The up and down roller coaster ride of The Mayor’s ratings continued with the seventh episode. The ratings stayed the same at 0.70 for the past three weeks, however, viewership was down 7%. Just this week The Mayor received a huge positive sign for the future of this show when ABC decided to order three more scripts of it. What I have determined from this is a valid point that I have yet to seriously consider. The time slot of 9:30pm is actually quite difficult to manage. The content has always been there with the mayor, critics and fans who consistently tuned in agree that this show was entertaining and holds tons of potential. Good shows fail all the time, it is quite unfortunate; The rollercoaster ride of The Mayor’s ratings certainly made me think that the network was going to toss this project out against there will, for it worked on paper but viewer turnout did not align.  However, the network has clearly agreed with the critics and realized the potential in this project. I look forward to seeing what the next few weeks holds with the time off for Thanksgiving.

We have reached the sixth episode of The Mayor. This episode proved quite similar in the ratings to last weeks wimpy .68 which is nearly half of the ratings it received in its first episode, not at all a very promising statistic. On the contrary, the turnout got a 10% boost up from 2.3 million to 2.7 million. This can certainly be attributed to end of the 2017 World Series, along with the cancellation of other shows and the recent spike in  content which was coupled with increase in following. ABC posted a ton of content about the mayor on every social media site. Whether this is one last attempt at trying to revive a once promising television series or merely just scheduled marketing is unclear. The Mayor is a show that has the potential to do so well given the current media environment, which is why I strongly believe that the network is trying to do everything it can because they do realize how great this show can be. I will be keeping a close eye on the social media posting in the next few weeks and it’s correlation to the state of the show.

The fifth episode of The Mayor was a significant episode for all the wrong reasons. This episode was the worst that the show has done so far putting it dead last among ABC’s comedies; There was a 20% decrease in viewership down to approximately 2.3 million and ratings decrease by 15% to an extremely disappointing 0.68. What this statistic is saying is that it is not the time slot that is effecting the show, rather it is the fact that people are tuning in and leaving.  Last week, I stated that a ratings increase was key to the potential renewal of this show. I did not mention that a decrease in ratings could destroy any hope of renewal. Surprisingly, critics are still loving The Mayor and I certainly do agree with them. However, critics praise is simply not enough for a network like ABC to ignore the alarming fact that this show has still not found its audience, that is not to say it is not possible for this to occur later in time, but if the show wants to stay alive, it must at least find some sort of boost in its final episodes to better position itself for renewal season.

We have now reached the fourth episode of The Mayor. Fortunately, the show has endured its first increase in rating since its series premiere. This episode of The Mayor generated a rating of 1.0, a 0.2 increased from last weeks lost battle against the first game of the world series but still remained the same in terms of viewership at three million.  TV by the numbers has a system of determining the status of shows with regard to the renewal or cancellation of them. The publication believes that The Mayor is currently, and has been a tossup for the content is all there, critics are really enjoying the show and giving great reviews of it, however the ratings and viewership do not replicated the opinion of the critics. The low ratings and viewership can certainly be attributed to what the network originally believed would occur with setting this show right behind Black-ish. Both have a very similar target market and this placement was certainly not a coincidence. However, it is extremely difficult to have an audience sit through 2 shows in an hour and I think this is why the show has received such high praise with ratings and viewership that do not correlate. At this point in time, it may take another ratings or viewership increase to set The Mayor on a path to a second season.

The third episode of The Mayor aired just yesterday and the results were much less promising than last week. The Mayor received a rating of 0.8, a 0.2 decrease from last week and a 0.4 decrease from its premiere episode just two weeks ago and lost another 600,000 viewers since last week and just like the ratings, this number is double the amount lost since the premiere. However, much of the loss in viewership can be attributed to the start of the 2017 MLB World Series. The top rated program of the night on Tuesday, Game 1 of the series drew in 15 million viewers and scored a 3.9 rating. A viewership of the mayor hold a majority of its target demographic in the 19-49 market which is a demographic it shares with the MLB. We must not attribute the loss in viewership completely to the world series as some Tuesday night shows were able to maintain ratings, however, being that our show airs at 9:30, it was quite unlikely that viewers were going to chose the show that they could stream at any time over a live event like the world series. Despite the average ratings the show is receiving, many critics are still loving the show which is keeping the possibility of renewal alive.

