Ratings: Why does ‘Revenge’ season 2 keep falling?

Earlier this fall, it looked like moving “Revenge” season 2 to Sunday nights may have been one of the smartest decisions ABC could have made; however, now it feels almost as if the network has a somewhat-serious problem on their hands.

One week after being off the air due to the American Music Awards, the primetime soap returned on Sunday night to a season-low 2.2 rating in the 18-49 demographic, and this happened even in spite of the fact that lead-in “Once Upon a Time” improved its overall audience by a respectable 0.3 compared to the week before. Why does this show keep drama? We really attribute it to a number of things:

1. Competition – NFL football is on, as is “The Real Housewives of Atlanta,” “Dexter,” “Boardwalk Empire,” “Family Guy,” and “The Good Wife.” To make matters even more complicated, you also had last night Lindsay Lohan’s “Liz & Dick,” Justin Bieber’s interview on “Oprah’s Next Chapter,” and even “Downton Abbey Revisited” over on PBS. It was, without a doubt, the busiest Sunday of the year thus far.

2. The holidays – Some people may have either been out shopping, or returning home from Thanksgiving with friends and family.

3. Quality – At the end of the day, this is probably the biggest issue right now with “Revenge.” It’s still a strong show, but we don’t really feel the same sense of continuity and purpose that we did the first season. Ultimately, it seems to be suffering from the same sort of sophomore slump as “Once Upon a Time”: there were such clear missions the first time around, and now the characters feel a little bit lost and are treading water. Without the moments to keep people talking, the ratings are going to slump a little bit.

What do you think is the biggest problem holding back “Revenge” season 2 at the moment?