Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. in the Media

[ottoDbusdriver]

Tuesday ratings are noticeably down week over week for AoS -- rating dropped from 1.9 to 1.7, share dropped from 6 to 5, and total viewers dropped by over a million from 5.6 to 4.5 million

 

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2014/10/01/tv-ratings-tuesday-selfie-manhattan-love-story-premiere-low-marvels-agents-of-s-h-i-e-l-d-forever-drop-person-of-interest-the-mindy-project-up/309151/

[ChelseaNH]

Guess they shouldn't have killed off Lucy Lawless...

[ottoDbusdriver]

AoS continues to stay near series ratings lows -- it came in 3rd behind NCIS: New Orleans on CBS and Marry Me/About a Boy combo on NBC (which combined had nearly 5 times more viewers than AoS).

 

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2014/10/15/tv-ratings-tuesday-the-flash-ties-marvels-agents-of-s-h-i-e-l-d-solid-start-for-marry-me-about-a-boy-returns-down/314686/

[shrewd.buddha]

I believe the ratings are falling each week because the show is starting to be seen for what it is : a half-baked idea by Joss Whedon to cash in on the Marvel movie success that's been outsourced to people who don't have the vision or passion to make anything really shine (dialogue, plot, direction). Everything has that created-by-committee feeling of blandness.

Even the press conferences , news releases and interviews come off as hyperbolic spin. 

Of course, the producers are saddled with D-List Marvel characters and probably lots of story line restrictions -- but there's no lemon-aid coming from those lemons..

[Iamsweetdee]

: a half-baked idea by Joss Whedon to cash in on the Marvel movie success that's been outsourced to people who don't have the vision or passion to make anything really shine (dialogue, plot, direction).

 

 

Best synopsis of this show, EVER!

Edited October 15, 2014 by Iamsweetdee

[rujasu]

Well, I disagree, I think it's a quality show, much better than NCIS (obviously plenty of people disagree).  Marry Me/About a Boy being ahead of it doesn't mean much to me since they were series premieres, ratings could drop off quickly for the new shows.  Of course, with that said, I can't imagine NBC was taking many viewers away from SHIELD, and the ratings have to be a concern for the show at this point.  I'm sure they won't pull the plug mid-season, but I am worried we won't get a renewal.  If it does come back next season, it could be on Friday nights.

Edited October 15, 2014 by rujasu

[Minneapple]

Last year I might have agreed, but this year the show is infinity times better. I've seen this quite a bit -- just think of Buffy for the obvious Whedon example. Season one was no shining example of Whedon's talents. But it all came together in season two.

 

It's nice when networks actually stick with a show to allow writers to try different things, allow casts to gel. The ratings for SHIELD may not be that great, but at least the show's quality is improving. Hopefully ABC sees that and sticks with it a bit longer.

[tv echo]

Interview with Ming-Na Wen (no spoilers)...

 

'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.': Will Melinda May be forced to kill Coulson?
By Natalie Abrams on Oct 15, 2014 at 1:00AM
http://insidetv.ew.com/2014/10/15/agents-of-s-h-i-e-l-d-will-melinda-may-be-forced-to-kill-coulson/

 

Pure speculation, but I think it would be neat if Coulson died on AOS before the Avengers 2 movie came out.  Since Coulson's 'death' in the first Avengers movie was the catalyst to get the Avengers all motivated to work together as a team, his resurrection really undercut that.  If Coulson died for real on AOS, it would not only shake up the team dynamic on the show, it would make it unnecessary for the Avengers to find out that he was ever alive again for a period of time.

Edited October 16, 2014 by tv echo

[FurryFury]

Who says they'll ever find out? Fury and Hill don't really have any strong motives to tell them.

 

On the other hand, I probably wouldn't mind Coulson's death because it could give May something interesting to do, and frankly, the show doesn't know what to do with him.

[Maverick]

How do they not know, especially Stark? Coulson openly inteacted with SHIELD agents before it fell. he was roaming around the world on high profile assignments.

[FurryFury]

Because the movie writers didn't want to deal with a relatively minor thing on-screen, and having any of the Avengers know about Coulson would involve a great deal of fridge logic for the show. That's definitely a doylist explanation, but I doubt we'll get any better. Could be handwaved like they were never involved with any of Coulson's ops and nobody who saw him cared to report.

Edited October 16, 2014 by FurryFury

[kieyra]

I'm struggling. I've been assuming my meh-ness on the show was because I'm not that much of a comic person. Episodes keep piling up on my DVR. When I do watch, I like some of the character beats and some of the trademark dialogue, but it still feels like the show lacks any central hook.

