Hawaii Five-0: A Ratings Hit for CBS or Is the Show in Danger?

After its debut, it looked like the new Hawaii Five-0 was one of those rare animals — a revival of a classic TV show that didn’t crash and burn immediately. Still, the series isn’t turning out to be as big a success as CBS might like you to believe. The series started off very strong in the ratings but has been losing steam every week.

Hawaii Five-0 debuted on September 20th to a 3.9 rating in the 18-49 demographic (the number that the networks care about) and 14.2 million total viewers. In week two, those numbers dropped 8% but that really isn’t bad for a new show. In week three, they dropped another 3%. This past Monday, they dropped a whopping 11%, hitting a low of a 3.1 rating and 10.7 million viewers.

The CBS series still places first in its timeslot, most closely challenged by Castle. That ABC series registered a 2.7 and 10.66 million viewers this week, up 4% from last week. If Hawaii 5-0’s downward trend continues, it won’t be long before the show loses in the timeslot and could end up in danger by the end of the season. For now, it’ll almost certainly get an order for nine more episodes bringing it to a full season. Beyond that, we’ll have to wait and see.

Interestingly, last year’s timeslot holder, CSI: Miami was doing much better at this point in the season. After four episodes, it was averaging a 4.1 in the demo and 13.72 million while Hawaii Five-0 is currently averaging a 3.5 rating and 12.47 million. Perhaps CBS should have left Miami in its old timeslot.

What do you think? Will Hawaii Five-0 end up surviving past this season? Was it a mistake for CBS to boot CSI: Miami out of its established timeslot?