Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. The RATINGS Thread - Part 2

[Zarex]

Don't forget the Winter Soldier gut shot. I suspect the show would have worked better, and succeeded better, if its premise didn't get destroyed by movie plot turns. Not that I blame the movies, it was a good plot that made sense in context

The events of CA:TWS certainly changed the status of SHIELD, but I believe for the better. After flailing away for the first half of season 1, the fall of SHIELD gave the team focus. Rather than have Coulson lead a team of extremely well equipped operatives on missions for an enormously powerful multi-national agency, you had the team reduced to a fragile group that was in over its head. Grant Ward suddenly became interesting and Bill Paxton was chewing up scenery. It was truly compelling television.

The show largely backtracked from this in Season 2 as the team suddenly had an enormous well equipped base, a large support staff and apparently an unending source of funding (which was referenced in the last episode of AOS). IMO the cinematic MCU did the show a favor that they didn't take advantage of.

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

The events of CA:TWS certainly changed the status of SHIELD, but I believe for the better. After flailing away for the first half of season 1, the fall of SHIELD gave the team focus. Rather than have Coulson lead a team of extremely well equipped operatives on missions for an enormously powerful multi-national agency, you had the team reduced to a fragile group that was in over its head. Grant Ward suddenly became interesting and Bill Paxton was chewing up scenery. It was truly compelling television.

The show largely backtracked from this in Season 2 as the team suddenly had an enormous well equipped base, a large support staff and apparently an unending source of funding (which was referenced in the last episode of AOS). IMO the cinematic MCU did the show a favor that they didn't take advantage of.

Yeah, plus remember how weak the first 2/3rd of Season 1 was? It was not a good show at all at that point. Things got noticeably better after TWS hit.

And while ratings have continued to drop over the time since, they bled a ton of viewers in the early days.

 

[Zarex]

The biggest problem to me is that the promise that this would be a real-time integral part of the cinematic MCU was never kept. I understand the reasons why - contracts, budgets, scheduling, blah, blah, blah. But the show's format kept AOS beholden to what was happening in the movies without (with the exception of CA:CW) benefiting. It's not a shock that Marvel's most successful on-screen efforts pay little mind to the guys that caused a scene at an airport.

 

[metaphysician]

The events of CA:TWS certainly changed the status of SHIELD, but I believe for the better. After flailing away for the first half of season 1, the fall of SHIELD gave the team focus. Rather than have Coulson lead a team of extremely well equipped operatives on missions for an enormously powerful multi-national agency, you had the team reduced to a fragile group that was in over its head. Grant Ward suddenly became interesting and Bill Paxton was chewing up scenery. It was truly compelling television.

The show largely backtracked from this in Season 2 as the team suddenly had an enormous well equipped base, a large support staff and apparently an unending source of funding (which was referenced in the last episode of AOS). IMO the cinematic MCU did the show a favor that they didn't take advantage of.

The thing is, I think the reason for the backtrack was that, fundamentally, ABC did not want Super A-Team. They wanted Super NCIS. That was the show they were sold, and greenlit. If they had fully known about the Winter Soldier twist during development, they likely wouldn't have approved the show in the first place. They might have approved some other, radically different show, but it likely wouldn't have been SHIELD-based.

 

[scarlet-witch]

That tone can absolutely transfer to a TV series. It just has to be applied to interesting characters that people will care about. This is where AoS dropped the ball, imo. Phil Coulson was NEVER series lead material, and the characters they surrounded him with, barring a couple exceptions, weren't any better to me.

Coulson, IMO has the power to be a good lead character, but they haven't let him since they decided the show should be Daisy of SHIELD.

I think TWS did this show a huge favor, but I'm not sure what they can do at this point to gain any viewers back. I'd like to think getting rid of Daisy would do that, but I'm not sure the majority hate her.

 

[Zarex]

The thing is, I think the reason for the backtrack was that, fundamentally, ABC did not want Super A-Team. They wanted Super NCIS. That was the show they were sold, and greenlit. If they had fully known about the Winter Soldier twist during development, they likely wouldn't have approved the show in the first place. They might have approved some other, radically different show, but it likely wouldn't have been SHIELD-based.