Then a friend talked me into watching Arrow. I was skeptical at first, but in midway through season 2 now (lately on Netflix) and I'm like a junkie and absorbing comic book canon like I've been doing it my whole life. (I assure you, I have not.) Cannot shotgun the episodes fast enough. It kind of makes me weep for what SHIELD could be, especially the action sequences, especially assuming Arrow has a much lower budget.

[FurryFury]

I had to drop Arrow after the horrible season 2B. It had a lot potential but squandered it all on the altar of comic canon and Oliver's manpain. This show hasn't yet been as good as Arrow's 2A, but at least it never made me want to punch the screen of my laptop, and I'll doubt I'll ever hate anyone as much as I hate Laurel Lance and her being continuously forced down our throats despite being a horribly written and horribly acted character hated by the majority of the fandom (seriously, Skye is an angel and a masterpiece of writing compared to Laurel).

 

Also, spoilers for Arrow S2/3

it killed three of the best female characters in a span of a year. That's just unforgivable.

Edited October 20, 2014 by Lisin
added spoiler tags

[Guest Accused Dingo]

I actually prefer this to Arrow. Half the time i want to punch Oliver in the face. He is supposed to be a hero and yet he comes off like an ass. Say what you will aboit the opening half of SHIELD once it got its groove...it kept it.

[kieyra]

Spoiler and O/T for arrow:

 

 

 

 

it killed three of the best female characters in a span of a year. That's just unforgivable.

 

Interesting. I'm glad I didn't let this spoiler discourage me from watching the second half of S2; you definitely had me worried. But I don't know who you meant besides Moira, and that death certainly provided massive story momentum and emotional payoff. I've been trying to figure out who the other two are that you're talking about; maybe you meant Isobel, but she barely even had a backstory. I won't argue with you that Laurel sucks, but when you said 'the best' female characters I thought you meant Felicity and Thea, for example, or maybe Sara, not a tertiary henchman like Isobel. Unless you were also spoiling early S3. Otherwise I've forgotten some other female character's death.

 

Anyway, my bad in general for bringing this to the SHIELD forums and I'll back out of it; I wouldn't have made the original post had it not been for the somewhat somber tone of this thread (prior to my post) and my recently-discovered love of Arrow. I didn't mean to stir up a rivalry situation

Edited October 22, 2014 by kieyra

[Sakura12]

Arrow's done for me after the first episode of season 3. This show while not the best in the world is entertaining and I don't hate any of the storylines so far. I enjoy that it has a much lighter tone than Arrow and that the team actually talks to each other and serve a purpose for being there. Bobbi seems like she's going to be an interesting addition to the cast. 

[JayKay]

High-five, Sakura12. Bobbi could not have arrived at a better time. I'm so, so glad she turned out awesome. My post-Arrow viewing just got a super boost.

[ottoDbusdriver]

AoS ratings continue to drop, setting another series low last night, dropping from 1.6 to 1.5 18-49 ratings, 5 to 4 ratings share, and 4.62 to 4.29 million viewers, which is surprising considering it was a decent episode (despite Skye and her daddy issues).

 

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2014/10/22/tv-ratings-tuesday-the-flash-marvels-agents-of-s-h-i-e-l-d-fall-selfie-forever-rise-person-of-interest-flat/318037/

[JayKay]

Geez, the bad word of mouth from most of last season is still running them over, I think.

[ChelseaNH]

Or it's just a niche show.

 

Yes, The Flash has more than "niche" ratings despite being a superhero show -- but it's a show about a guy who can run really fast.  I don't think you can sum up AoS or Arrow or Gotham quite so succinctly.

[kennyab]

Geez, the bad word of mouth from most of last season is still running them over, I think.

 

Plenty of people are watching, just not live. The latest L3 numbers I could find, posted for the second episode of the season, had it at a 2.8, almost matching NCIS:NO. And L3 numbers do have some bearing. Still not the biggest hit in the world, but the show's more popular than the overnights make it appear.

Edited October 22, 2014 by kennyab

[Sarahastro]

Has there been any indication that Marvel/ABC want the show to continue after this season? I'm wondering because presumably A:AoU will seriously shake things up for SHIELD. The writers indicated that they had a two-year plan way back in the early days of Season 1, but I haven't seen any indication that they're thinking about Season 3. (I don't read that many press releases or interviews, so I may have missed it.) I could see the show being planned from the beginning as a two-year project to make the audience more familiar with SHIELD in preparation for Cap 2 and then bridging the gap between Cap 2 and A:AoU by showing the rebuilding of SHIELD.

