An extended mid-season break has bitten The Simpsons dearly in the ratings, with Sundays episode ‘Lisa The Drama Queen’ fetching just 5.75 million viewers at 8:00pm, a new all time low for the show. The previous record low was last season’s “Mona Leaves-a” which had 6.02 million viewers. Third place now belongs to “All About Lisa” with 6.11 million. The previous lowest ranking episode for this season was “The Burns and the Bees” which had 6.19 million viewers, now fifth least-watched of all time.
It was a slow night all around, though, with the highest watched show being 60 Minutes which had 14.8 million viewers. A repeat of Family Guy managed 6.4 million, and even a new American Dad scored 5.73 million viewers at 9.30. Fox was fourth overall as well as in the target demographic. The Simpsons was also in fourth place at 8pm.
Simpsons Channel predicts viewership will soon strike even lower, if not this season then certainly next. It’s been a tough 12 months for the show with the top 5 least watched episodes all coming from this period.
These numbers are very bad for the future of The SImpsons Show. They had some bad ratings in the past, but these constantly low numbers should be a red light for people who work in Simpson team: They got to change something fast!
I certainly understand that it is impossible that every episode has top rates, but the Simpsons are now trying to set up some new records: Lowest rated show in history… 🙁
It’s sad but unfortuently predictable. A long break, lack of advertising as I understand. It’s a shame but it’s quite hard to stimulate more interest in the show, it’s been on for so long that everyone knows what to expect from it.
It’s a shame ratings matter so much because frankly there have been some really strong showings recently, this episode was a personal highlight for me. I wish there was a magic way to get it more viewers but familitarity breeds contempt as they say. I daresay it’ll keep going for a while longer and when they do throw in the towel eventually then I would imagine advertising the final season would bring in a much higher crowd. I would like to think the final ever episode would bring in a hell of a lot of viewers. However lets not discuss that yet, it really isn’t that bad 🙂
‘Lisa The Beauty Queen’ ?
Yeah, as I sad, it’s only “red light” yet: Show is still not over, they got plenty of time to work on them, and I hope that numbers will be much better in the future! 😉
well i think that this was one of the worst simpsons episode’s, i like the simpsons very much but come on, it was a show about nothing, it only had one plot(lisa and her friend). i believe that it was one of the worst. If they want to improve ratings they should look at some of the clasic simpson’s episodes and see what they are doing wrong…
I acctually liked this episode a lot. I think that everyone was in great character and I for one had many good laughts. 😀 I also liked the plot (maybe becouse I, just like them, live in my own fantasy world sometimes) and I must say that I usually like the episodes where ther’s only one plot instead of two better. I might even say that this was one of my favorite episodes this season.
The raitings don’t bother my to much, it’s understandable by many reasons. I think that many people (from all around the world) looks at the eps on internet, just like I do. I would of course watch it on Tv if I could, but I don’t live in the US so…
The clear problem is, if there is a mid-season break, you’ve gotta advertise the show properly. If you don’t, people will inevitably not know unless they are die hard fans or stumble across it by accident.
I’ve said it for years, literally years, get The Simpsons off Fox.
The poll question, the lack of advertising + midseason break + weaker episodes + internet downloads = Cancelled show.
Options are easy, have a solid 22 week running of the Simpsons, have promotions for the episdoe available before hand every Wednesday and make sure they get across, change the schedule or whathaveyou. Shame, real shame. 5.75 is catastrophically low, if you think the UK can get 2/3 million on channel 4 as 6pm, not even a new episode. Maybe time to relocate, go UK, we all love it and watch it over here.
No, this episode wasn’t really funny in any way concerning the plot and it was stupid that once again a pointless character was created and then killed off in order to achieve ratings (which it didn’t). The episode had a kind of lesbian flavour to it which wasn’t funny or part of Lisa’s character at all. And isn’t it a bit too late for parodies of fantasy tales like Narnia?
Fixed the ‘Beauty Queen’ mistake which just goes to show titling episodes exactly the same is a stupid idea
@Gaulty@ The poll question, the lack of advertising + midseason break + weaker episodes + internet downloads = Cancelled show.
This is precisely formula of doom of many shows: Quality of the Simpsons isn’t main problem- main problem is internet downloads of episodes.
This episode maybe was not top quality one, but it’s certainly not real reason for low rates: I will only remind You that You can say that episode was bad or good one, only if You watch it! 😉
It’s not the timeslot, it’s the quality. Long ago in the past, in the early 90’s, the Simpsons timeslot kept getting changed and the date went from Sunday to Tuesday and back to Sunday. Despite that, it still went strong and became one of the greatest cartoon series of all time. Why? Because the Simpsons was awesome back then. Few episodes made you go “meh”, and rarely-VERY RARELY!-was there a bad Simpsons episode from the early to mid 90’s. Though Lisa the Drama Queen is hardly the worst Simpsons episode ever, it is far from being one of the best Simpsons episodes.
Compare to now: the timeslot is fairly stable (compared to back then) and a majority of the episodes make you go “meh”. While some really stand out, others are just awful. From recycling their own storylines, “Homer-does-something-really-stupid-and-bad-stuff-happens” plotlines, and other problems, I doubt it’s the TIMESLOT that’s deterring viewers.
Why don’t I watch the new episodes of the Simpsons anymore? No, it’s not because of the timeslot. It’s the horrible quality of the show. I don’t care how early or a late a show comes on, if I want to watch a show, then I can assure you an shifted timeslot will be no deterrant to me.
By fa, this is the worst Simpsons episode ever. It’s one of the dull Lisa episodes, while the better ones are older. I hope the Simpsons won’t boost down ratings in the future.
This episode was crap and i was totally p****d off by it.
Look what somebody posted on the Family Guy facebook page (about their Emmy Nomination)
‘woooooh…FG is so much better than simpsons anyway….Simpsons has just tried to copy family guy and failed misrabley’
How could somebody be so ignorant towards the history of sit coms.
South Park is WAAAAAAAAAAAAaaY better than Family Guy. Family Guy is pretty lame too.
Worst episode ever!
they should let the show die already. the new episodes suck
This Episode deserved this, it is by a mile the worst episode ever and everyone agrees