Makes sense. Fans of the cinematic MCU wanted something that had the heart and humor of the films and ABC execs wanted a franchise of bland brand-name procedurals that could fill the 9PM time slot three nights a week (AOS: Sacramento! AOS: Milwaukee!). Unfortunately, neither group ended up happy with the result.

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

Coulson, IMO has the power to be a good lead character, but they haven't let him since they decided the show should be Daisy of SHIELD.

I think TWS did this show a huge favor, but I'm not sure what they can do at this point to gain any viewers back. I'd like to think getting rid of Daisy would do that, but I'm not sure the majority hate her.

Way too late. Very rare for a show to gain viewers back once they are lost.

 

[Darepool]

The mere fact that it's getting Agent Carter level ratings pretty much negates the premise that Ghost Rider is a draw.

???????

This show was a failure since conception. It reeks of desperation. It's improved dramatically since season 1 but they've been trying to get the viewers back ever since, which was always going to be a lost cause. Adding Ghost Rider was just an elaborate slight of hand which viewers are too intelligent to fall for. The poster who mentioned a Whedon show without Whedon was spot on. In my opinion I think Marvel should forget about network television and focus on high quality content with Netflix, Hulu, FX etc. Network television is an outdated model of general mediocrity anyway.

A Ghost Rider show would definitely draw in a new audience though. I just hope it wouldn't be attempted on ABC. That would be such a waste.

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

Part of the problem is that if you are a Marvel fan, there is so much else out there that is of such greater quality. I think Agents of Shield is entertaining enough for something to watch, but the quality is nowhere near the level of Daredevil, Jessica Jones, or Luke Cage. The look, the writing, and the acting of those shows are so much better than Agents of Shield (or Agent Carter). If it was the only Marvel show on there would be more of a hook, but there isn't anything special about it now.

 

[Darepool]

Part of the problem is that if you are a Marvel fan, there is so much else out there that is of such greater quality. I think Agents of Shield is entertaining enough for something to watch, but the quality is nowhere near the level of Daredevil, Jessica Jones, or Luke Cage. The look, the writing, and the acting of those shows are so much better than Agents of Shield (or Agent Carter). If it was the only Marvel show on there would be more of a hook, but there isn't anything special about it now.

Agreed.

All that Ghost Rider has added for me this season is wishing the show was about him exclusively.

 

[Marvel]

Part of the problem is that if you are a Marvel fan, there is so much else out there that is of such greater quality. I think Agents of Shield is entertaining enough for something to watch, but the quality is nowhere near the level of Daredevil, Jessica Jones, or Luke Cage. The look, the writing, and the acting of those shows are so much better than Agents of Shield (or Agent Carter). If it was the only Marvel show on there would be more of a hook, but there isn't anything special about it now.

The writing and acting on Agents of Shield is FAR better than what we saw from Jessica Jones, period.

I don't understand how people aren't impressed with the performances week in and week out. De Caestecker and Henstridge are constantly award worthy good.

 

[metaphysician]

Makes sense. Fans of the cinematic MCU wanted something that had the heart and humor of the films and ABC execs wanted a franchise of bland brand-name procedurals that could fill the 9PM time slot three nights a week (AOS: Sacramento! AOS: Milwaukee!). Unfortunately, neither group ended up happy with the result.

Eh, there's no reason you couldn't have a procedural with the heart and humor of the films. ABC just didn't produce that, and eventually gave up in the name of continual premise churn.

 

[metaphysician]

The writing and acting on Agents of Shield is FAR better than what we saw from Jessica Jones, period.

You might be the only person in the world to think that, note.

 

[HFK]

The writing and acting on Agents of Shield is FAR better than what we saw from Jessica Jones, period.

You might be the only person in the world to think that, note.

He isn't the only one. For me JJ was a chore to watch all the way through. I watched the first four and took a few months off then forced myself to watch the rest. Hopefully down the line we get some pay-off with the characters introduced but the show itself was awful.

