Shameless season 8 ratings keep justifying Showtime’s early season 9 renewal
After all, you are talking here about a show that has been on the air now for close to a decade — that is not the time when you start to see ratings gains. That’s especially true with a show as serialized as Shameless is; while you can probably jump in right now and ascertain most of what is going on, there is so much more richness and understanding you get from watching the entire series from the beginning.
Shameless is a warrior in terms of its streaming performance, and that is probably one of the reasons why the ratings are what they are at the moment. To date, the series is averaging 1.53 million viewers per episode, and that is a rise of over 8% from what it drew in season 7. It’s premiering around the same time of year and has some strong competition — it may not be getting anywhere near the same numbers as The Walking Dead, but it’s curious how that show’s numbers are declining in its eighth season while the numbers here are going up. Part of this may have to do with psychologically, the status of Shameless as one of those great underdog shows on TV. If you watch it you’ve got this sentiment that you’ve discovered a great hidden gem — you’ve got a secret that a small group of people are in on. The Walking Dead is a show that’s seen better days and everyone knows it. It doesn’t have that same sheen about it anymore.
With increases like this year to year (and this is without even DVR ratings counted in) you’ve got even more of a reminder as to how Shameless season 8 could end up lasting however long the folks in the cast and crew want for it to. Showtime has three great utility players at the moment in it, Homeland, and Ray Donovan. They can plug these shows in almost anywhere and have confidence that they all can deliver. When any one of them ends up leaving it’s going to be a rather sad day for those executives.
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