Archer: Crazy Spy Adventures; Cancel or Keep It?

FX Network recently began airing a new animated series, Archer, that brings a unique take on the secret agent genre. But, will it survive? Is the comedy TV series worth watching?

Archer revolves around suave master spy Sterling Archer (H. Jon Benjamin) and the International Secret Intelligence Service (ISIS), a spy agency where global crises serve as opportunities for the highly-trained employees to undermine each other. The series also features the voices of Jessica Walter, Aisha Tyler, George Coe, Chris Parnell, and Judy Greer.

The animated comedy series was previewed in September 2009 and started airing as a regular show last month. The premiere on January 14th attracted a .9 rating for the 18-49 demographic and 1.8 million total viewers. It ranked as FX’s highest rated comedy series premiere for Adults 18-34 (786,000), surpassing Lucky (771,000) from April 2003.

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An encore of Archer’s pilot episode, which previewed last fall, garnered 1.4 million total viewers.

“The numbers for Archer are very encouraging and it is nice to see it off to such a good start,” said John Landgraf, President and General Manager, FX Networks. “With the stunning growth of Sunny’s fifth season and The League’s successful first season, our ambitious comedy expansion is moving full steam ahead.”

Unfortunately, Archer hit a bump in the road in week two. The show’s numbers dropped to a .7 rating and 1.23 million viewers. Then, last week’s installment fell further still, to a .5 in the demo and an audience of only 870,000. That’s essentially half of the series premiere’s viewership and significantly lower than the cable channel’s average viewing audience.

While FX naturally has lower expectations than the networks, the sharp decline of Archer’s numbers isn’t positive. There are two episodes left to air and, unless the ratings rise, it’s looking unlikely that the series will be returning for a second season.

What do you think? Is the super-spy world of Archer worth watching or should it be cancelled? Should it return for season two?

Image courtesy FX.

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