Ratings shocker: ‘The Vampire Diaries’ beats ‘Once Upon a Time in Wonderland,’ ‘X Factor’
Is “The Big Bang Theory” really a ratings vacuum on Thursday night? Maybe, but what we are starting to see happen here is something more than that. Maybe some of the problem is having both NFL and college football on the night, and this could be killing primetime ratings; or, maybe just no one is interested in the programming.
When it comes to “The Vampire Diaries,” the reason why it may be able to keep its own ratings strong (which is at around a 1.3 in the 18-49 demographic) is because its audience is not the kind that would turn to football or Dr. Sheldon Cooper anyway. It is tried, tested and true, and it has been there for so long that nothing seems capable of shaking it.
But “The X Factor”? It’s suffering simply because it’s not very good. Yes, having “The Voice” up against it hurt, but no one seems to really care about the contestants, and the song choices, production, and host in Mario Lopez is boring. It feels more and more like “The X Factor” is more of a tool to launch stars, and Simon Cowell is more invested in promoting them after the fact. This is a little bit of a contrast to “The Voice,” which has shown little interest in the post-game career and focuses almost exclusively on the entertainment.
When it comes to “Once Upon a Time in Wonderland,” which actually lost to both “The X Factor” and “The Vampire Diaries” with a 0.9 rating, we don’t really know what is happening. It’s actually a pretty good show, and avoids some of the problems that the original has in being a little too optimistic all of the time. The only issues that we can think of are that spin-offs are read as too much of an investment and are thus unable to get new viewers, and also that maybe the visual presentation of Wonderland is a little too off. The writers and producers may have been too ambitious with an idea that they could not really create. Instead of using so many green screens, we would have preferred something a little more out of the mid-eighties and tongue-in-cheek.
Why do you think that Thursday nights are struggling so mightily, and are you quick to blame either NFL, programming, or something else? Be sure to share your thoughts in the poll below.
Photo: The CW