Let's just say it, The 100 deserves higher ratings than it gets, even for a CW show, where ratings are usually on the lower end of the spectrum. With that said, The 100 is on CW's Fall lineup for Season 2, so there's no sense going on a rant about why enough people aren't watching this show. But the season finale for The 100's ratings were not only down this week, but actually tied with the series' lowest numbers.
TV By the Numbers posted last night's ratings, including The 100's dismal 0.5 rating, down 17 percent from last week's 0.6 among adults 18-49. In viewers, the total is 1.65 million, which is only slightly higher than the total viewers who tuned in for the Arrow rerun that aired before it.
And that brings us to the optimism. The 100 got a late start this season, not only in the 2013-2014 season, but in midseason in general, with a mid-March premiere date, which pushed the 13-episode first season into the start of Summer. Most of the regularly scheduled network TV shows have gone on hiatus by now, which probably has a pretty drastic effect on our TV viewing routines. That can make a difference for shows like this, which are still rolling out episodes. In the case of The 100, it surely benefited from its Arrow lead-in during the beginning of the season, but with Arrow on hiatus, The 100 is flying mostly solo.
Fortunately, CW's not sitting on this series all season next time around. The 100 is not only coming back for Season 2, but it's also coming back in the Fall. CW's allowing the series to keep its Arrow lead-in, which is an added plus. Hopefully the Fall spot will give the show a better shot at building its audience. And we're also hopeful that people will take advantage of the hiatus to get caught up on this promising new series, which offered a pretty game-changing finale.
Speaking of the finale, here's where we get into SPOILER territory for those who haven't watched last night's episode, "We Are Grounders Part II"! Do not read beyond this point if you're not caught up on The 100's entire first season!
Not only did the final episode of Season 1 leave off with some of the ark people successfully arriving on Earth, it also had the 100 being rounded up by masked people who were not Grounders (or not the Grounders the 100 have been dealing with, anyway) and locked away in some institution-like quarantine facility. Both of those arcs indicate that things will be very different next season. Clarke's mother and the other Ark survivors are separated and off in some mountainous part of the world. And now we know that there are somehow other survivors on Earth, perhaps people who've been hiding out underground or something in well-stocked bunkers. All we can do is theorize for now while we wait for The 100 to return!
