10-07-2015, 06:26 AM
According to you chaps in the Grumblebox, there are murmurings in the relationship fandom that the declining numbers of viewers are due to the break-up being dragged on too long, and Sheldon and AFF not being "happy" and together.
I would like to point out, that Season 8 was almost unmitigated Shamyville McHappyland and the numbers were identical, and in some cases even worse than they are now.
So if you're going to quibble, if anything has turned viewers away (outside the general drop in television watching), it's "Shamy" itself.
8.01 The Locomotion Interruption ----------------- 5.5/17 -----18.08m
8.02 The Junior Professor Solution ---------------- 5.4/16 ----- 18.30m
8.03 The First Pitch Insufficiency ------------------ 4.8/15 ----- 16.38m
8.04 The Hook-up Reverberation ------------------ 4.8/15 ----- 15.94m
8.05 The Focus Attenuation ------------------------ 4.6/14 ----- 15.63m
8.06 The Expedition Approximation ---------------- 4.6/14 ----- 16.02m
8.07 The Misinterpretation Agitation --------------- 4.1/14 ----- 16.25m
8.08 The Prom Equivalency ------------------------- 4.3/14 ----- 16.5m
8.09 The Septum Deviation ------------------------- 4.5/14 ----- 16.90m
8.10 The Champagne Reflection -------------------- 4.1/13 ----- 14.61m
8.11 The Clean Room Infiltration ------------------- 3.9/13 ----- 15.49m
8.12 The Space Probe Disintegration --------------- 4.6/15 ----- 18.11m
8.13 The Anxiety Optimization ---------------------- 4.5/15 ----- 17.25m
8.14 The Troll Manifestation ------------------------- 4.6/16 ----- 17.09m
8.15 The Comic Book Store Regeneration ---------- 4.5/15 ----- 17.49m
8.16 The Intimacy Acceleration --------------------- 4.5/15 ----- 16.67m
8.17 The Colonization Application ------------------- 4.8/16 ----- 18.17m
8.18 The Leftover Thermalization ------------------- 4.4/16 ----- 16.13m
8.19 The Skywalker Incursion ----------------------- 3.4/13 ----- 13.35m
8.20 The Fortification Implementation -------------- 3.5/13 ----- 14.78m
8.21 The Communication Deterioration ------------- 3.9/15 ----- 14.82m
8.22 The Graduation Transmission ------------------ 3.6/13 ----- 14.63m
8.23 The Maternal Disruption ------------------------ 3.4/13 ----- 13.85m
8.24 The Commitment Determination --------------- 3.7/14 ----- 14.64m
(The late spike on 8.17 is almost certainly related to Leonard Nimoy.
He was widely known, thanks to the Napkin/Hug, as Sheldon's hero, and when he absconded, many folk would have tuned in to see how Sheldon would react. This is because the GP is presumably not aware of the lapse between taping and airing)
SEASON 9
9.01 The Matrimonial Momentum ----------------- 4.7/16 ----- 18.20m
9.02 The Separation Oscillation ------------------- 3.8/13 ----- 15.23m
9.03 The Bachelor Party Corrosion ---------------- 3.7/13 ----- 15.03m
Not only were they "happy" in Season 8, Sheldon and Amy scenes were given the bulk of screen time. More than any other pairing, including Sheldon & Leonard, and Sheldon & Penny. So if you want to lay the blame anywhere, it's perhaps for throwing the friendships of the show onto the back-burner, and allowing the instant custard of "Shamy" to gloop away in a prime position.
As far as I'm concerned, the writers are doing the best they can with an awkward situation. Sheldon is the centre of the show, if he's thrown off balance, the whole thing goes off-kilter. Trying to drive the show with a wildly fluctuating, OOC Sheldon, must be about as difficult as Tom Hanks trying to fly the Odyssey whilst venting oxygen into space.
(Tom Hanks is such a talented fellow)
Sheldon is the problem. They seem to have worked this out. You CAN'T change Sheldon into a "proper boyfriend" without destroying his nature. So, because that's what Amy wants, apparently (although she didn't always...not sure what happened there) you either scupper a relationship or scupper the central character and thus the show.
In Season 8 they seemed to be hellbent on scuppering Sheldon. He was unrecognisable at times. And the ratings reflected it, or seemed to, in my opinion. They've been dropping since mid-way through Season 7. When they began to really tighten the screws on Vintage Sheldon, forcing him into a boyfriend Sheldon mould.
Now it looks like someone, somewhere (Lorre?) has realised this, and is trying their damndest to right the situation.
