Ratings: ‘Once Upon a Time’ season 2, ‘All-Star Celebrity Apprentice’ hit lows

Once Upon a Time March 25, 2013

What in the world has happened to “Once Upon a Time” this spring? Despite the past two weeks being some of the best work of the entire series, we’re not seeing the same sort of dividends that we are used to from it. As a matter of fact, we wonder if there are some ABC executives at the moment that are off scratching their heads over this one.

Ultimately, Sunday night’s new episode of the fairy tale drama ended up posting what is a series-low 2.1 rating in the 18-49 demographic, which is not something that can necessarily be worthy of having the words “smash hit” attached to it. After all, this puts the series behind “Scandal” and “Grey’s Anatomy” on Thursday nights, and it was barely above the rating that “Revenge” posted in a 1.8.

So what has caused the shift? We could partially blame the extended February scheduling problems, which included the Grammys, the Oscars, and the Super Bowl, for part of the problem, but we also have to consider the sole fact that viewers are just getting turned off on the show over time. Strangely, it seems as though the majority of people preferred the show when there were two universes that were largely separate, and the residents of Storybrooke did not actually know who they were in the fairy tale land that was.

Also of note Sunday night? “All-Star Celebrity Apprentice” falling to a series low 1.5 rating, which makes some sense given that it was probably the dullest episode of the season so far.

What do you think is the cause of the “Once Upon a Tome” ratings drop? Be sure to share some of your thoughts below, and you can also watch a preview for the next new edition over at the link here.

Photo: ABC

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6 Comments

JSS
March 27, 2013 @ 3:21 pm

The issues with season 2 are many. (1) Too many characters that confuses the average viewer. (2) Poor writing in some episodes (e.g., taser to kill a dragon and wooden character, too many soap opera instances between so many layers of actors). (3) Fast pase of plots so giving little time for father-son, daughter-mother, etc that found each other to establish a bond and make the episodes more personal. and (4) Poor scheduling, few weeks on and several weeks off.
Guest
March 27, 2013 @ 3:17 pm

I think the problems are among the ones mentioned here by others
Vicki
March 26, 2013 @ 9:01 pm

I love Once Upon a Time and watch it when it is on. I believe the reason for the low ratings is because of the weeks we sometimes have to wait for the next one. I don’t see other successful series going on a hiatus for 3 weeks or more at a time. I think Once Upon a Time is a very inventive and imaginative series. I hope it continues for many seasons to come.
Cheryl
March 25, 2013 @ 9:13 pm

It’s the weeks of waitingfor a new episode. My daughter got me interested in this show last November but the episodes are few and far between and now it’s 3 weeks til the next new one????
MP
March 25, 2013 @ 6:02 pm

I think the problem are the long hiatuses. People just get confused and forget to tune in. I am not that worried because the show getting renewed but I also know DVR and Amazon count and there are lots of people who watch it there.
Andrea Chalmers
March 25, 2013 @ 4:06 pm

I thinks one of the things that has caused rateings to drop is the fact that they concertrate to much on the chracters of Snow and Charming and their realtionshio when there are so many other chracters that they can utlise in the fairy tale world. I know Eion Baliey who played August/Pinocchio is working on another show and I can understand why they had to write him out of the series but like Sheriff Graham he was one of the popular chracters and I do thnk that Selfless, Brave and ture could have been a better epsiode to send August out on.