What are the Major Crimes season 6 ratings expectations?

Is it a little early to start discussing Major Crimes season 6 ratings, even before the show premieres? We don’t necessarily think it is, mostly because this is a show reliant on ratings. Not only that, but it’s one with an uncertain future on TNT. We’d love to see there be a season 7, but that’s still up in the air. For one thing, the show hasn’t received an extended episode order this year like it has in the past. It also didn’t have a run on the network this summer, which is especially a shame given the fact that this is a show that really generates the best ratings when it gets to air in that time.

So what should we expect for season 6? In order to examine that, we have to start by looking at how the show performed in season 5. The most-recent Major Crimes season averaged a 0.4 rating in the 18-49 demographic, and to go along with that posted almost 3.2 million viewers. The show had a pretty steep year-to-year decline in the demo, but was only down around 10% in viewers. That’s a pretty acceptable decline in an era where people are finding so many different things to do other than watch television live.

With the era in mind, we wouldn’t be shocked if the demo slipped again down to a 0.3, or if the total viewer count went on average under 3 million. As long as it stayed around there, we’d still consider that a good sign for the show’s future. We do know that the network is starting to move past some of its old-school crime shows, but Major Crimes is still one of the most-watched series that they have. Also, it’s one that is showing a commitment to try to adapt to what it is that they want. It’s looking to become more serialized and rely less on the story-of-the-week model. It’s a risky proposition, but we do think that it’s worked well with some of the stories that it’s brought to the table so far in this format.

If Major Crimes season 6 does turn out to be the final season for the show, there’s a different request that we’d have: For TNT to make the announcement far enough in advance so that the writers can come up with a fitting end for the series. The last thing that we want is a franchise, which originated all the way back in The Closer, not getting a proper celebration or way to say farewell. We know that network programming head Kevin Reilly wasn’t around for a lot of that, but hopefully he will still acknowledge the history that is present here. Give the show a chance to take a bow at the end of the day.

Want to get some more news beyond the Major Crimes season 6 ratings?

Head over here, since that’s where you can get a comprehensive look at what could or should happen for Sharon Raydor when season 6 picks back up. Also, be sure to share your own Major Crimes season 6 ratings expectations in the comments! (Photo: TNT.)