Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. Episode 2 Ratings Down From Premiere, But Still Solid

It's not unusual for a show to drop in ratings from its season or series premiere to its second episode, so we shouldn't be especially surprised that Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s second episode didn't perform quite as well as it did with its premiere. On the bright side, the series debuted to huge numbers, so it has a bit of wiggle room when it comes to its post-premiere decline. Let's just hope that decline tapers off in the coming episodes.

EW reports that SHIELD delivered 8.4 million viewers and a 3.1 rating among adults 18-49. Those are solid numbers for an ABC drama series without a lead-in. But it has to be noted that the show's numbers are down 34% from last week's premiere. Last night's episode saw the group coming together to collect an object of unknown origins. This was their first real test as ensemble, and -- spoiler alert -- they managed to pass it by the skin of their teeth, nearly wrecking Coulson's plane in the process. Team Spirit!. The episode also featured a cameo by none other than Nick Fury himself, played by Samuel L. Jackson.

Funny that the above Hulu clip is "presented by NY Lottery" considering Lucky 7's viewership drop off, which actually wasn't that much bigger than SHIELD's, however in the case of the lotto-themed drama, the premiere ratings were substantially lower, leaving a lot less margin for error this week. EW says Lucky 7's second episode earned a mere .8 rating at 10:00 p.m., falling 38% from last week's premiere. At this rate, the series could succumb to the same fate as other lotto dramas of the past. RIP Windfall and The Nine. I guess there just isn't much of an appetite for shows about people who win the lotto and then have all sorts of bad things to deal with.

Stuck in the middle of those two dramas were The Goldbergs and Trophy Wife. The 80s-set comedy benefits from its SHIELD lead-in, but it still fell 29% for Episode 2, while Trophy Wife's drop off was steeper with a 39% decrease. Goldbergs secured 6.16 million viewers (decent for an ABC comedy that isn't Modern Family) and 4.3 million for Trophy Wife -- also not really terrible. Lucky 7's 2.8 million comes closer to "terrible."

For Fox, New Girl (3.89 million) came out on top among the four comedies that air, while The Mindy Project unjustly earned the lowest total viewers at the network last night (2.96 million). Dads and Brooklyn Nine-Nine both earned 3.4 million viewers and change, with a 1.3 and 1.4 rating respectively, falling behind New Girl's 1.9 and Mindy's 1.5.

CBS cleaned up as usual with NCIS (19.33 million) and NCIS: Los Angeles (14.8 million). And NBC had The Voice (14.2 million) and Chicago Fire (9 million), the latter of which is clearly benefiting from the lead-in Revolution had last season. Given the NBC drama's ratings for last week's premiere, I'm thinking Revolution wishes it has its old timeslot back.

Kelly West
Assistant Managing Editor

Kelly joined CinemaBlend as a freelance TV news writer in 2006 and went on to serve as the site’s TV Editor before moving over to other roles on the site. At present, she’s an Assistant Managing Editor who spends much of her time brainstorming and editing feature content on the site. She an expert in all things Harry Potter, books from a variety of genres (sci-fi, mystery, horror, YA, drama, romance -- anything with a great story and interesting characters.), watching Big Brother, frequently rewatching The Office, listening to Taylor Swift, and playing The Sims.