Friday, April 19, 2024

TV: “This is Us,” A Ratings Hype Machine for Five Seasons, Suffers Lowest Ratings Ever, Falls Under 5 Million

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Looks like fans may be tired of crying for the Pearsons.

This fifth season of “This is Us,” a five hanky weeper of a soap opera, is in a spiral down in the ratings this season.

Last night the drama hit 4.8 million, down from the season start last fall of 7.3 million. Each week this season has shown a deterioration as all the big “surprises” and reveals from the past and future have been used up. Jack is still dead, just like Generalissimo Franco (that’s an old SNL joke).

In its early days, “This is Us” was scoring 10 or 12 million viewers a night. After the Super Bowl a couple of years ago, it drew a staggering 26 million.

Little by little, the “This is Us” audience is moving on and moving away. Delayed viewing might help but the trend is there. And they still have to make it to the middle of May with eight more episodes. They may want consider wrapping it up now rather than go for a sixth even shortened season.

Now is the time for Sterling K. Brown to make his move into film. He should really be able to go along the trail blazed by Viola Davis. Fingers crossed.

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.
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