‘Mistresses’ season 4: Do recent ratings hurt or help season 5 renewal odds?

Given that it feels like some time has passed since we offered up our take on the ratings for “Mistresses” season 4, now feels like the perfect time in which we can start to analyze the ratings once more. After all, hasn’t it been a while since we last did?

Unfortunately, it’s hard to say that the news we have is good news based on what the latest numbers are. Monday night’s most-recent episode drew just a 0.5 rating in the key 18-49 demographic to go along with 2.1 million viewers. These are far from the sort of numbers that we tend to see network executives doing cartwheels over when they are announcing a decision to bring a show back.

In general, “Mistresses” is down more than 15% in the demo from season 3 so far, and while you can make excuses about the Olympics or various hiatuses getting in the way and hampering the show, there is one other argument you must consider: The show had a much better lead-in this time in “The Bachelor” and “Bachelor in Paradise.” As a matter of fact, Monday’s episode of “Paradise” brought in an impressive 1.4 rating, completely dwarfing this show; retaining slightly over a third of the audience from the show prior to you is terrible no matter how you slice it.

Are there devoted fans out there who would love to see the show alive? Absolutely, and we love the enthusiasm of many of them. There’s just one thing that they really must realize at some point along the way; if they want the show to have a fighting chance, watching it LIVE is a priority. At present, there’s plenty of reasons to be concerned.