Ratings: ‘The Muppets’ take a dive; ‘Scream Queens’ down; ‘Limitless,’ ‘Best Time Ever’ steady
Is there a takeaway from the fall TV season so far? We’re not so sure that there really is given that it was only nine days ago that the season officially started, but there is one lesson that Tuesday did drill into our head: Hype does not always mean success.
At this time a year ago, was anyone really talking about “Empire” being a huge hit? The show didn’t premiere until early 2015, but you would have thought there would have been more chatter if it was destined to be the monster that it has become. This fall, we have seen a few shows get that sort of monster hype, and the ratings have shown to not be anywhere on that level. As Ygritte would say, some network executives really know nothing, Jon Snow…
We begin here with “The Muppets,” who despite the trending topics and the flood of attention, fell a full eight tenths from their premiere to finish Tuesday with a 2.0 in the 18-49 demographic. It’s a little surprising given that we found the premiere uproariously funny, and feel like anyone who thinks the show is for kids clearly did not see “The Muppet Show.” Meanwhile, anyone who feels like the show is devoid of serious moments never saw “Muppet Christmas Carol.” Maybe a lot of people just thought it would be a perpetually-silly kids’ show.
While this decline has to be a disappointment, it’s still on the level that ABC would want to continue promoting the show and eventually renew it. It just needs to stay somewhere around there to be considered a hit. The network and parent company Disney having full control of the characters and the profits will likely help its odds.
Elsewhere, “Scream Queens” on Fox fell down to a 1.4, three tenths below where it started last week. This show was being declared by some the next big thing, and while it is fun, we’re starting to see this as evidence that the Ryan Murphy Way of Doing Things on Network TV may be fading. There is still “American Horror Story” over on cable, but “Glee” never should have had a season 6 in the first place judging on the numbers alone. (For those curious, both new comedies “Grandfathered” and “The Grinder” scored a 1.5 in the demo; these are decent numbers, but nothing to go insane over. Boring numbers and hard to write about.)
What is interesting now is that some of the shows faring well did not get the same sort of huge campaigns, at least from our vantage point. “Limitless” actually rose in the second episode to a 1.9 rating, while “Best Time Ever” in week three finished with a 2.0, down slightly but still very good. Even if it adjusts down to a 1.9, this is still a winning performance for Neil Patrick Harris and company. You can check out a pair of videos from this episode of the show below featuring Heidi Klum, Tim Gunn, and Neil’s former “How I Met Your Mother” co-star Cobie Smulders.
For “Best Time Ever,” the true test comes when it moves to 8:00 p.m. Eastern and loses its lead-in from “The Voice.”
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psn0mb5_Bps
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUXARFceEhE