Ratings Progress Report: Should NBC’s ‘Timeless’ have a lot more time?
To us, “Timeless” is one of the best new shows of the fall season. While there may be shows out there with better reviews and arguably even better drama, this show really captures why we think so many people choose to watch television in the first place: The adventure. It allows you to escape to different time periods, meet interpretations of popular figures, and see a battle between some perceived heroes and villains. It’s one of the best journeys you’re going to have watching an hour-long show out of any that are currently on the air.
Now that we’ve got that all out of the way, it’s no guarantee that the show actually sticks around. Sure, it was given a full-season order by NBC earlier this year, but the definition of a full season only was construed to equal three additional episodes. The ratings are okay but not spectacular, and we have to imagine that with this many costumes and sets, this is not a particularly cheap show to make. When discussing this further in our Ratings Progress Report series, it only makes sense to take all of this into consideration.
The good news – It’s averaging to date a 1.4 rating in the 18-49 demographic, which without context is not too bad. It also is the recipient of pretty good reviews, has a lot of press behind it, and is the sort of show that works really well for DVR viewers. We have a feeling that at the end of the season, you put this on a streaming service and it becomes binge-watch gold. More people just have to find it and start to understand precisely what the show is.
The bad news – It’s rather simple: The ratings are sliding when you add that context in. While it premiered to a decent 1.9 rating, its most-recent episode a little more than a week ago posted just a 1.1. That’s gonna throw the show into jeopardy if it continues. It’s already disappointing given that this is a show with “The Voice” as a lead-in, and the past two shows to premiere in Monday night in this spot were “Blindspot” and “The Blacklist” — their ratings are pretty similar to where “Timeless” has its own now, but they didn’t start that way and performed much better at this time in their first seasons.
Our verdict – For now, the renewal prospects for “Timeless” are firmly a toss-up. We don’t think NBC would want to get rid of the show this year given that they put so much into promoting it and making sure that it had a following, but it needs to stop the metaphorical bleeding for us to feel anywhere confident about its future.
What do you think: Will “Timeless” get a season 2? Vote in our poll, and be sure to check out some other coverage of the show right away. (Photo: NBC.)