Cable Ratings: True Detective season 3, Shameless season 9, & Good Trouble
We want to start here with the HBO crime thriller, though, mostly because it entered this month with an enormous amount of hype — especially since the ratings were so great for the first two seasons. In terms of the live ratings, the numbers are down by a certain degree — Sunday night’s new episode, for example, generated in total 1.06 million live viewers. This is down slightly from the first two episodes and certainly down from the first two seasons.
Yet, at the same time, there are some other factors that are worthy of some consideration here. For example, you do have to remember here that this show has an enormous DVR viewership and we saw with the first two episodes the ratings creep up closer to seasons 1 and 2 when that data was collected. Viewers now watch television in a way that they didn’t back when season 2 was on the air years ago.
As for some other ratings worth discussing…
Shameless season 9 – The Showtime dramedy is back on the air, but how is it actually faring? Its midseason premiere on Sunday generated only about 800,000 viewers, which is a big decline for the numbers that it posted this past fall. The reason why the decline has happened to the degree that it has is likely because of the long hiatus, and also many diehard viewers not remembering when it was supposed to be back.
Remember that both Shameless and True Detective were also likely hurt severely by airing opposite the AFC Championship Game, which is a significant source of ratings competition for both.
Good Trouble – Finally, let’s talk for a moment about the Fosters spin-off, which is continuing to decline in the ratings. This past episode generated just a 0.1 rating in the live numbers, so you really have to hope that the show is getting good viewership via other channels and all over the world. The difficulty with a show geared towards young people is that so few young people are watching TV towards traditional means — you have to deliver a show that really has a sense of urgency around watching it live if you want it to be successful in the long-term.
If the numbers for these shows just keep falling, then it may certainly not be good news for the future of Good Trouble as a series.
Related News – Be sure to get some more news regarding True Detective, including more news on what’s next!
What do you think about the latest Cable Ratings? Be sure to share some of your thoughts in the attached comments. (Photo: HBO.)