[kennyab]

Has there been any indication that Marvel/ABC want the show to continue after this season? I'm wondering because presumably A:AoU will seriously shake things up for SHIELD. The writers indicated that they had a two-year plan way back in the early days of Season 1, but I haven't seen any indication that they're thinking about Season 3. (I don't read that many press releases or interviews, so I may have missed it.) I could see the show being planned from the beginning as a two-year project to make the audience more familiar with SHIELD in preparation for Cap 2 and then bridging the gap between Cap 2 and A:AoU by showing the rebuilding of SHIELD.

 

That's an interesting question -- I hadn't heard about a two-year plan. I'd imagine that they'd still want the series to continue because of syndication. Even if they rolled AoS and Agent Carter into one syndication package, that'd still be fewer than 60 episodes. My guess is that the two years is to dovetail into the end of Phase II, not to end the series entirely.

[rujasu]

Geez, the bad word of mouth from most of last season is still running them over, I think.

 

They're also not being helped by their lead-in...

 

NBC: 8pm The Voice, 9pm Marry Me

CBS: 8pm NCIS, 9pm NCIS: New Orleans

ABC: 8pm Selfie, 8:30 Manhattan Love Story, 9pm Agents of SHIELD

 

Selfie pulled a 1.1 rating in the 18-49 category, Manhattan managed only a 0.72.  For comparison, The Flash on CW pulled a 1.4 in that timeslot.  That's right, the lead-in show for SHIELD on ABC did only half as well as the CW's offering.

 

The two comedies leading into SHIELD will probably both be cancelled in mid-season, as they're basically the two worst-performing shows on ABC.  If their replacement does well, it could help SHIELD to rebound.  That said, there's so much complex story going on in SHIELD that it may prove difficult to bring new viewers into the show.  I don't think SHIELD's ratings are ever going to go up much, but if they stabilize where they are, the show probably sticks around for another season.  It might get kicked to Friday nights though.

 

Worth reading: http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2014/10/21/abc-predictions-forever-is-likely-to-be-canceled/315834/

[FurryFury]

Yes, The Flash has more than "niche" ratings despite being a superhero show -- but it's a show about a guy who can run really fast.  I don't think you can sum up AoS or Arrow or Gotham quite so succinctly.

 

It has just started, give it time. I'm sure it will get to 1.0's by the end of the season.

AoS, yes, probably has the disadvantage of a really sucky start.

[RandomWatcher]

Holy crap, Avengers: Age of Ultron has been leaked! *does the dance of joy*

http://io9.com/our-best-look-yet-at-ultron-plus-the-hulkbuster-from-a-1649586887

[SnoGirl]

I'm actually sort of sad about the leak, thought it might give our show a numbers boost.

But the trailer itself was super fantastic!

[manbearpig]

The trailer is fantastic, but I was hoping that premiering it during Agents of Shield would give the show a little ratings boost. I mean, I'm sure most people interested in the Avengers would just wait for it to turn up online anyway, but still, I am disappointed that the trailer leaked early.

[thuganomics85]

Yeah, loved the trailer, but the show probably just lost any chance of a ratings boost next week.  Of course, I'm not sure if there would have been that big of an increase, but this show clearly needs something to increase it's live viewings.

[benteen]

Yeah, the show could have used something.  Even if it was a very minor bump.

[Amethyst]

I don't think SHIELD's ratings are ever going to go up much, but if they stabilize where they are, the show probably sticks around for another season.  It might get kicked to Friday nights though.

 

I think moving it to Friday would kill it.  Fridays and Saturdays are the graveyard of TV.  SHIELD isn't strong enough to weather that.

 

I'm not surprised about the ratings drop, really.  The stuff with The Winter Soldier and HYDRA gave the show a much needed boost, but it wasn't going to last forever.  

[redfish]

I'm not surprised about the ratings drop, really.  The stuff with The Winter Soldier and HYDRA gave the show a much needed boost, but it wasn't going to last forever.

 

If the show has to depend/rely on that to boost its profile instead of standing on its own then it's doomed to fail. Because what would have happened to the show's storyline if  they didn't release The Winter Soldier around that time? Would they have kept stalling and stalling and waiting for the movie to make the first move so that they can come up with something?

[shrewd.buddha]

I think moving it to Friday would kill it.  Fridays and Saturdays are the graveyard of TV.