Why you have so much grumbling from General Public NOW, rather than then (although good lord there were some scathing comments about the ruination of Sheldon's character...but those have been around since Season 4, when the fucker truly disappeared) is because, I suspect, people were HOPING the show was going to get back to its roots of science, friendships and geekery, and what they got was a marriage, a break-up, and ongoing couple issues.
The main objections on social media were not "We want Shamy back", but "Enough with the boring relationships!" Ie, ALL OF THEM. Whether they're married, or fighting, or breaking up - it's all relationships. As Toad has pointed out, even the titles reflect this; The Matrimonial...The Separation...The Bachelor...And we know the plots for the next few episodes, and whilst there certainly seems to be some excellent notions as well (sword-fighting! Huzzah!), on the whole there's more relationship business ahead.
But I truly think that the main problem is Sheldon himself. He's had a few incredibly Vintage Sheldon moments recently, which we all got terribly excited about (well, some of us did *cough*) thinking the old deadpan, brilliant alien was returning, only for THIS to crop up;
![[Image: tumblr_nvswp8HWDc1ufum4to1_500.gif]](http://38.media.tumblr.com/ec3ac7d6c5ea32af6fd67c3b5c82d165/tumblr_nvswp8HWDc1ufum4to1_500.gif)
I know Jim is an adorable fellow, and a certain segment of the population likes this schtick, but as we frequently point out, this behaviour veers into Mr. Bean territory, rather than Blackadder. We want Blackadder Sheldon back. Otherwise I'm not sure even him being single again will save it artistically. He needs to return to the original Sheldon blueprint. That was a masterpiece of design and Parsons embodied it to perfection.
A last reminder, that in Season 3 the overall viewers were less (although now they're around equal with parts of Season 8) but the DEMO was considerably GREATER. Shouldn't they be trying to get back this demo? I mean, it seems to suggest that in Season 3 the show was more "hip".
Season 3
11 "The Maternal Congruence"--------- 5.6---- 15.58m
12 "The Psychic Vortex" ---------------5.7 ---- 15.82m
13 "The Bozeman Reaction" ------------5.2 -----14.99m
14 "The Einstein Approximation" --------5.4 ---- 15.51m
15 "The Large Hadron Collision" --------6.0 ---- 16.26m
16 "The Excelsior Acquisition"----------5.9 ----- 15.73m
17 "The Precious Fragmentation" ------ 5.9 ---- 16.32m
I would like to point out, that Season 8 was almost unmitigated Shamyville McHappyland and the numbers were identical, and in some cases even worse than they are now.
So if you're going to quibble, if anything has turned viewers away (outside the general drop in television watching), it's "Shamy" itself.
8.01 The Locomotion Interruption ----------------- 5.5/17 -----18.08m
8.02 The Junior Professor Solution ---------------- 5.4/16 ----- 18.30m
8.03 The First Pitch Insufficiency ------------------ 4.8/15 ----- 16.38m
8.04 The Hook-up Reverberation ------------------ 4.8/15 ----- 15.94m
8.05 The Focus Attenuation ------------------------ 4.6/14 ----- 15.63m
8.06 The Expedition Approximation ---------------- 4.6/14 ----- 16.02m
8.07 The Misinterpretation Agitation --------------- 4.1/14 ----- 16.25m
8.08 The Prom Equivalency ------------------------- 4.3/14 ----- 16.5m
8.09 The Septum Deviation ------------------------- 4.5/14 ----- 16.90m
8.10 The Champagne Reflection -------------------- 4.1/13 ----- 14.61m
8.11 The Clean Room Infiltration ------------------- 3.9/13 ----- 15.49m
8.12 The Space Probe Disintegration --------------- 4.6/15 ----- 18.11m
8.13 The Anxiety Optimization ---------------------- 4.5/15 ----- 17.25m
8.14 The Troll Manifestation ------------------------- 4.6/16 ----- 17.09m
8.15 The Comic Book Store Regeneration ---------- 4.5/15 ----- 17.49m
8.16 The Intimacy Acceleration --------------------- 4.5/15 ----- 16.67m
8.17 The Colonization Application ------------------- 4.8/16 ----- 18.17m
8.18 The Leftover Thermalization ------------------- 4.4/16 ----- 16.13m
8.19 The Skywalker Incursion ----------------------- 3.4/13 ----- 13.35m
8.20 The Fortification Implementation -------------- 3.5/13 ----- 14.78m
8.21 The Communication Deterioration ------------- 3.9/15 ----- 14.82m
8.22 The Graduation Transmission ------------------ 3.6/13 ----- 14.63m
8.23 The Maternal Disruption ------------------------ 3.4/13 ----- 13.85m
8.24 The Commitment Determination --------------- 3.7/14 ----- 14.64m
(The late spike on 8.17 is almost certainly related to Leonard Nimoy.
