Comments on: RATINGS: DST Hits Chuck Hard

By: weaselone

weaselone — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:40:35 +0000

I stand corrected, but would also point out we have yet to see the ratings against DWTS.

By: Northwind

Northwind — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 08:20:48 +0000

I agree, too. The major push was last year. Another push will not likely be as strong or determined. Too many viewers have pushed Chuck out of “must watch” into “maybe I’ll TiVo it” (including me) or “this is NOT what I wanted!” and simply left. Criticisms of the show’s direction and errors (real or perceived) throughout the season can be found in all manner of other places on this site and elsewhere.

Chuck’s ratings per episode for this season, on average, are running no better than last season. They might actually be a shade worse with the “Tic Tac” ratings figured in, which is not good and not why NBC renewed it. They were looking for improvement and they are not getting it.

NBC has a schedule full of shipwrecks, but Chuck can’t be considered safe with numbers like these, even if it is one of the higher-ranked shows on that network. It barely got Season 3 (and not a full one) and now…? I think if the numbers are still this bad by the Monday after Easter… well, it will get dicey for a renewal.

Either way, Chuck fans, enjoy the ride while it lasts, whether it ends this year or five years later.

By: John

John — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 01:58:24 +0000

I’m a Johnny-come-lately to this discussion, but screw it; here’s my two cents. As someone who’s rabidly anti-Charah and long supporter of Chuck, I’d actually looked forward to this season and the possibility that some kind of permanent, self-referential development might come about regarding Chuck, Sarah and their endless Twilight-esque abstinence tango. And by permanent, I mean please God, KILL IT WITH FIRE. Bring in Bryce 3.0 so the emotionally-retarded assassin has someone to fool around with and turn Chuck into the angsty, driven weapon that he has the capacity to be. Let’s be honest; Chuck’s transition into being a bad-ass is pure PG-13 geek porn where he gets to be Neo without the constant green tint, bullet-time effects and BS philosophy. What did Matrix 2 & 3 teach us? DON’T GIVE THE UBER-GEEK A GIRLFRIEND. He becomes lazy, stupid and insecure.

But the my experience with the show this season has only proven to me what I’d feared beforehand. Chuck has gone from being an intriguing and comical fish-out-of-water tale to one of the most schizophrenic shows I’ve ever encountered. It seems that TPTB don’t know whether the show should be The Office, 24 or The Bachelor. It’s not so surprising I suppose; when you’re literally lifted off the dung-heap by fans, you suddenly feel the pressure to be all things to all people and second-guess your second-guesses on the course of the show, hanging all the transient happenings on the context of a bland formulaic mishmash that has all the freshness and repeatability of having your face smashed with a brick.

I’m sure the writers and producers don’t care but as of Tic Tac, they’ve lost a viewer. I’m so done with the show; at least Castle is on Mondays.

-JG

By: Scotty

Scotty — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 01:53:03 +0000

I haven’t read all the posts but can anyone say SPRING BREAK! The numbers are off due to DST and SPRING BREAK – all over the place families are vacationing, traveling, etc. This show is watched by a lot of families and this week of SPRING BREAK – especially the fact that Chuck airs on Monday (early in the week) is tough to overcome when we’ve had such a brutal winter and people are ready to get out of the rut of life.

So take heart Chuck fans! Next week will see a ratings rebound especially when all the people who skipped Mondays show (due to SPRING RBEAK) watch it on Hulu and see the momentum that is building toward a great season ending run…

By: TCat

TCat — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 20:23:37 +0000

I’d rather see CHUCK ‘behind the eight ball’ than ‘on-the-bubble’. I’ve been so disappointed to see the negativity in posts/blogs about this season. Praying that the ratings dip is due to DST and not viewers turning on the show we all felt was so worth saving. I will remain loyal! Never have missed an episode and don’t plan on starting now. I hope the ratings will be better in the coming weeks…

By: buymoriaking

buymoriaking — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 16:48:54 +0000

While I agree with you that Chuck cannot afford to lose viewers (for whatever reason), that’s not the point.

The point is that DST is having a measurable effect on TV viewing. Just look at last night’s ratings for the Tuesday night shows

http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/03/17/tv-ratings-fox-but-lost-ncis-parenthood-and-many-other-fall/45237

So far, shows are getting hit with 10% declines compared to last week. The point is that less people are watching TV because of DST. So the drop in ratings for Chuck has more to do with DST than “quality” of the show. It’s not Chuck that’s dropping, but every other show on network TV.

By: Gambs

Gambs — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 16:44:40 +0000

The silver lining in all of this (if there really is any) is that the numbers are out for Tuesday’s shows, and every show across the major networks also nose-dived this week. The curse of Daylight Savings Time hit them hard. Tuesday staples like NCIS, The Biggest Loser, Lost, NCIS: LA, The Good Wife, etc. all had season lows. Lost tied it’s all-time low. Only American Idol was immune. (Idol is like a cockroach–it could survive a nuclear explosion.)

Hopefully, the Chuck ratings will rebound next week.

By: Nan

Nan — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:49:17 +0000

I think Spring break has a lot to do with the stats. House usually has a very strong following and it took a hit too. The numbers should be back up next week.

By: Mel

Mel — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:25:50 +0000

Chuck got a 2.0 last year against DST and the premiere of DWTS. (source)

By: weaselone

weaselone — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:21:37 +0000

The entire show is a work of fiction. If people don’t like what they’re seeing, what reason is there to watch it? It’s also not like the only choices are Chuck, a tired episode of House, or dancing has beens. People can turn off the TV, particularly now that it’s still light outside at 8 PM. To paraphrase Jeff, they have many tasty options.

I suspect the huge drop is largely attributable to DST, but the problem remains that we have a 1.9 vs a 2.1 vs DST last season, a season in which Chuck nearly canceled. No matter how you slice it that’s a year over year loss of .2 in demo. Hopefully, this year a combination of overall better weather in the rest of the country and weather problems in the Northeast led to a greater decline and ratings will spring back to 2.4 next week.