When Calls the Heart season 6 ratings: Prediction without Lori Loughlin

Come Sunday night, Hallmark Channel will be presenting the long-awaited return to Hope Valley and When Calls the Heart season 6. We probably don’t have to remind you to check your calendars — it may already be on there and circled! It’s been a long wait, one that is no fault of viewers, the cast, or the crew. It’s mostly just tied to the network itself trying to duck and weave the Lori Loughlin controversy from the past few months, hoping that they can keep the integrity and passion of the show without letting in any of the negative stuff.

The way that Hallmark is marketing the return is smart — they’re keeping it about joy, a new Mountie, romance, and fun. They’re making sure Hope Valley feels as warm and welcoming as you would expect … and they’re making sure that Abigail is not even mentioned. We won’t lie — it’s going to be awkward at first witnessing the Abigail vanishing act, especially depending on how they write the character out.

The real hope is that along the way with When Calls the Heart this season, the viewers stick around. With the changes and constant headlines, keeping people around will be the utmost priority and let’s be honest – not everyone likes change. Over the years we’ve seen a lot of people walk away from shows when they’ve lost their favorite character no matter the circumstances surrounding it, we just hope that doesn’t happen here.

Want some discussion on When Calls the Heart and its future in video form? Then check out some of the latest below! Meanwhile, subscribe to CarterMatt on YouTube to make sure you don’t miss any other update we’ve got coming your way.

Where we left off with the ratings…

The most recent episode of When Calls the Heart back in March drew a 0.2 rating in the 18-49 demographic and just over 2 million viewers — not earth-shattering numbers in the context of its typical ratings, but well in line with how it often performs. The question the network has gotta be wondering now is “can we keep this up?”, both now and in the weeks ahead?

Here’s our take on the issue — in the immediate future, there will be plenty of sighs of relief within various executives’ offices. We foresee the show coming back to nice numbers — maybe not the 0.6 rating and almost 3.8 million viewers the show got last Christmas, but good numbers nonetheless. We think that there’s going to be tremendous intrigue as to what the show does without Abigail and how they maneuver and navigate the story. It’s almost a small-scale version of the first Two and a Half Men without Charlie Sheen. Note: We’re not comparing what went on with Loughlin to anything with Sheen — apples and oranges! It’s true, though, that sometimes tabloid scandals do throw a lot of attention on shows.

What When Calls the Heart should be more aware of is how the episodes perform later on this season when viewers start to settle into life without Abigail and other characters take more of the reigns. Will the reaction be positive, or will the idea of losing the character be too hard to digest? If the writers had a chance to actually wrap up her story properly, it’d probably be easier; as it is though, the producers are basically trying to go in and re-tailor an outfit that’s already been fitted. It may be hard to line up all the stitching so that the final product feels similar.

Luckily, we know that Hearties are a patient bunch and that When Calls the Heart has already been renewed for a season 7. That should give the show all of the time needed to work through its growing pains, and make sure they’ve got a nice core of viewers still on the other side. That’s our prediction: Loyalty will win out here in the end.

To get more details on the return of When Calls the Heart…

Be sure to check out the link here! Also, let us know in the comments if you think that the show’s going to be okay on the other side of all of this controversy. (Photo: Hallmark Channel.)