The Whimsies have weighed in on the new TV show Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD, and now it’s my turn. I have more to say than they do, because I’ve done a little research about the show, and its public reception. Since the day after the premiere episode, I’ve been reading articles about the ratings, which invariably include comments from common folk saying why they do or do not like the show. The ratings have been up and down, and so many comments show a total lack of understanding regarding the concept of the show. So I want to have my say.
First, the numbers: after the first episode, they were high. As expected. After the second week, there was a sharp drop off. What’s this? Is the show failing…already…in only its second week? Well, hold your horses. Apparently there’s a new factor when considering TV ratings. Back in the day, if you wanted to see a show, you had to watch it when it was on. So, in this case, you would have to choose between SHIELD and NCIS (another very popular show, I’m told), and I think the other contender is that American Idol type show, The Voice. Back in the day you could watch one, but not all three.
Nowadays, everyone’s got a DVR. (And even before the DVR, everyone had a VCR.) But with the DVR, it’s so incredibly easy to tell your TV to record a show for you. Two of the four people in my office made the decision to watch NCIS, but RECORD SHIELD for later viewing. If 50% of my office is using their DVR for SHIELD, how is that playing out in the rest of the country?
Well, apparently very well. I guess the powers that be have some way of determining (or at least guesstimating) how many people are watching live, and how many are watching later. And when you combine all this data, turns out SHIELD didn’t do worse in its second week, it actually did BETTER.
In fact, what this says to me is that the show is doing so well that people are saying, I’ll WATCH NCIS or The Voice, but not only do I want to watch SHIELD, I also want to KEEP it. I want to have it to watch again and again, or I want to be able to stop it so I can go back to rewatch the really cool parts, and I want to have it available so that when Aunt Mabel visits on Sunday, we can watch it together.
So there’s that. Ratings: not actually as bad as first predicted. In fact, by some accounts:
Based on Live + 3 Day data for the 2nd episode of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the new ABC drama saw significantly bigger TV playback gains than for its premiere telecast. The show surged 51% to 4.92 Adult 18-49 rating (vs. a 3.26 rating in L+SD), up from a 38% increase for its debut telecast. Additionally, the second episode of the show built 39% in L+3 to deliver 12.07 million Total Viewers (vs. 8.66 million viewers in L+SD), up from a 31% increase for its premiere.
In English, that all means…doing better, not worse.
Now. About those comments. I’ve seen totally baseless claims like Joss Whedon (the SHIELD Executive Producer) never had a hit TV show. Hello! Yeah, his last one, Dollhouse, went way over the heads of most viewers and only survived two seasons, and the one before that, Firefly, was another concept most people didn’t “get,” (futuristic western), (and FOX showing the episodes out of order on the worst night of the week for television viewing certainly didn’t help) yet it enjoys a tremendous cult following to this day. But before this, Whedon was responsible for both Buffy and Angel, seven and five seasons respectively, which generated a plethora of contributions to pop culture. So people who say Whedon never had a hit simply don’t know what they’re talking about.
And then I read this: my eight year old son will not watch SHIELD because the Hulk is not in it.
Well, first of all, your eight year old son is not the target audience for this show. Just because it takes place in a comic book universe doesn’t mean it’s for kids. It’s been 40 or 50 years since comic books were strictly for kids, so get over it. And how about this novel idea: you could watch a show that doesn’t ALSO appeal to your eight year old! (Hey! You could record it on your DVR and watch it after he’s gone to bed.)
Secondly (and this is the misconception that irks me the most), nobody ever said the Hulk would be in the SHIELD TV show. No one ever said Iron Man or Thor or Captain America would make an appearance. In fact, it was specifically stated before the show aired, that these characters would NOT appear. This is NOT The Avengers, and never claimed to be. This is a show about ordinary people in an extraordinary universe. Well, not exactly ordinary, because they’re all like super-spies, with skills galore. But it’s the HUMAN side of fighting crime, not the superhuman.
Besides, those superhero guys are all too busy making sequels to their multi-BILLION dollar movies. They don’t have time to mess around with television. Though we have already been treated to brief appearances by Maria Hill and Nick Fury….so maybe…maybe… Who knows? It could happen. Just don’t hold your breath.
Another comment I heard is: I keep waiting for something to happen. Again, this sort of thinking springs from expecting the SHIELD TV show to be like one of the Marvel movies, which it explicitly is NOT. Things are not going to move as fast on a TV show as they do in a movie. Yet, having said that, I have to wonder why last week’s unidentified object with the capability to obliterate the entire planet does not qualify as “something happening”? What? You want something more to happen than THAT? Buildings blowing up, genetic experimentation gone wrong, gunfights in the jungles of Peru, an explosion on a plane? Not good enough? What else are you waiting for?
And again…if you’re waiting for the Avengers to show up, it’s not going to happen.
Okay, here’s another one. I honestly can’t believe I read this one: All the actors are so young and attractive….what is this, Dawson’s Creek? Well, perhaps we should have a team of agents who are all old and ugly? Would that make you feel better? Get real. Young and attractive is the STAPLE of television, and of all fantasy literature. Unless you’re watching a situation comedy about a frumpy old married couple, almost everyone on TV is young and attractive. (And even the frumpy old married couple have attractive children.)
I mean, really? Are we now MAKING UP reasons not to like this show?
I could go on, but you get the idea. Apparently there are a lot of people out there who just don’t “get it,” who are not willing to let this show be what it is: NOT The Avengers. It’s not a movie, it’s not The Avengers. But as a TV show, it’s at least as good, and probably better than most of the offerings out there.
Apparently in the Marvel Universe there’s a team, appropriately called Damage Control, that comes in afterwards to clean up the destruction created during the super battles between superheroes and super villains. They are the janitors and construction workers of the Marvel Universe. I’ve heard it jokingly suggested that perhaps there ought to be a show about these people. I don’t know that something like this would go over really big, but I feel certain that if anyone were to undertake such a creative endeavor, there would be a ton of people out there bellyaching because the main characters are too attractive and don’t have superpowers.
Look. An apple is not an orange. It’s an apple. When you’re eating an orange, enjoy the orange, but when you’re eating apples, don’t hate them because they’re not oranges. Enjoy the apples for their appley goodness.
SHIELD has a lot of that tangy appley goodness. The writing is sharp, a ton of great lines. The characters are all coming into their own. They have flaws (as all good characters should) but by and large they are mostly likeable. I’ve only seen two episodes so far, so we’ll have to see how it progresses, but right now the stories and situations look like they’re going to be at least as good as anything else on TV. Episodic, as any show is in its infancy, but every character has already been given a backstory, there are mysteries, and we are eagerly awaiting the development of some arc storylines. If there’s one thing Joss Whedon knows how to do, it’s the arc storyline.
I am willing to give this show a chance to stand on its own, with only a thin lifeline connecting it to the larger Marvel Universe. I believe we can have magic, if we just give it half a chance, and stop wishing for Captain America to swoop down and rescue us. Sometimes we need Captain America, but until we do (and are willing to shell out $10 for a ticket to see him in the movie theater), the Agents of SHIELD have things well in hand, thank you very much.
