Gotham season 4 premiere ratings down; The Orville falls; Zoo finale steady
In the end, the first episode of the newly-minted arc entitled “A Dark Knight” ended up drawing a 1.0 rating in the 18-49 demographic. This caused the show to tie with a repeat of American Ninja Warrior and finish behind a repeat of The Big Bang Theory as the top show in its time-slot. This is a drop of more than 20% from the season 3 premiere despite limited competition, and we wonder if there were some casual fans unaware that it was airing in a different spot than last year.
The lower number here is a bummer given that we feel Gotham is on the cusp of being the great Batman show we’ve been wanting for years, mostly because Bruce is only a few steps away from becoming Batman (if you haven’t read our exclusive interview with David Mazouz about becoming Batman you can check that out here). Whether it be this or any other network show, we hope that the executives are looking at some other interesting ways to monetize their show, whether it be selling streaming rights or creating easy ways for viewers to see the show online or through various apps. Fox is on their way, but may need to promote some of their other methods of viewing to bump these ratings up. The reality remains that not everyone is watching live TV anymore … and the ratings for The Orville prove that.
The numbers for the Seth MacFarlane series in episode 3 are probably the most disappointing. The show only drew a 1.1, which shows that there were many viewers who just saw the first two episodes because they aired after football. Unless the show levels off now for the rest of the season it runs the risk of being the next great space series at Fox that gets canceled far before it should. (We still have Firefly cancellation nightmares.) This is an ambitious show, and we don’t imagine that some of the effects were cheap to produce.
How did the Zoo finale fare?
This was about on par with the remainder of the series. The final episode of the third season (and possibly the whole show) drew a 0.5 rating, and that should concern fans as we wait to hear what CBS wants to do now. They have a couple of months to make their decision, but with declining ratings every year and a low viewer total (as of right now), we’re not super-optimistic. The bummer here is that if the show ends, it is doing so on an enormous cliffhanger. (Warning: Spoilers ahead if you haven’t read our CarterMatt review.) Abigail Westbrook is still out there, Logan is gone, and we don’t know how Jackson Oz will save the world after making the decision to sacrifice much of it for Clementine’s son / his newly-discovered son. It’s not going to be easy to swallow if it’s canceled.
What do you think about the Gotham season 4 premiere ratings and more?
Share now in the comments! Meanwhile, be sure to visit the link here in the event you do want to read our full review for the Gotham premiere, in the event you have not seen it already. (Photo: Fox.)