Shark Tank: Poor Premiere Ratings; Cancel It or Keep It?

On Sunday night, ABC aired a new reality competition series. So, how did Shark Tank do? Did it succeed in the ratings or was it eaten alive by the competition?

From The Apprentice’s Mark Burnett, Shark Tank gives budding entrepreneurs the chance to make their dreams come true. To do that, they must convince five tough, multi-millionaires to part with their own hard-earned cash and give them the funding they need to jumpstart their ideas. The five are Robert Herjavec, Kevin O’Leary, Barbara Corcoran, Kevin Harrington, and Daymond John.

But the show’s not as one-sided as it may seem. The business people are looking for solid investments and, once the “sharks” find a project they like, they negotiate to take as big a percentage of the profits as possible. How far is either side willing to go?

Should Shark Tank be cancelled? Yes! Of course! Maybe. I'm not sure. No! Keep it going! View Results  Loading ...

After weeks of promotion, Shark Tank debuted on Sunday, August 9th at 9pm. The premiere attracted an average of just 4.23 million viewers with a low 1.3/4 rating/share in the 18-49 demographic. The first half-hour was in fourth place for total viewers and the second half-hour rose just a bit to place in third. The entire hour was in fourth place in the all-important demographic and lost a huge chunk of its lead-in audience.

If the show continues to tank like this, it certainly won’t have much of a future on the network. ABC reportedly still has 12 episodes left to air. Six of them are scheduled to run on Sunday nights and then Shark Tank’s set to switch to Tuesday evenings. Unless the numbers get better, it seems unlikely that ABC will keep those plans.

What do you think? Is the show worth watching or should the network throw in the towel and cancel it already?