Fox has made the surprise move to renew its low-rated animated comedy “Bob’s Burger’s” for a second season.

The move comes as “Burgers” was one of the lowest rated programs on Fox, or any network not named NBC. After “American Dad” was officially added to Fox’s 2011-2012 schedule, many speculated “Burgers” was done.

The show has been both a critical and commercial disaster for the network, but as it comes from cult-creator Loren Bouchard, the show has attracted a small, but loyal audience.

The show actually attracted a large audience in its first airing, drawing a 4.5 in the demo. However, it has fallen precipitously in recent airings, leaving little chance of a ratings uptick later in its life.

Rumors are that Fox had already commissioned a second series of the show (animated shows must be renewed much earlier, often more than a year in advance) before the show aired to disastrous results. In that scenario, it makes more financial  sense for Fox to air a second season than eat the license fee; at least it can make ad revenue off the low-rated broadcast.

About The Author

Jason Woods is a Blast staff writer

4 Responses

  1. Terry Anders

    Jason, you did no research for this article at all, did you? Do you think that’s maybe why you’re writing for Blast Magazine? Look at the ratings for the show. Compare them to other shows on other networks. Are they really egregiously low? What was the retention rate for the show? Did it hold on to a substantial percentage of the audience of its lead-in? Have you done a Google search for the show? Notice the recent Time magazine article and the other critical and fan reappraisals? Why do you bother to write if you just vomit meaningless, un-fact-checked words onto the screen?

    Reply
    • Jason Woods

      I did my research prior to the article Terry, yes. Did you do your research prior to making snide remarks towards my hard work?

      I mentioned the rabid fan base, you’re amongst them. However, don’t let that cloud you — the last four airings of Bob’s Burgers drew a 2.2, 2.2, 2.0 and a 2.2.

      Compare that with Fox’s lineup: Lower than House, similar to Chicago Code (expected to be canceled), Lower than Glee, Raising Hope, American Idol, and Bones. Even with Human Target (expected to be canceled), higher than Fringe (unexpectedly renewed as well).

      Bob’s Burgers is also the lowest rated animated program on the network.

      So of Fox’s lineup — 13 hours of programming each week — it is lower rated than eight hours — and two of the hours it draws more viewers than are on Friday.

      As far as other networks — it’s lower than 15 of the 18 hours on CBS, and lower than and 12 of the 18 on ABC. Notice I specifically eliminated NBC from the comparison.

      So, of Fox, CBS and ABC, the top three broadcast networks, it would hover around 37 or 49 hours of programming, approximately, or about the bottom 33%. You can debate whether that constitutes “one of the lowest” or not — but it would be a failing grade in a classroom setting.

      I’ll refrain from making any comments towards your obvious bias to this show.

      Reply
    • Jason Woods

      And a little more knowledge at you — Burgers has averaged a 2.2 in the demo and just over 5.2 million viewers per ep — The network averages in the demo are

      Fox: 3.5 — meaning Burgers averages only 60% of its own network average
      CBS: 3.0
      ABC: 2.4

      So it’s below average on every network in the demo

      And just for kicks, the total viewership, which is meaningless to renewals

      Fox: 9.8 million viewers — 53% of its own network average
      CBS: 11.9 million viewers
      ABC: 8.3 million viewers

      And for what its worth — Burgers has been averaging closer to 4 million viewers lately.

      Reply
  2. quackenbush

    I hate pricks like Terry who hide behind their keyboard and insult people’s hard work just to make themselves feel better. I like his snide comment about Blast though. You’re reading it aren’t you? Shutup, get a life and stop being a prick.

    Reply

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