ at series low
There are a pair of enormous ratings headlines to discuss in this particular story, so let’s not waste any time before diving in?
“The Flash” throttles “Agents of SHIELD” – While these are only preliminary numbers and it could change in the final ratings later today, this is a huge achievement for The CW. No, we’re not trying to troll Marvel fans by touting this, but it’s enormous. A show on the least-watched of the five broadcast networks defeated a show that debuted to enormous ratings on ABC and has since slipped. The irony here is that we cannot bash either show, since both are killing it right now. “The Flash” drew a stellar 1.5 rating in the 18-49 demographic last night, while “Agents of SHIELD” managed to draw just a 1.4.
Don’t take this as any indictment on the future of the latter series; “Agents of SHIELD” will almost surely be renewed, while of course “The Flash” already has and at this point will probably be on the air until Barry Allen gets an AARP card.
“NCIS” hits a low – For the second time this season, “NCIS” falls below a 2.0 rating in the demo before the final numbers come in. “Troll” scored a 1.9, and if it stays there, this will mark the lowest-rated episode to date.
The surprise here mostly just comes in the fact that this was the beginning of a big three-episode arc, and there has been some hype about a potential character death and some other shocking circumstances coming up. Even though it had almost four times the viewership of “The Flash,” it was only 0.4 ahead of it in the demo that matters to advertisers.
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Lisa Liscoumb
April 30, 2015 @ 3:57 pm
Sorry to disappoint you, Matt, but they’re not cancelling NCIS anytime soon. The demo may matter to the advertisers, but the advertisers don’t seem to matter as much to CBS as international distribution, at least as far as NCIS is concerned. From a recent interview with Les Moonves (you know, the head of CBS?):
“NCIS is the biggest TV drama in world,” said Moonves, adding that foreign TV producers haven’t been able to compete even at a local level. He said, therefore, that it is a “golden age of television” once again.
Moonves said international sales, along with distribution over Netflix and Amazon
and other services, is what makes it possible to offer original summer series. “Ads aren’t as important,” he said.
sadtonyfan
April 29, 2015 @ 9:39 pm
Newsflash NCIS PTB. Giving fans a constant, steady, and unending diet of the McGibbs show isn’t as appealing to some of your fans as it seems to be for you. Relegating one of your most interesting characters and versatile charismatic actors to nothing more than the occasional lame and unflattering C plot, or writing him as completely insignificant isn’t working. Never writing Tony in danger or as a great agent handling the exciting portion of the show is a waste. If they want to believe that everyone yearns to see Gibbs portrayed as the only brave, heroic defender of the underdog, recipient of angsty stories, and handling any all danger they can. If the want to delude themselves into thinking that McGee is an adequate, exciting, and comparable replacement for DiNozzo’s second in command, they can knock themselves out. Meanwhile, the boring and predictable over use and over exposure of some characters and the underuse of others is creating a show that no longer surprises no matter how many times they blow Gibbs or McGee up. They certainly are breaking rule 5 and are definitely wasting good.
Robert Dassler
April 29, 2015 @ 8:51 pm
AoS final rating has gone up to a 1.5, I think that this headline needs a bit of rewriting.
liz laughlin
April 29, 2015 @ 6:51 pm
The numbers will likely be adjusted up but even if the total viewership comes up from the early number of 14.451 million viewers to 15.0 million, you have to go all the way back to season 5 to find a lower single episode. The 18-49 demo has been in a slide for a long time. season 8 it was 4.0, now 2.46. I think they could bring this show back up but it would require some shrewd rethinking and not just killing off another character. The drop has been blamed on DVR usage but when I ask my friends, ” Which show do you watch live, your favorite or your second choice?” The people I know say they watch their favorite live and watch the second choice later. Maybe they are not representative of viewers in general.
LSilvaxx
April 29, 2015 @ 5:29 pm
“Troll” was a very good episode. Harmon delivered perfectly. I think it was written absolutely great and everyone did a great job. Nobody died in this episode but it was full of tension and very interesting. One of my favorite episodes this season for sure. Loved it.
Beverly
April 29, 2015 @ 4:55 pm
Speaking for myself I am tired of the unnecessary character deaths. That is not suspenseful it is just an ill advised gimmick to draw a gasp from viewers. This can work but the problem is it has been used too often in this show and fans are responding in disgust not intrigue. Okay they kill off a major character. The team is “motivated” to find the culprit. The culprit is found. End of story. There really is nothing to be figured out except who did it and making them pay. I can’t believe the writers are this limited. This kind of plot doesn’t leave anything to look forward to or figure out as far as the season finale goes. There has to be another route to suspense that will keep the viewers interest. Again they pushed Bishop scenes on the show and viewers complaints are being ignored but fans are expressing their dissatisfaction in a way that can’t be ignored by turning the channel. TPTB should realize that if you keep going down a road in the wrong direction, you will ultimately wind up somewhere that you don’t want to be.
liz laughlin
April 29, 2015 @ 6:24 pm
I thought that this was one of the better episodes this season but I agree that teasing that they will kill off another character is a gimmick used to cover for poor writing. The mention of Ziva and Ari was also another gimmick to boost viewership. The first time, I think it worked. Many fans were upset that there was no mention of Ziva for over a year. TPTB finally answered that complaint.
This time it didn’t work. Troll had the lowest viewership for an episode since season 5. Both the demo 1.9 and the total viewership 14.451 million will likely be adjusted up a little but even it the total goes to 15.0, million you have to go all the way back to season 5 to find a lower total viewership for one episode.. It is very interesting that NCIS and NOLA had very similar numbers last night. NOLA had a 1.8 demo and 14.401 million total.
Some people may have tuned out because they didn’t want to see another character killed off. They don’t have to kill them off. A character can retire or just move on to a different job. That would seem more realistic to me. Another thing that could have taken from the viewership was the continuous FOX News coverage of the riots in Baltimore.