Terminator: The Sarah Connor Ratings Chronicles
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles debuted last week for the first time in a Friday time slot and the result wasn’t entirely good – it only managed 3.71 million viewers which equates to a 35% drop from what it achieved with its previous episode.
A drop of 2 million viewers is pretty monumental to say the least, although some pundits are playing down the drop as being semi-typical of what is to be expected on a Friday night. Semi-typical or not, cleary Fox was hoping for better results and its unlikely Fox will play the results down. The fact that it came in third behind the ABC and CBS is enough to raise Fox’s concerns.
Terminator was aired behind the premiere of Dollhouse – Joss Whedon’s new sci-fi drama. Dollhouse achieved better ratings than Terminator, pulling in 4.7 million viewers in its premiere and, for its time slot, bringing Fox to number two in the ratings battle. Some claim this was a good result for a Friday. But none are claiming the same for the results of Terminator. Still, was this really a good result for Dollhouse?
It seems whilst season 2 of Terminator hasn’t tickled everyone’s fancy, the series at least received thumbs up for its premiere. Not so for Dollhouse. Dollhouse has really gotten off to a bad start, suffering mixed and even caning reviews – some didn’t like it, some hated it, others thought it had potential – the odd person liked it enough to tune in next week. From a quick read around it seems more people thought less of it than thought more, so the question begs, could poor reception for Dollhouse have materially impacted Terminator’s first Friday night results?
Having watched both episodes back to back, the quality difference between Dollhouse and Terminator was pretty clear – Terminator was clearly the superior show. But since it failed to top Dollhouse’s ratings, it may be a fair assumption to say that some people flipped channels because of Dollhouse.
Either way, ratings for both series weren’t spectacular and so right now, question marks hang over their future viability. This is a sad situation because Terminator is a very good series and, with a few tweaks, could be exceptional. News over the past couple of months has indicated a pace pickup and more action will occur as the season unfolds, so perhaps the exceptional factor will emerge as some have indicated. Let’s hope so, and above all else make sure you tune in for it – otherwise it’ll become just one of many cool series that’s gone the way of the dodo.
