‘Low Winter Sun’s’ ratings woes: Not even ‘Breaking Bad’ can save it

What in the world is happening with AMC’s new “Low Winter Sun“? It was a show that we had high hopes for going into this summer, and it is actually a show that is improving week to week. It reminds us somewhat of “The Bridge” on FX in that we find it to be very strong, but just slightly off the cusp of greatness at the moment.

Unfortunately, what we are seeing happening is it quickly sinking into TV quicksand, which is surely not something that anyone expected with the “Breaking Bad” lead-in in mind. Let’s put its latest ratings performance this way. With “Breaking Bad” drawing a strong 2.5 rating in the 18-49 demographic at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time on a Sunday, you would hope that the show would at least get close to a 1.0. Last week, the show drew half of that; and on Sunday, it failed to even crack the top 100 cable series chart on TVbythenumbers. This means that at best, we are looking at a 0.3 rating.

So what in the world happened here? The biggest culprits for this show right now are probably “The Newsroom” (which drew a 0.6 without any lead-in at all) and the MTV Video Music Awards. Two other conclusions?

1. There are too many quality shows at 10, and not enough viewers – “The Newsroom” and “Ray Donovan” are both strong series, and there may not be that much of an audience for all three of these put together.

2. The show’s too dark – For whatever reason, Detroit-set shows these days do not often fare well. The characters may also be a little too gritty, and America as a whole may be tired of more police dramas. AMC already has “The Killing,” which is seeing its odds for a renewal escalate after a stellar season this year and also higher ratings.

What do you think is happening with “Low Winter Sun”: Are people just not interested, and do you think AMC may have psyched people out of liking the show by forcing them to watch it for “Breaking Bad” previews? If you want to read some more news related to the show, just be sure to click here.

Photo: AMC