View Full Version : 'Terminator' premiere down 36 percent


Brian Damage
09-09-2008, 07:47 PM
The fall season continues to roll in in drips and drabs, and last night, Fox's Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles was the new kid on the ratings block after airing its second-season premiere at 8 p.m. According to overnight data, the debut snagged 6.3 million viewers, a huge 36 percent decline from its first-season average of 9.8 million viewers. Things may only get worse for Terminator when it goes head-to-head with ABC's powerhouse Dancing with the Stars and CBS' s decently rated comedies The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother in two weeks.

Last night's 8 p.m. hour also saw some 8 million viewers flock to NBC's Deal or No Deal, while the second episode of The CW's Gossip Girl dropped just 200,000 viewers from last week to 3.2 million, enough to again win its key demos of adults 18-34, women 18-34, and females 12-34, which is even juicier than an overall-viewership win to CW execs. Finally, sealing its fate as somewhat of a failed summer experiment, ABC's drab High School Musical: Get in the Picture had its finale, finishing its season with a paltry 4.1 million viewers.

In other Monday night news, at 9 p.m., The CW's One Tree Hill bested its Gossip Girl lead-in by 100,000 viewers, after its premiere last week actually came in slightly below Gossip Girl's. Fox's Prison Break pulled in 6.5 million viewers, improving over its premiere episode by 300,000 viewers, and seems to be slowly inching toward the 7.5 million viewers it averaged last season. But, again, the competition hasn't arrived yet — Heroes debuts in two weeks. But maybe the rising tide (i.e. Heroes) will lift all ships (i.e. Prison Break)?

As for 10 p.m., it was really no shocker: A repeat episode of CBS's CSI: Miami bested NBC's Dateline and ABC's CMA Music Festival, took the hour with 7.4 million viewers. Not too shabby for an already-ran.

http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2008/09/monday-ratings.html

TJL
09-09-2008, 08:14 PM
The season premiere was pretty good. I hope the show can gain some viewers, or els it's history.

Sci Fi channel! Start saving your pennies. I think you guys should pick this one up.

;)

Brian Damage
09-09-2008, 08:17 PM
The season premiere was pretty good. I hope the show can gain some viewers, or els it's history.

Sci Fi channel! Start saving your pennies. I think you guys should pick this one up.

;)


Knowing the history of FOX very well, this show is probably already on the endangered list.

Skywalker
09-09-2008, 08:49 PM
FOX started their fall lineup a week too early, IMO. I think the main reason why the ratings are down is because it was going up against the season premiere of MNF. Last season this wasn't a problem because Terminator didn't start until January or February, after the football season was over. I just hope they don't cancel it, it's one of the few shows FOX has thats actually worth watching. I think they should have waited until January to air Terminator like they did last season. Put it with 24 and you've got a great lineup.

TJL
09-09-2008, 08:59 PM
FOX started their fall lineup a week too early, IMO. I think the main reason why the ratings are down is because it was going up against the season premiere of MNF. Last season this wasn't a problem because Terminator didn't start until January or February, after the football season was over. I just hope they don't cancel it, it's one of the few shows FOX has thats actually worth watching. I think they should have waited until January to air Terminator like they did last season. Put it with 24 and you've got a great lineup.


Good point. Terminator had less competition last season.

TJL
09-09-2008, 09:09 PM
A brief aside here:

Did you guys notice that Sarah and John only steal Jeeps?

I guess product placement is something they have to protect in the future.

;)

Brian Damage
09-09-2008, 09:14 PM
A brief aside here:

Did you guys notice that Sarah and John only steal Jeeps?

I guess product placement is something they have to protect in the future.

;)


:lol:

TV DVD Fan
09-11-2008, 05:42 PM
Good point, Brian. I know that in the pilot one of the computers that had all of Sarah's information on it listed her vehicle as an '84 Jeep. She did have an '84 Jeep at the end of THE TERMINATOR (T1), but I don't think that that vehicle is still around in 2007. She probably lost her car and everything she owned after she was put in Pescadero.

I loved the premiere--- Terminators possibly showing some form of emotion for the first time, a new T-1000ish model (although I wish that they would've left Catherine human and gotten a new actor to play the new villain), John taking a stand on his place in the future (and in the present), some more great stuff with Charley and Derek's tense relationship, since they're both invested in Sarah in their own individual ways, and just so much action. The most brilliant thing about this episode though was seeing the true dark side of Cameron and seeing just how right Sarah was when she said "No one is ever safe" in the pilot. And it appears that Derek was right to mistrust her! The ratings better pick up. FOX already dropped one show we loved (BACK TO YOU), and I'm just not ready for them to drop another. Especially since I want to see how the show ends (What happens in Josh Friedman's Terminator future?). It's so interesting to see everybody's visions of what TERMINATOR, the franchise, is and what it means to them: Jon Mostow, Josh Friedman, John Wirth, Mario Kassar, Joel B. Michaels, James Middleton, Andrew G. Vajna, McG, Gale Anne Hurd, William Wisher, Jr., Stephanie Austin (an integral part of putting T2 together if you don't know her by name), and of course, the man who started the whole thing: James Cameron.

PLEASE FOX... GIVE SARAH A CHANCE!