Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Ties Series Low in Return

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

's midseason premiere last night tied the series' all-time low in the ratings, set by December's midseason finale, TV By the Numbers reports. That's the 18-49 demographic, though; ABC is boasting that overall viewership is up 10% with around 6.5 million total pairs of eyeballs. In addition, the show spiked 16% in Adults 18-34 from its last original. Last time around, the overnight ratings were adjusted down slightly and then the live plus seven adjusted up for DVR. That wouldn't be a surprising pattern for the latest episode to follow. Fan response to the midseason premiere was fairly positive online, although some were unhappy with the resolution of Coulson's resurrection storyline. Whether a perceived improvement in quality will result in a ratings bump is unclear; obviously just being a good episode doesn't inherently make the show higher-rated, since fans won't see it and know it's a good episode until it's too late. That said, fairly positive word of mouth over the show's midseason finale didn't seem to lift the midseason premiere much. Still, ABC notes that the DVR lift is statistically significant for S.H.I.E.L.D., making it Tuesday's top show with adults 18-49 overall. That said, NCIS has a lead of less than 1% in the demo (2.9 share for NCIS, 2.1 for S.H.I.E.L.D. in the overnight ratings, whereas their total viewership is about 300% that of S.H.I.E.L.D. (6.48 million to 20.65 million).