‘The Fosters’ season 4 premieres to decent ratings, but down versus season 3 opener

How can the ratings for the fourth season of “The Fosters” be both up, and also down, versus season 3? We’re going to do our part to explain that below.

Monday night’s new episode debuted to a 0.4 rating in the 18-49 demographic, which is a drop from the premiere number last year; however, it is tied with the winter premiere for season 3 this past winter. It is also in line with the season 3 average as a whole, which showed that at least the show on Freeform kept the entirety of the audience who was watching at the end of last season. It may have even managed to get a few viewers back who were watching via DVR at the end of last season.

One of the reasons for the solid premiere number may have been the decision to air a difficult and emotional premiere episode themed all around gun violence, as the entire Adams Foster family tried to come together after Nick brought a weapon to school. The thing that makes us the most uncomfortable going into the second episode of the season is that Nick is still out there, and we’re not entirely sure how the show is going to move on to other storylines before handling this.

We are going to have some other news all about this season moving forward, so be on the lookout! We anticipate a powerful stretch of episodes ahead, complete with some more emotional reveals and tear-jerkers. It wouldn’t be “The Fosters” otherwise.

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