The good news for Damages is that more people watched the finale than had been watching on average for the season, the bad news is that relatively speaking, not very many people watched. From James Hibberd:
The second-season finale of FX’s “Damages” was notably lower than its first-season closer. Wednesday night’s “Damages” pulled 1 million viewers, 500,000 of which were adults 18-49. That’s down 32% in the demo from last season; though, as one would expect, the finale was above average (by 11%) compared with its overall average
My guess is that the actual number is slightly less than a million and that this is rounded up. We might not know for sure until Tuesday, but either way it was more than 100,000 more viewers than last Wednesday’s episode. Hibberd says the show is considered safe despite the dropoff because a 3rd season was announced at the same time as a second season.
It will be interesting to see just how safe it is. Beyond the ratings (which are lousy), the show brings in some critical acclaim, which might be a big deal for FX. DVD sales might also factor into it, and though the numbers are low, it’s a good bet that Damages scores well with high-income viewers.
Here’s a comparison of last week’s viewer numbers for Damages and Breaking Bad.
The Damages ratings have been poor this season but I would bet that FX will push for it when it comes to awards season and they can use as a way to entice viewers to tune. It’s not an easy show to tune in so it understandable that ratings were low.
I believe that Sony Pictures is putting up most of the money and FX only pays the license fee plus it co-produced by them via FX Productions so they will get a cut of the money from DVD and international sydication.
Damages performs much better (at least on first airings) internationally than it does domestically that probably isn’t a good sign and is one of the only shows I can think of off the top of my head that, that’s true of. I fully expect the UK airing of the second season finale to top 1 million viewers despite the ratings drop this year.
Whether or not the international success is something that will play a part in its future I don’t know. I know the DVD sales over here at least are very strong and I know the BBC would likely up their financial commitment to the show next year if asked and that Sky (amongst others) would be willing to do so if the BBC don’t, whether or not Sony will lower the cost to FX believing they can offset it internationally is debatable.
Personally I don’t think FX cancel Damages. I think they bring it back for a third and final season and bask in the critical praise for another year.
I agree and also think FX and the producers of Damages should consider making the third season the last and come up with a juicy story so the show goes out with a bang and scoop all the awards and critical acclaim.
Thank you, Robert! Glenn Close was on Jimmy Fallon the other night and implied that the writers didn’t create an outline for season 2. “They’re constantly changing things”, she remarked. As a TV writer myself, I can tell you an outline is very important for a serialized show.
I saw a similar problem with Battlestar Galactica season 3. Oh, well.
Damages performs much better (at least on first airings) internationally than it does domestically that probably isn’t a good sign and is one of the only shows I can think of off the top of my head that, that’s true of.
How about Heroes? Much better over seas, I heard France still loves the show.
I’m pretty sure that individual airings of Heroes internationally still under perform what its doing in the US – the ratings have fallen across the globe through season two and three. I don’t however see numbers regularly enough for anywhere but the US and UK to judge with Heroes.
I watch Damages on BBC1 here in the UK. It is one of the very rare US imports that the BBC airs on the mainstream BBC1 (as opposed to Heroes that airs on BBC2). In fact those 2 shows are the only 2 US imports that I believe the BBC airs in primetime (Mad Men & Medium are relegated to very late-night slots).
The last episode that aired in the UK last Sunday (2.07) – “picked up 1.2 million and a 7% share between 10.20pm and 11pm” with the late-night repeat on Tuesday picking up 500,000 (according to Media Guardian). It’s also available to watch online via the BBC IPlayer.
Not sure what the BBC paid for the series, but certainly the first series received a lot of critical praise & Glenn Close was over here promoting the second series, appearing on a lot of talkshows, giving media interviews etc. I imagine they will do their best to hold onto the series for season 3.
FX doesn’t have much original programming. The ratings suck compared to first airings of other shows, but they need to fill time with something, so I think they’ll keep Damages.
