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.
Being a secret agent my self I find it very down to earth and some what similar to my own day to day life.I’M JUST KIDDING !!!! It’s so funny I almost peed I laughed so hard…..don’t dare get rid of Archer,It’s the bomb!
Really, what level headed adult watches cartoons? The commercials air during the day and are totally inappropriate, including sexual innuendos..etc. Get this crap off the air and clean up our tvs
Grow up. This show doesn’t air til 10pm, and any kid who is too young to watch this show is NOT still up at 10pm on a Thursday. And what kid watches FX anyway? Maybe you should get level headed and lighten up.
Where is season 2 already! Amazing show, just amazing!!!
i love archer, i also watch sons of anarchy…. only two shows they have going for them….
BEST SHOW. Ok, so I was a skeptic for like half an episode and now it ranks up there with my favorite shows. Love love love me some sarcastic Archer and Cyril; its one of those shows that you can watch over and over and still laugh. Im glad FX is going for round 2
Pleased to see it renewed, pure genius! I hold it in high esteem, up there with HBO’s Rome.
Congrats to all involved!!!
Archer is THE greatest show on FX EVER!!!!!!!! Please dont cancel it!!!! PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This show is AMMMAAZZINGGG! And it gets funnier every time I watch it!! Please do not cancel!!!
I say hell no to canceling archer. That show is absolutely hilarious and one of the only reasons why I watch FX.
Archer is the best show out there!……..the only question left to ask is ..when are the new episodes going to come out?
this show is so damn funny. It needs to come back!
The only reason i watch FX is because of Archer, if they cancel it i will be like FX Who?
They should keep Archer, it’s one of the funniest shows and you don’t see much of good comedy anymore.
It’s not for everyone. I like show that push the line, and Archer is one of the funniest!
Cancel it? Seriously!!! Archer is halarious, witty, clever and basically a work of art. I watched every ep on FX and now watch the eps on Netflix downloads. Still laugh out loud funny! How can somthing this good be cancelled? Please keep it going.