Is it time for concern over Criminal Minds season 12 ratings?
The latest episode entitled “Alpha Male” ended up drawing just a 1.2 rating in the 18-49 demographic, which is tied for the lowest rating of the series. Meanwhile, in total viewers this does mark a series low with 6.64 million people checking the show out live. Obviously, this number is boosted when some of the live+3 data comes into play, but that’s not something we will have full access to until we roll around to next week.
There is very little reason to think that the series will be canceled this season. Even with lower ratings, it’s still a hugely successful franchise all over the globe. Meanwhile, CBS all will want to give it some sort of fitting conclusion. Still, you cannot ignore at this point the fact that the show is down more than 20% in the demo 16% in total viewers from last season. While numbers are down for most shows across the board, this drop is somewhat higher than the average.
We didn’t want to have to here since the last thing we want to do is stir up trouble, but the question does need to be asked at this point…
Is the exit of Thomas Gibson a factor?
The first two episodes of the season, which featured Hotch as a main character, drew on average a 1.7 rating. This was close to the 1.8 rating the show averaged for all of season 10. The argument that you can make that the decline is not all Hotch-related is that season 10 was down more than 16% in the demo from season 9, so there were some big drops occurring even with him on the show.
We do think that Gibson’s exit is a factor, but it’s wrong to say that every viewer who’s left the show live is doing so simply because of that. The same goes for those thinking that Gibson’s exit is no factor at all when it likely is. As we’ve said before, as easy as it may be to say he should come back, we weren’t there when the incident happened that caused him to be fired, and we hardly think that the producers of the show ever wanted to dismiss him. Therefore, it’s a little unfair for us to tell people in production what they should or shouldn’t done. At this point, it’s best to move on.
You can read our review of “Alpha Male,” if you missed it, over here. (Photo: CBS.)
L A Marie
March 4, 2017 @ 3:35 pm
#nohotchnowatch The writing is horrible and as stated in previous comments the story lines are now blurred. We who have watched for years if I was any of them I would quit due to how poorly things are being written. So honestly the exit of two main actors the show will be cancelled and if not its just an embarrassment to not only CBS but also the actors that continue to try to follow bad writing Aaron was right kick the dumb writer that doesn’t understand or know the show but this time don’t miss the nads.
Lucy
March 3, 2017 @ 8:13 am
Gibson is a big factor, NHNW is a factor in addition to the bad writing, useless & continued additions of actors, inconsistencies in the characters that we’ve watched for 12 years (like Prentiss having to lie & now telling Reid that he needs to trust the system, not to mention the team toasting when there’s a crazed serial killer whose targeting all of them, they sent Hotch to witness protection when his ex wife was murdered while she was supposedly in witness protection, and Hotch running like a coward, C’mon that’s not in Hotch’s his character). We can see why Gibson had questions w/the writing. ABC wanted to kill this show. CBS gave up w/out a fight & this show is struggling. Hope they were happy w/VW, the writer that started all this.
Lima
March 3, 2017 @ 4:01 am
I refuse to watch Criminal Minds without Hotch. Do you think the absence of Gibson didn’t make the difference? You are very innocent! CBS, ABC and Criminal Minds producers knew what they were doing. They knew the importance of Gibson on the show and the impact of your output. You guys really think they care if the show is canceled? They wanted to get rid of the show for a long time. The only way to get rid of the show is to get rid of Thomas Gibson.The show was not giving profits to CBS, as well as the show be expensive, only ABC profited from the show. Erica Messer and Virgil Williams are accomplices.
Rusty
March 3, 2017 @ 1:39 am
I guess Harry Bring isn’t bragging too much these days about his idea to make more money for CBS, ABC, and himself by firing Thomas Gibson and saving on the talent budget. He has, however, been very successful in pleasing who ever it was at the Network who wanted to push Aisha Tyler into the cast triggering the series unprecedented ratings decline.
phyllymd
March 2, 2017 @ 9:44 pm
Thomas Gibson was in the second episode for 30 seconds. So don’t claim that the drop in the second episode was with Hotch. It second episode was a JJ focused episode written by Virgil Williams the bully writer who started all of this. Most Thomas Gibson fans boycotted that episode. So you can’t take the average for an episode Gibson clearly was not in. The ONLY episode you can attribute to Gibson is the first.