‘Ransom’ episode 3 isn’t airing on CBS tonight, but here’s a brief ratings update

Last week, we discussed how “Ransom” had moved to CBS on Saturday nights, and at the same time, how much we also lamented this decision. Even though the show probably needs less support to stay alive than your average show (it’s a co-production across multiple networks in multiple countries), at the same time you still want to do whatever you can in order to further ensure that it is successful as possible.

Unfortunately, today we come bringing to you two different doses of bad news if you’re an early fan of the series. First and foremost, there is no new episode airing tonight; it will remain on Saturdays, but due potentially to the massive ratings logjam caused by the NFL playoffs, there isn’t a place for it this year (after all, CBS is broadcasting the Patriots – Texans game). Even if they didn’t have the game, why in the world would you throw a new show to the wolves like that? It’s happening bad enough given the timeslot.

Now, the other dose of bad news: The ratings for the second episode last weekend weren’t exactly great. The show lost more than 50% of its New Year’s Day audience when it aired on January 7, drawing just a 0.4 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 3.28 million viewers. Maybe if this was a show on a cable network, those would be good enough numbers to stick around. On CBS, it’s a little more of a question mark — even for a Saturday. You can make the argument that football still may have played a roll in that, but it’s hard to be too confident in the third episode given all of the scheduling wonkiness that has transpired to date.

Given that we do think “Ransom” has the makings of a worthy show, we’ll continue to give it a little bit of attention throughout at least the next several weeks, strictly in order to get a sense more of what may happen.

Be sure to share your thoughts on “Ransom” so far in the comments! Meanwhile, you can get a little more of a precise preview as to what’s coming up by heading over to the link here! (Photo: CBS.)