Ratings: ABC’s ‘Betrayal’ starts low; ‘Revenge,’ ‘Once Upon a Time,’ more hurt by ‘Breaking Bad’

We’re going to go ahead and start this ratings piece by talking about the “Breaking Bad” series finale. Almost anyone who watched the AMC show watched live, mostly because they were afraid that someone on Twitter would troll them and spoil all of the fun. The ratings for it will be out later, but the point here is that regardless of its numbers, excuse-makers will blame the show for the performance of their favorite.

We’ll find out next week just what sort of an impact the finale really had on viewers to other networks, since almost everything else was down from year to year. We start off here with the only new show on the roster: “Betrayal,” which churned out a poor-as-expected rating of 1.5 in the 18-49 demographic. We almost want to call this time slot the curse of “Brothers & Sisters.” Ever since this show was canceled, nothing here has lasted longer than half a season. Just ask “Pan Am,” “GCB,” “666 Park Avenue,” or “Red Widow” what it feels like to debut here. It’s terrible. We thought that this show would not make it past its original 13 episodes, and we stand by that. The only reason ABC could keep it is because they have nothing else to air in that spot to air.

As for “Once Upon a Time” and “Revenge,” it’s all about perspective. We actually don’t think that a 2.6 and a 2.4 is a bad start for those shows given the competition, and that they are increases from how they performed in the spring. We expected “Revenge” in particular to not be above a 2.0.

On CBS, the numbers are slightly scrambled thanks mostly to NFL football running late, as it tends to traditionally do throughout the fall season. It’s not going to be good news in the end, as all of the shows do look to be down from the fall and the spring.

What did you watch Sunday? Click here if you want to read our review of the “Once Upon a Time” premiere, and we’ll be back with more news soon.

Photo: ABC