The second episode of The Mayor aired Yesterday and the results were not nearly what I expected. The show turned in a very modest 1.0 rating, a decrease of .2 from last weeks premiere. However, it is important to note that even the untouchable This is Us decreased by nearly the same exact numbers as The Mayor did since its series premiere.  I had attributed the low ratings to the fact that ABC had already had that show available on it’s website but after this weeks episode it is clear that this was not the issue; Viewership decreased by 600,000 viewers which is another alarming statistic that could be attributed to a lack of buzz about the show. The Mayor is no longer as heavily marketed as it once was and is no longer advertised on Saturdays for college football on ABC. The realities the network is facing with regard to the possibility of the show flopping could lead them to put less money into marketing for the threats of cancellation. Let’s hope that the ratings increase next week or we could be looking at the last few episodes of this once promising show.

Finally, after a ton of anticipation and questionable decision making, The Mayor premiered this Tuesday at 9:30 pm EST. The Mayor received approximately four million viewers which is definitely a solid turnout however, I had thought this would be a higher number. The Mayor absolutely destroyed Andy Samberg’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine which in ratings and viewership nearly doubled both with its 1.2 rating and four million turnout. NBC’s highest rated show, This is Us stole the show on Tuesday with a 3.1 rating and eleven million viewers. The Mayor is in the same spot (behind Black-ish at 9:30pm) that The Real O’Neals was in just last year. Which ended up lasting two years before the network decided to cancel it. USA Today believes that The Mayor is a “breath of earnest fresh air in a dark and cynical world” They specifically enjoyed all the political humor and credited the Hall with creating a great character dynamic. Overall, it was a solid but not great premiere for a show that has held a ton of hype.

We are one week away from the official television premiere of The Mayor. The publicity buzz that the show held just last week after surprise releasing the pilot online has definitely cooled down a bit which is surprising considering that the actual premiere is in under a week. The networks decision to release it early online was most likely a decision related to the hype of the show at the current time but considering it may have been too early, this could become a major mistake of the network. The Chicago Tribune, in an interview with creator Jeremy Bronson,  stated that Chance the Rapper is a loose interpretation of what The Mayor is about, being that Chance is a public activist for Chicago’s public school system and a community leader.  Bronson talked about how his idea with this show stemmed from the fact that there was no hopeful show about politics in a time in which any positivity regarding politics is not taken for granted.

On September 13th, ABC decided to post the pilot episode early online. I find it very fitting that the network decided to do this as there was a ton of hype and publicity behind the show in early September and waiting until October 3rd could have potentially threatened the ratings and the success of the show.  The Mayors first critiques were extremely positive across various publications. AD Week believes that They Mayor is the most promising of the five new series that ABC is previewing with Marvel Inhumans, Kevin Saves The World, Ten Days in the Valley and The Good Doctor. The publication also stated that lead, Michael Brandon Hall has immediate chemistry with the cast and in particular with his mother in the show, Yvette Nicole Brown. Entertainment Tonight also tagged Brandon Michael Hall as one of the nine breakout stars you need to know calling him “charismatic, magnetic and a breath of fresh air”

In the past few days there has been a ton of publicity about The Mayor. TV Guide gave a recap of what the show was about along with a great video in which they interviewed cast members Yvette Nicole Brown, Brandon Michael Hall and Bernard David Jones about which rappers they believed could genuinely run for office. This was a great marketing play as we are in the midst of a time in which electoral humor is extremely pertinent. Variety wrote a review on The Mayor’s panel interview at the PaleyFest Fall TV Previews in which the cast talked about the state of politics and its relevance to the show and current media landscape. The cast also spoke about how executive producer Daveed Diggs, the multi talented scholar who recently was awarded a grammy and a tony for his work in Lin Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton is creating original tracks with the help of his lead, Brandon Michael Hall (Courtney Rose) for each new episode all of which will be available on Spotify and on Apple Music.