Why the 'Glee' Season Three Premiere Required a Rankings Dive (Analysis)

Fox's hit musical drama Gleetook a rankings hit in the third-season premiere Tuesday, falling 29 percent within the 18-49 demographic in comparison to last year's season opener.our editor recommends'Glee' Season 3 Premiere: Hits and MissesTim Goodman's Fall Digital recording device List 'Glee': Ryan Murphy Discloses Particulars on 'The Glee Project' Finalists' Characters'Glee': Rachel and Finn's Future and much more Season 3 Spoilers'Glee' Season 3 Premiere Sparks Internet FrenzyRelated Subjects•Glee•TV Rankings Glee still drawn in an exceedingly healthy 4. rating (and 8.six million audiences) also it was the very best-ranked show within the 8 p.m. time slot among more youthful audiences 18-34. But it is nonetheless an unexpected dip for any series that grew to become an overnight phenomenon 2 yrs ago and it has since produced an incredible number of iTunes downloads and created a concert tour, a three dimensional movie along with a reality spinoff (Oxygen's The Glee Project). PHOTOS: 'Glee' Season 3: To School Pictures Much more surprising is the fact that newcomer comedy The Brand New Girl built on its Glee lead-in, tugging in tens of millions of audiences and calculating a 4.8 rating, up 55 percent in comparison towards the season premiere of Raising Hope in September 2010. The primary reason, say industry experts, is probably an uneven second season that appeared to sacrifice storytelling for star tributes. "A lackluster story last season might have performed a component [within the premiere rankings]," states Kaira Adgate, senior vice president research at Horizon Media. PHOTOS: Behind the curtain of Emmy Contender Glee's 'Rumours' Episode Glee opened up large this past year, tugging inside a 5.4 rating within the demo and 12 million audiences. It finished its second-season run calculating a 3.4 rating within the demo (excluding the publish-Super Bowl episode). Many industry associates acknowledge that Gleewent from the tracks artistically last season. But Fox professionals have expressed confidence that co-designers Ryan Murphy and Kaira Falchuk have accomplished a training course-correction this year. Indeed, Fox Entertainment leader Kevin Reilly has stressed it's "an extremely back-to-fundamentals year." The show has additionally endured debate. News that it is stars Jum Michele, Chris Colfer and Cory Monteith would exit the show in the finish of the season spurred an incredible number of angry Tweets and blogs from fans who've become connected to the stars and -- possibly irrationally -- expected these phones carry on our prime school-set series despite their figures graduated. (Producers subsequently stated the trio they are under contract even though their figures are graduation this year, they might go back to Glee should it obtain a 4th season or perhaps in a possible NY-set spinoff.) PHOTOS: Fall TV Preview 2011: The Coming back Shows And also the Glee brand extensions, while tugging in lots of supplemental income for studio twentieth century Fox Television, also might be a double-edged sword, resulting in a "saturation" effect and viewer fatigue as evidenced through the disappointing box office for summer's three dimensional concert movie. "The summer time concerts, gossips about cast changes, the downloads, the Oxygen reality series," adds Adgate. "Possibly the franchise has spread itself too thin so that they can make ancillary [revenue]." PHOTOS: 'Glee' Takes New york city: Behind the curtain Obviously, any network -- especially broadcast systems having a quickly aging viewer demographic -- would have a 4 rating within the marketer-coveted 18-49 demo. And Glee also offers a higher area of Digital recording device viewing. Last season, the show's live-plus-seven rating rose to some 4.2. But as the hard-core Gleeks are clearly still onboard. It remains to appear if casual fans will re-uncover the show because this "back-to-fundamentals" season progresses. Related Subjects Glee Chris Colfer Jane Lynch Jum Michele Matthew Morrison Ryan Murphy TV Rankings Cory Monteith Darren Criss Fox Broadcasting Corporation The Glee Project Glee: The three dimensional Concert Movie