After premiering back in September with a bumper audience of 12.12 million viewers in the States, Marvel’s first live-action foray into television Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has struggled to maintain its ratings, losing viewers virtually every week and losing almost half of its audience by the midway point in its first (and only?) season. Speaking at the Television Critics Assocation Winter Press Tour, ABC president Paul Lee has spoken about the ratings slide, as well as teasing what’s in store for the remaining half of the season.
“”It was obviously disappointing that we started with a very high number and it came down,” states Lee (via CBR). “It took a little bit of time to find our sea legs, but now the show is really doing well. Creatively, we are loving what we’re seeing for the back nine. We’re doing a lot of work, and I’m really enjoying doing this with Marvel. We can announce that Lady Sif is coming in, in Episode 15. We’re shooting it now, and that’s going to be absolutely integral to that hour of television. And then, there’s going to be this really cool arc to the end of the season. You’re going to find out who the Clairvoyant is, and it’s going to be very, very cool.”
“It did take us a little bit of time to find our sea legs,” he continues. “I think the key to us was really starting to work closely with the studios, and really figure out with our showrunners and all the creative brains, how we could have a show that didn’t have Iron Man in it, but did have an incredible amount of the Marvel universe and an incredible amount of the mythology that went through there. We also took a little bit of time to get the balance between a procedural and an arc. I’m so proud of how they’ve now arced out the last nine episodes. But, that’s something that many shows do, as they go through that.”
Are you optimistic for the remaining episodes of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.? Let us know in the comments below….
Originally published January 21, 2014. Updated November 28, 2022.
