I need to know now, know now, can you love Whiskey Cavalier into Season 2? OK, that was the lamest start ever, and definitely a downgrade from Whiskey Cavalier's own impressive beginning. But the question stands. Will the Scott Foley/Lauren Cohan show get a second season?
Now that we're five episodes into Season 1, it's clear the ABC action dramedy isn't attracting as many Wednesday at 10 p.m. viewers as it was in Week 1. It's also slipping a bit in the advertiser-loving 18-49 demo. However, it does seem to pick up a healthy number of viewers through DVR. Put together, will it be enough for ABC to renew the show for Season 2? It's probably too soon to say right now in early April, but it's worth keeping an eye on as networks inch toward announcing their 2019-2020 schedules.
If you love Whiskey Cavalier, you'd better make sure to watch Wednesday nights. If you want Lauren Cohan to return to The Walking Dead for Season 10, you could sneakily distract Whiskey Cavalier viewers to make sure they DON'T watch each week.
Whiskey Cavalier premiered with a special preview airing after the Oscars on February 24. The first episode re-aired later that week in the normal Wednesday spot. Both airings got about 4.1 million viewers with a rating around 0.8.
The second episode, airing March 6, was even more impressive -- earning 5.3 million viewers and a 0.85 rating. March 13's Episode 3 started the slight downward slide, with 3.75 million viewers and a 0.61 rating. March 20 followed with 3.67 million and a 0.6 rating. And last week's March 27 episode had 2.95 million viewers and a 0.53 rating.
In terms of timeslot competition, Whiskey Cavalier was topped on March 27 by both NBC's Chicago P.D. (7.01 million/1.1 rating) and CBS's SEAL Team (3.91 million, 0.6).
However, the good news is that Whiskey Cavalier seems to pick up a lot of viewers through DVR. The numbers above are Live + Same Day ratings. The Live + 7 Day numbers show how many people watched the episode within a week of its initial airing. If you look at the Live +7 ratings for March 11-17, Whiskey Cavalier was #7 on the list of total gains in the 18-49 demo. That week it got a 0.6 rating from same-day viewers, but the seven-day viewers had a rating of 1.4, which was a jump of 0.8 or 133%, per TV By the Numbers.
We all know that viewing habits have changed dramatically in the past few years. But it's not clear what metrics networks use to base their renewal and cancellation decisions. It's never just one thing. If a show has consistently low ratings, and doesn't seem to pull 18-49 numbers for advertisers, that's a bad sign. But there are also other factors like cast contracts, licensing, cost of filming, etc.
Whiskey Cavalier is gorgeous to look at, in part because they filmed in Prague rather than just on generic soundstages in L.A. Are they saving money that way, or is it more expensive to do those action-packed location shoots? Also, what are the contracts for leads Lauren Cohan and Scott Foley (who is also a producer)?
Lauren Cohan has said Maggie Greene Rhee's storyline on The Walking Dead is not over. The AMC show would love her back for a few episodes in Season 10, but is that possible if Whiskey Cavalier is renewed?
Whiskey Cavalier Season 1 is currently up to Episode 6, which airs April 3 and marks the debut of Marika Dominczyk in her recurring role as Tyna Marek. She is Scott Foley's wife in real life, which makes things easy since he moved his family to Prague for filming. Last week, Foley's Scandal co-star Bellamy Young had a guest spot.
ABC announced the Season 1 finale will air Wednesday, May 22. May is also when we're mostly likely to hear from ABC on the fate of Whiskey Cavalier for Season 2. The next few episodes will surely play into the ultimate decision. Stay tuned by watching the show Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on ABC, and share your thoughts below.
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