The Slap: Should NBC Drop the Thursday Night Series?

NBC recently unveiled a new mini-series on Thursday nights — The Slap. How’s the show been performing? Is it a big enough success that the network will want to make a second season somehow or, is it a bomb that should be pulled off the schedule?

On The Slap TV show, a birthday celebration comes to an abrupt halt when a man slaps another couple’s misbehaving child. It’s a small action that ends up deeply affecting all involved. The cast for the mini-series includes Peter Sarsgaard, Thandie Newton, Uma Thurman, Makenzie Leigh, Zachary Quinto, Dylan Schombing, Thomas Sadoski, Melissa George, Brian Cox, Lucas Hedges, Maria Tucci, Marin Ireland, and Penn Badgley.

The eight-episode series debuted on February 12th to a very disappointing 1.1 rating in the 18-49 demographic and just 5.13 million viewers. Things got even worse in week two with the numbers falling more than 20%. Last week, the ratings dropped again, falling to a disastrous 0.7 rating in the 18-49 demo with 3.67 million viewers.

It’s clear that The Slap is a big “miss” for NBC and, more importantly, it’s not giving The Blacklist any lead-in support in its new Thursdays at 9pm timeslot.

After tonight’s installment, the network will have four episodes left. While NBC will no doubt let viewers see the remaining episodes, it seems highly unlikely that they’ll leave it in its Thursday night timeslot much longer. A Saturday night burn-off or online release appears to be the most likely scenario.

3/6 update: NBC has cancelled Allegiance and shifted The Slap to the Thursdays at 10pm timeslot for the remainder of its four week run.

4/3 update: NBC has confirmed that The Slap has ended with eight episodes.

But, what do you think? Do you like The Slap? Do you think the network should keep airing it or pull the series prematurely? Why do you think it hasn’t caught on?