Once Upon a Time musical ratings fall; will it last without Jennifer Morrison?

The Once Upon a Time musical ratings are in from Sunday night, and even looking at those in a vacuum, it’s clear that there are some issues. This episode drew in total a 0.8 rating in the 18-49 demographic, which is a drop from the week before.

To many, we have to imagine that this is a surprise given that the musical episode should have been a great opportunity to get more viewers watching the show who maybe weren’t checking it out beforehand and with this being a show mirrored to Disney characters that sing and dance, it made perfect sense. Yet, at the same time and for whatever reason the numbers just didn’t come in. This could be a testament that musical episodes are not a sure-fire way to convince viewers to watch anymore. Maybe back in the day before there were DVRs and a million different options on Netflix, they could pique interest enough to get people on board who may not have watched an episode of the show in a long time. We are also wondering if musical episodes are just played out now.

As for the future of the show beyond this, that’s the big question given the announcement of the news earlier today that Jennifer Morrison is leaving after the two-hour finale that is airing on Sunday. This, ironically, could boost the ratings a whole lot more than the musical did as these are the final episodes for Morrison as a regular. We know that she will appear in at least one season 7 episode in the event that the show is renewed, and our sentiment there is that it could be the series finale given that it’s hard to envision the show lasting all that long without her in the core cast.

Ultimately, the thing here is that we don’t expect Once Upon a Time to suddenly come back with a 1.5 rating or anything like that. It’ll probably be a little lower than a 1.0 the rest of the series. The main reason for ABC to bring it back right now is that much of their ratings elsewhere are a dumpster fire, and at least this is a property with a huge social following and international viewership. This makes it more attractive than many of the other shows that they have that are performing at this same sort of fractional level.

What do you think the Once Upon a Time ratings could be next season without Morrison in the cast? Sound off now in the attached comments! (Photo: ABC.)