ABC/Disney tries to downplay the live viewer numbers and spin the Live+3 numbers -- so if the majority of the AoS viewers are watching it recorded or on-demand, and ABC is okay with that, then moving it to Friday "shouldn't" affect its numbers..

 

I feel that ABC/Disney expected this show to be ratings success  -- a success that didn't need to be explained by saying "Well, if you look at these numbers instead of those numbers, we are winning ... something..." 

But after 27 episodes, AoS still feels very Skye-centric (to me)  and the general TV audience seems to have no urgent desire to see the show live... which, according to TVbytheNumbers,  is what translates into advertising dollars. 

Edited October 24, 2014 by shrewd.buddha

[KirkB]

I think ABC/Disney were counting on AoS being a big hit simply because of Whedon and it's connection to Avengers, except it only took audiences a couple of episodes to realize Joss had almost nothing to do with it and neither did the Avengers.

[FurryFury]

I really doubt Skye's the problem. The characterization, in general, is the problem. The "whedonesque" style they're going for requires well-defined characters and sharp dialogue to function, and Joss' brother and sister-in-law simply can't conjure the same magic. In other hands, the show could have been successful. The just aren't good writers, imo.

[JayKay]

As soon as I heard that the Nielsens had been off for 7 months and that ABC was the only network to benefit from the error, I thought of this show's ratings. Even with the Winter Soldier tie-in, they were still something like .25% lower than what we thought.

[Amethyst]

If the show has to depend/rely on that to boost its profile instead of standing on its own then it's doomed to fail. Because what would have happened to the show's storyline if  they didn't release The Winter Soldier around that time? Would they have kept stalling and stalling and waiting for the movie to make the first move so that they can come up with something?

 

I've wondered that myself.  At the time, I believe the ratings were strong, but the critical reception was rapidly dwindling, especially since it focused so much on Skye.  The show was dragging until the Winter Soldier/HYDRA stuff happened.  Ward going HYDRA showed that there was a plan for him all along, but it doesn't make up for the middling, aimless crap that preceded it.  Now the show is getting back to that aimless mode again because the hype has died down.

 

FurryFury nailed it; the characterization is a mess.  IMO, people might be more forgiving of the meandering plot if half of the characters weren't so bland.  Coulson has to be the biggest misfire.  His return was a major draws for AoS, and he acts like a self-righteous blowhard 90% of the time.  I don't think May is much better, she's written to be stone faced and does nothing else.  It is possible to be a bad-ass and show compassion (like Rosa from Brooklyn 99), but May has no expression whatsoever.  We already know about Skye and Ward.  Fitz and Simmons are great, but they can't sustain the show on their own.  Sadly, Tripp isn't a regular and Hunter is just meh. 

 

The most appreciated episodes (not necessarily the highest rated, though) usually have some outside factor like a crazy event or a guest star (Fury, Sif, Mockingbird) which doesn't say much for the main cast who should be able to hold things on their own.  Even the brief appearance of May's mother sparked interest. 

 

I think AoS would fare better with a shorter season (13 episodes) because there just isn't enough going on to justify a full season order.

[redfish]

I think AoS would fare better with a shorter season (13 episodes) because there just isn't enough going on to justify a full season order.

 

I think so too. 13 episodes are enough to create an arc without too many filler episodes or lagging. But networks/studios don't always believe in quality, it's all about the money.

[FurryFury]

A shorter season doesn't always translate into a well-written. Sleepy Hollow s1 had a few episodes with scripts so awful I've actually stopped watching the show despite liking the two leads (seriously, that episode about evil root creature in a haunted house was the worst). OTOH, most of my favorite shows ever had 20+ episodes seasons, and managed to be good despite that (I still consider Buffy season 3 and Veronica Mars season 1 to be some of the best TV seasons ever, and they had it all - great, well-paced arcs, interesting stand-alones and character development). I'm actually pretty sure that 13 or 22, in the hands of these people, AoS still wouldn't reach its potential. 

 

Also, I don't agree that Fitz and Simmons are "great" characters. Both are pretty forgettable and generic. The actress who plays Simmons has charisma, so that's her saving grace, but if you took both characters out of the show and replaced him with new lab geeks (like those guys from Flash, for example - the actress even looks the same), I'd barely notice (I'm talking about s1, it's a bit different now).

Edited October 25, 2014 by FurryFury

[JayKay]

@AgentsofSHIELD

On Tuesday's Marvel's #AgentsofSHIELD, see an EXCLUSIVE SCENE from Marvel’s "Avengers: Age of Ultron” at 9|8c on ABC!