Jen Heroes is currently the only import that the BBC airs in primetime on their main terrestrial networks and that has only kept a primetime slot because of the comparative cost of it – the BBC don’t feel they can justify moving it to late night after the deal they made for the exclusive rights. Damages like every other import the BBC has is shunted off to a late night slot (in the UK 10:20 is not considered a primetime position), although I know there’s been some discussion of changing that for the third season given how popular its proven to be. The rumour being that they might switch it to 9PM Sunday next year and see what happens, I wouldn’t however hold your breath on that.
Having said that the BBC scheduling of imports has always been very weird. They brought Arrested Development for example and aired it first run episodes between 12-1AM at one point. The BBC is generally quite terrified of airing US imports, particularly after the criticism they’ve faced for the Heroes deal.
I think Damages is suited to its slot and I think it will there if it is renewed for next week, I doubt it would ever get a 9pm slot because of its length unless it moved to BBC Two or BBC Four.
You are right about US imports, they do get criticism because of the lisence fee but TBH I think US imports are fine as long as they don’t pay too much for them and most of US imports like Mad Men and Family Guy do suit the channels they are on.
I’m surprised with all the comments here no one has cited financial news as one of the reasons the numbers on this show have been so low this year.
I think the high drama contortions of the rich are just less interesting to us in this age of Madoff and the I-Banking fiasco.
Joe, not so. The Real Desperate Housewives, a show that revolves around pampered housewives spending money, and its spin offs have been seeing record highs this season.
Alex – my definition of primetime was a little loose, but 10.20pm is comparatively early considering The Wire airs at 11.20pm, Medium at near midnight etc. I’d be surprised if the BBC moves Damages any earlier next season – would love to see it happen, but think it’s unlikely.
In terms of quality I think that season two was about 32% worse than season one, so the ratings are spot on.
Still, a pretty great show…
What bugs me is that FX is supposed to be advertising DAMAGES on a favored- nations basis. From what I understand, shouldn’t FX be promoting DAMAGES just as much as any other show, especially RESCUE ME?
Since both are Sony-owned, RESCUE ME gets advertised far more than DAMAGES. I have yet to see a promo for DAMAGES on FOX, but I see them for RESCUE ME all the time now.
Jenna, in preparation for a season premiere it makes sense to put a lot of promotion on. I’m sure there was just as much for Damages before the premiere. After it starts you can let up on it.
I get that, Julia. I seem to only remember seeing promos for Season 2 of Damages on FX, of course, and USA (maybe) – but nothing on FOX, which Rescue Me has gotten a lot of.
Of course I can’t blame the low ratings on FX alone and I know it is a difficult show to keep track of, but it will sadden me if it ends prematurely because of ratings. However, the big boss at FX says he is not concerned with the ratings and hopes the show will go 6 season – I guess we will see.
As an aside to the business talk of the show– the acting is just plain incredible on the female side of things… but barring first season’s Zeljko Ivanek and second season’s Timothy Olyphant, the guys are all big-time duds acting-wise: Ted Danson, William Hurt, Tate Donovan.
It isn’t that the show needs a good man to survive or be interesting, it’s that the insanely super strong females (Close, Byrne, Gay Harden) have no one of their par to work with. A dynamic male character would help. A lot.
I agree with most of what you said, Joe Justice. I absolutely adore the range that Timothy Olyphant has. I didn’t see a lot of him in DEADWOOD, but will some day. I did like him a lot in the movie, THE GIRL NEXT DOOR. While appearing nice, there was always something sinister about him. I knew we would get that mystery with his character, Wes, and he didn’t disappoint. I thoroughly hope that he continues with the next season and that we can see more of his back story.
The only part I disagree with are the “duds.” I think we had overkill with William Hurt, but there is something about Ted Danson and that sympathetic little voice of his and then he turns around and does something horrible. I do like Tate Donovan. I just think sometimes he spends too much time directing. We got better acting from him in the first season.
It was so nice to see Zelko Ivanek – I really missed his Ray Fiske and that wonderful accent of his.