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Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. continues to see a drop in ratings as the latest numbers for last night’s episode, “End of the Beginning,” saw a series low with 5.39 million viewers tuning in.*
The previous low occurred March 4th with 5.46 million viewers.
The ratings in the coveted 18-49 demographic for “End of the Beginning” also matched its low with a 1.8.
This most recent episode saw a 14 percent drop in viewership compared to three weeks ago, which guest-starred Jaimie Alexander as Sif from the Thor movies.
These numbers have to be troublesome news for Marvel and ABC as the latest episodes of S.H.I.E.L.D. have been hyped as being connected to the movies, Thor 2 and Captain America 2, which obviously isn’t have any impact.
We can speculate as to the reason fans are not watching the series:
1) A slow start: The first couple of episodes arguably weren’t that very good.
2) Too many breaks between episodes: Weeks and even a month-long stretch between episodes is killing any hype and anticipation created.
3) The Coulson “reveal” was under whelming and disappointing. Fans were promised answers, but instead just got more questions, decompressing the episodes like a Marvel comic book.
4) Lack of “Marvel” in the first half of the season: Fans wanted superheroes, superpowers and villains – Marvel – but instead got under-qualified SHIELD agents.
If you have been sticking with the show, you know that the second half the season has seen an attempt to correct some of the perceived problems as the episodes have been a lot better, filled with super villains (Deathlok) and superheroes (Sif). In addition, last night’s episode was probably the best to date and ties directly into Captain America 2; however, will it be enough to bring them back for more next week?
*Note: The final ratings numbers could be up or down a bit as these are preliminary.
Update: The final numbers show 5.71 million viewers tuned in, which is not the series low.
Update #2: The final numbers reveal the viewer numbers to actually be lower with 5.37 million, but ratings to be a 1.9.
No. | Title | Air date | Rating (18–49) |
Viewers (millions) |
||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | “Pilot” | September 24, 2013 | 4.7 | 12.12 | ||||
2 | “0-8-4” | October 1, 2013 | 3.3 | 8.66 | ||||
3 | “The Asset“ | October 8, 2013 | 2.9 | 7.87 | ||||
4 | “Eye Spy” | October 15, 2013 | 2.8 | 7.85 | ||||
5 | “Girl in the Flower Dress“ | October 22, 2013 | 2.7 | 7.39 | ||||
6 | “F.Z.Z.T.” | November 5, 2013 | 2.5 | 7.15 | ||||
7 | “The Hub” | November 12, 2013 | 2.2 | 6.67 | ||||
8 | “The Well“ | November 19, 2013 | 2.4 | 6.89 | ||||
9 | “Repairs“ | November 26, 2013 | 2.6 | 9.69 | ||||
10 | “The Bridge” | December 10, 2013 | 2.1 | 6.11 | ||||
11 | “The Magical Place” | January 7, 2014 | 2.2 | 6.63 | ||||
12 | “Seeds” | January 14, 2014 | 2.2 | 6.37 | ||||
13 | “T.R.A.C.K.S.” | February 4, 2014 | 2.2 | 6.62 | ||||
14 | “T.A.H.I.T.I.” | March 4, 2014 | 1.8 | 5.46 | ||||
15 | “Yes Men” | March 11, 2014 | 2.1 | 5.99 | ||||
16 | “End Of the Beginning” | April 1, 2014 | 2.0 | 5.71 |