Well, I'm excited again.

[ottoDbusdriver]

@AgentsofSHIELD
On Tuesday's Marvel's #AgentsofSHIELD, see an EXCLUSIVE SCENE from Marvel’s "Avengers: Age of Ultron” at 9|8c on ABC!

Well, I'm excited again.

 

I wonder if it's the same exclusive scene that was leaked to the Internet this past week -- or will it be different in order to lure people to tune in to AoS ?

[KirkB]

It WAS that. Marvel decided to release it publicly because of the leak.

[Cranberry]

The trailer was leaked and then they released it officially, which was a smart move. Sounds like they're going to release an actual scene from the film during AoS now.

[KirkB]

Not only that, but I particularly liked the fact that instead of getting pissed (well, publicly, I wouldn't have wanted to be in their offices at the time) Marvel blamed Hydra for the leak.

[romantic idiot]

Last year I might have agreed, but this year the show is infinity times better. I've seen this quite a bit -- just think of Buffy for the obvious Whedon example. Season one was no shining example of Whedon's talents. But it all came together in season two.

 

It's nice when networks actually stick with a show to allow writers to try different things, allow casts to gel. The ratings for SHIELD may not be that great, but at least the show's quality is improving. Hopefully ABC sees that and sticks with it a bit longer.

 

This. I think the irony is yet that the show pulled decent numbers in the beginning, when it was terrible, because people kept hoping, but then they finally went away disgusted, just when the show got better. And they've been actually having a decent Season 2 (though still too much Skye) but I figure audiences are too gun shy to come back. And the audience isn't wrong - I mean look at Smash that show was terrible in Season 1, folks kept watching still, presumably because of hope, and hate-watching. Then when Season 2 basically sounded like more of the same they just went away and stayed away. And they were right, because Smash Season 2 was so much worse. 

 

Come to think of it, same happened to Dollhouse. Terrible first season had inexplicably good rating, great Season 2 has abysmal ratings. 

 

So, the moral of the story is, don't string along audiences too long. Eventually they'll give up, and you won't ever get them back. Though I'm hoping I'm wrong, if they continue to be good. 

[KirkB]

I've never watched Smash or Dollhouse, but the thing with SHIELD is that unlike (presumably) those shows it was done on purpose here. The show runners did a deliberately low key, slow boil first half of a season,where they were either holding back or else not trying very hard, because they were waiting for/counting on the reveal of Winter Soldier. Their intention was to make up for it with the second half of the season. The problem is, they apparently didn't anticipate boring and turning off a lot of viewers before they ever got to that point. The irony is, for a lot of the people who stuck with it the entire time, the second half of the season showed they were capable of doing an exciting and interesting show, they just chose not to. I get that they needed to hold back some plot elements for the reveal but they still could have tried to make the best show possible in the interim and they didn't, IMO.

Edited October 27, 2014 by KirkB

[Irishmaple]

I think they made it too hard for themselves.  I know they couldn't encourage the hope that Chris Hemsworth and Jeremy Renner and Robert Downey Jr. would show up, but I wasn't expecting that anyway.  I liked the idea of a show about the little people cleaning up after the superheroes went through.  I don't feel I got that show early in Season 1.  The Thor tie-in was weak, the Sif tie-in I found offensive because the show failed to deal with Ward's rape and the whole early stage just dragged for no apparent reason.

[Minneapple]

ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. this Tuesday drew 4.5 million total viewers and a 1.7 demo rating, adding a few eyeballs and a tenth versus last week’s series low.

 

From TVLine. Ratings up from last week!

 

Coulson has to be the biggest misfire.  His return was a major draws for AoS, and he acts like a self-righteous blowhard 90% of the time.

 

Coulson as a bureaucratic middle management suit works with the superheroes because he's a contrast to the BIG PERSONALITIES flying around saving the world. And he had those little quirks, like being a Captain America fanboy. Last year on SHIELD it was like, what's the point? They're all humans so the most boring human of them all isn't special. Plus he was constantly droning on about Skye's awesomeness, which was the worst. This year they've toned down the droning monologues about Skye and given him more scenes with May, which benefits both characters. Last night I thought he was great. The little quirks like the Grumpy Cat mug and rewriting the senator's speech and offhandedly saying, "It's funnier now." And then telling Ward off. Perfect. 

[Tiger]

ABC needs to get this show in a new slot. I think it'd do a lot better on Wed at 10, the slot currently being wasted by Nashville.

[FurryFury]

I doubt it very much. 10 pm shows don't generally get good ratings.