Why Isn't 'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' a (Bigger) Hit?
"Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." didn't get a boost from "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" on Tuesday night. Even worse, the small-screen ABC entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe registered the smallest audience of its once-promising freshman season.
Spoiler alert: If you didn't watch Tuesday night, then you may not want to read this article about why you (possibly) didn't watch Tuesday night.
All clear?
Good. Now that there's a small group of us, let's review the confounding facts.
1. On Sunday, the "Captain America" sequel, "Winter Soldier," reasserted Marvel's muscle and set a new box-office record for an April release, grossing $95 million in its three-day, domestic debut.
2. On Tuesday, "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." deployed a "Winter Soldier" tie-in episode that saw primetime's S.H.I.E.L.D. agents learn, as their movie counterparts did, that the top-secret agency had been infiltrated by the evildoers of H.Y.D.R.A..
3. On Wednesday, the other Nielsen shoe dropped.
Tuesday's "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." averaged 5.4 million viewers, per the latest, updated overnight ratings, down from last week's 5.7 million and ever further away from the 12.1 million who sampled the show's much-anticipated premiere last September.
Jamie Lovett, who covers "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." for ComicBook.com, theorized that the storyline related to "Winter Soldier" might have actually kept audiences away.
"No one wants to have the movie spoiled for them, and believe it or not, some people can't always find the time to see a big blockbuster on opening weekend," Lovett told Yahoo TV via email.
Lovett pointed to ABC's schedule for proof that even ABC guessed it was going to take time for people to see (or want to see) the latest episode, "Turn, Turn, Turn." The episode, which is already available via streaming, will be rebroadcast next Tuesday in the show's usual 8 p.m. timeslot; a new episode will follow at 9 p.m.
"Next week's rating will really tell the tale," Lovett said.
So far, the story hasn't been impressive.
"I think ABC may have overestimated people's hunger for superheroes on a weekly basis," said Josef Adalian, West Coast editor of New York magazine's Vulture.com. "I think there's a difference between going to a movie every six months versus making a weekly commitment."
Heading into Tuesday, "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." was averaging 8.5 million TV and DVR viewers. Compared to first-year ABC shows such as "Super Fun Night" (6 million), the already-canceled "Betrayal" (4.7 million), and "Lucky 7" (4.3 million), "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." is doing well. Compared to NBC's "The Blacklist" (15 million), however, it's being shown up.
The show's relative woes have been debated since premiere week. Creatively, it's "bland," said Alan Sepinwall of Hitfix; it's "boring," Twitterverse said. A November episode, "The Well," that was linked to the then-just-released "Thor" sequel, "The Dark World," was graded a D+ by the A.V. Club.
"OK, 'S.H.I.E.L.D.' I'm at my wit's end with you," the A.V. Club's David Sims wrote.
(At least the Thor episode provided a minor Nielsen boost. That week's episode averaged 6.9 million, up from the previous week's 6.7 million.)
Demographically, "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." is up against a seemingly small segment of the network's audience, chasing a cohort of young men who don't watch TV shows on a broadcast network that, as Adalian pointed out, is geared toward women who watch "The Bachelor," "Scandal," and the like.
"ABC isn't reaching a whole bunch of young men during the week," Adalian said.
On that point, "S.H.I.E.L.D." might have turned a corner Tuesday night. It was the top broadcast network show among men ages 18-34.
The show's buzz has improved, too. Some swear the series has been getting better since late last year; others point to its last couple of months; and "Turn, Turn, Turn" is getting its share of votes as a presumptive turning point.
"... Fans who have stuck with the show ... are finally seeing 'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' turn into the show they always knew it could be," Lovett said.
And maybe ABC will see it turn into the ratings draw it hoped it might be.
"Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on ABC.