 

[OB12]

I don't necessarily agree about Jessica Jones, I thought it was well written and well acted. However, this general feeling that the Netflix shows are inherently better than AoS doesn't fly with me. The show has some good characters and they have had some really powerful scenes. By the same token, the Netflix shows have had their share of cheesy moments.

 

[giveyourself12%]

AoS has become my favorite current show. I haven't seen the Netflix shows but they haven't piqued my interest at all.

 

[chamber-music]

I think the writing and acting is better on the Netflix shows but they clearly have more freedom and time to work on the Netflix shows than the Agent's Of Shield people do.

For me Agents of Shield quality is a bit inconsistent. They can have a run of a few strong episodes and then have a couple dull weak ones.

 

[darthcoolness3]

I think Agents of SHIELD is a good show, it is just that politics from the president have been bashing the ratings to pieces for every season, and forcing ABC to delay the next episode by 1 week or multiple weeks to lose viewers, so it is the president's fault for making Agents of SHIELD do horrible on ABC.

 

[greenlantern248]

I think the writing and acting is better on the Netflix shows but they clearly have more freedom and time to work on the Netflix shows than the Agent's Of Shield people do.

Thank you, finally someone else who mentioned this.
I really wish people would stop comparing the Netflix series to television series. Netflix has more time, less restrictions and probably a bigger budget.

A better comparison for AoS would be Flash, Arrow, Legends and Supergirl. Or any other hour long drama on broadcast television.

 

[Aztec]

Thank you, finally someone else who mentioned this.
I really wish people would stop comparing the Netflix series to television series. Netflix has more time, less restrictions and probably a bigger budget.

A better comparison for AoS would be Flash, Arrow, Legends and Supergirl. Or any other hour long drama on broadcast television.

But you are ignoring the facts that:
A) AoS is supposed to be a brother show to the Netflix shows. So comparisons are fair game.
B) The fact that Netflix shows are SO much better than network show is the whole point of the argument. So it's irrelevant to say they shouldn't be compared.

Just a few random points here:
1) Jessica Jones was an excellent show. I'll acknowledge it was weaker than DD or LC but still very strong television. It's biggest flaw was that it was about 5 episodes too long (the middle episodes were rather redundant). There were moments in that show that were legit terrifying.

2) AoS has definitely improved this season since I last watched it....but not much. Ghost Rider has been an excellent addition but he is about all I want to see on this show. Fitz and Simmons are just dreadful to watch. Terrible characters. I like the idea of a GR spinoff (in part because then I would have no incentive to watch AoS) but it needs to be on Netflix. An ABC show would not work.

 

[Shifty]

New low for live viewership. How long until it dips below 2 million?

Agents of SHIELD (ABC) 0.9 2.68 million viewers

 

[Mike Murdock]

How does it compare to the 10:00 slot last year?

 

[Zarex]

How does it compare to the 10:00 slot last year?

Its an improvement over Wicked City, which was cancelled after three episodes. TV By the Numbers has AOS in the "Tossup" category for renewal or cancellation. I still think it will get at least a final half year season (AOS: Countdown to Infinity).

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/re...-vs-abc-week-3-conviction-is-in-ratings-jail/


Some folks appear to take delight in discussing AOS's ratings struggles, but the show is far from ABC's biggest problem. TV By the Numbers uses a Cancellation Bear format for a reason - AOS doesn't have to outrun the bear, it just has to outrun other ABC shows like Conviction, Quantico, Notorious and Secrets & Lies.

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/rc...-ratings-matter-for-your-favorite-tv-shows-3/

 

[darthcoolness3]

New low for live viewership. How long until it dips below 2 million?

Agents of SHIELD (ABC) 0.9 2.68 million viewers

Blame it on the presidential debate from last week that pushed the viewers away from the show

 

[scarlet-witch]

Way too late. Very rare for a show to gain viewers back once they are lost.

It's too bad this should started before TWS. A lot of people I know that gave AoS a chance quit after the first few episodes and never got to see it be better after the Hydra reveal. A few of them tried to watch again, but got put off by the Inhuman stuff.

I can't see this show getting renewed again. Can May, FitzSimmons, and Mack somehow end up in The Defenders?