Ratings: Did ‘Dads’ finale ratings ruin season 2 chances?

Let’s face it: Fox has probably been very lukewarm to begin with about the possibility of keeping “Dads.” While the show repeats better than any of their other comedies, it doesn’t have any sort of critical buzz to go along with it. This is just a show that the network really probably will not fight that hard to keep, which made it pretty essential that it proved itself during its two-part finale Tuesday night as a show equipped to survive for a second season.

Instead, the show tanked like a lead balloon against the Olympics. “Dads” averaged over its two episodes a 1.1 rating in the 18-49 demographic, which makes its odds of coming back pretty darn low. We already know that Fox will bring back “New Girl” for another season in order to continue its run to syndication, and the Golden Globe should be the saving grace of “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.” Then, the decision comes between “Dads” and “The Mindy Project,” and Fox will always choose Mindy if the ratings are comparable. At least that show has a dedicated fanbase, while “Dads” seems more akin to something that people just watch when they don’t have many other options.

The only real decision that we see Fox making for the fall is whether or not to abandon this two-hour comedy block, and they really should. It’s performed terribly for them, and they did so much better when they had an hour-long series at 8:00, and then two comedies afterwards to benefit from that lead-in. If they want some more sitcoms on the air, they can always air one or two of them on Thursdays or Wednesdays in the fall, given that “The X Factor” is dead and buried.

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