It’s like Chicken Little is running around barking with the people who hate the idea of superhero television. Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD ratings dropped 34% and people are claiming the show is now in danger. Forget the fact that the premiere brought in 12 million total viewers. Forget the fact that, even after the drop, there were still 8.4 million eyes glued to the television watching the show. It’s gloom and doom time.
This makes those people who feel that a Marvel TV show based on SHIELD was “not needed” and was “just a cash cow” very happy. Because – you know – who needs a fun TV show to watch? To those people: No TV show is ever “NEEDED.” But, damn it, Joss Whedon is back on TV and that makes me happy.
People liked to rip the first show, saying it “was not good.” That is fine. No one is wrong when it comes to their personal opinion. I thought the show was great. It needed work (especially the Fitz and Simmons characters), but it has the group dynamic that exists in all of Joss’ work. No, these characters are not as strong as the Scooby Gang or the crew from Firefly, but they haven’t had the time to develop yet.
Joss Whedon’s shows have always needed time to develop. Buffy wasn’t “great” until the second season, although there were moments of brilliance in season one. Firefly needed time to grow and the network jumped the gun and destroyed the show by rushing things and playing the episodes out of order. If fans don’t shut up and allow the show to develop, the same could happen here.
But, it won’t. Joss Whedon has a lot more room to work now than he did with Firefly and Dollhouse, and Marvel trusts him. They trust him a lot more than a lot of the fans seem to right now. These are the same fans who will crap on him until his show is about to be cancelled and then jump up and cry that he wasn’t given a chance.
Give the show a chance. It needs some work, but it has the chance to grow into something special. And please don’t listen to the people who want it dumbed down to bring in more viewers. Yeah, the drop was Agents of SHIELD ratings drop was disappointing, but the premiere was the highest for any new show in a few years, so it isn’t time for people to start crying that the sky is falling.