He was widely known, thanks to the Napkin/Hug, as Sheldon's hero, and when he absconded, many folk would have tuned in to see how Sheldon would react. This is because the GP is presumably not aware of the lapse between taping and airing)SEASON 9
9.01 The Matrimonial Momentum ----------------- 4.7/16 ----- 18.20m
9.02 The Separation Oscillation ------------------- 3.8/13 ----- 15.23m
9.03 The Bachelor Party Corrosion ---------------- 3.7/13 ----- 15.03m
Not only were they "happy" in Season 8, Sheldon and Amy scenes were given the bulk of screen time. More than any other pairing, including Sheldon & Leonard, and Sheldon & Penny. So if you want to lay the blame anywhere, it's perhaps for throwing the friendships of the show onto the back-burner, and allowing the instant custard of "Shamy" to gloop away in a prime position.
As far as I'm concerned, the writers are doing the best they can with an awkward situation. Sheldon is the centre of the show, if he's thrown off balance, the whole thing goes off-kilter. Trying to drive the show with a wildly fluctuating, OOC Sheldon, must be about as difficult as Tom Hanks trying to fly the Odyssey whilst venting oxygen into space.
(Tom Hanks is such a talented fellow)
Sheldon is the problem. They seem to have worked this out. You CAN'T change Sheldon into a "proper boyfriend" without destroying his nature. So, because that's what Amy wants, apparently (although she didn't always...not sure what happened there) you either scupper a relationship or scupper the central character and thus the show.
In Season 8 they seemed to be hellbent on scuppering Sheldon. He was unrecognisable at times. And the ratings reflected it, or seemed to, in my opinion. They've been dropping since mid-way through Season 7. When they began to really tighten the screws on Vintage Sheldon, forcing him into a boyfriend Sheldon mould.
Now it looks like someone, somewhere (Lorre?) has realised this, and is trying their damndest to right the situation.
Why you have so much grumbling from General Public NOW, rather than then (although good lord there were some scathing comments about the ruination of Sheldon's character...but those have been around since Season 4, when the fucker truly disappeared) is because, I suspect, people were HOPING the show was going to get back to its roots of science, friendships and geekery, and what they got was a marriage, a break-up, and ongoing couple issues.
The main objections on social media were not "We want Shamy back", but "Enough with the boring relationships!" Ie, ALL OF THEM. Whether they're married, or fighting, or breaking up - it's all relationships. As Toad has pointed out, even the titles reflect this; The Matrimonial...The Separation...The Bachelor...And we know the plots for the next few episodes, and whilst there certainly seems to be some excellent notions as well (sword-fighting! Huzzah!), on the whole there's more relationship business ahead.
But I truly think that the main problem is Sheldon himself. He's had a few incredibly Vintage Sheldon moments recently, which we all got terribly excited about (well, some of us did *cough*) thinking the old deadpan, brilliant alien was returning, only for THIS to crop up;
I know Jim is an adorable fellow, and a certain segment of the population likes this schtick, but as we frequently point out, this behaviour veers into Mr. Bean territory, rather than Blackadder. We want Blackadder Sheldon back. Otherwise I'm not sure even him being single again will save it artistically. He needs to return to the original Sheldon blueprint. That was a masterpiece of design and Parsons embodied it to perfection.
A last reminder, that in Season 3 the overall viewers were less (although now they're around equal with parts of Season 8) but the DEMO was considerably GREATER. Shouldn't they be trying to get back this demo? I mean, it seems to suggest that in Season 3 the show was more "hip".
Season 3
11 "The Maternal Congruence"--------- 5.6---- 15.58m
12 "The Psychic Vortex" ---------------5.7 ---- 15.82m
13 "The Bozeman Reaction" ------------5.2 -----14.99m
14 "The Einstein Approximation" --------5.4 ---- 15.51m
15 "The Large Hadron Collision" --------6.0 ---- 16.26m
16 "The Excelsior Acquisition"----------5.9 ----- 15.73m
17 "The Precious Fragmentation" ------ 5.9 ---- 16.32m
"WHERE THE HELL'S MY PARACHUTE?"