Ratings for this week’s episodes of Merlin, NBC’s prime-time retelling of the King Arthur legend, fell even further from last week’s lackluster American debut.
The ratings for the show’s first two episodes, which aired a week ago Sunday, averaged 5.35 million viewers, with a 1.35/4.5 rating share in the coveted 18-49 demo (meaning 4.5% of that demographic’s members were watching TV at that time, and 1.35% of them were watching Merlin).
Two more episodes aired this week, and preliminary data suggest that only about 4.27 million viewers watched them, with a 1.0/3 share in the 18-49 demo (though these numbers, based on same-night viewership, will almost certainly be adjusted somewhat upward as viewers who recorded the show watch it later).
These are ordinarily terrible numbers for a broadcast network show, but not only is overall viewership always down in the summer, the broadcast networks have been seeing an overall decline for years, and the decline seems to be particularly steep this summer.
As it did last week, Merlin came in second place in its time-slot, tying with an episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition in the first hour, and an episode of Cold Case in the second.
That said, both those shows, and the shows that came in first in the time-slot, The Simpsons, King of the Hill, Family Guy, and American Dad, were reruns.
If there’s a bright spot for Merlin, it’s that the rest of the NBC’s weekly schedule is faring even worse. Last week’s episode of Merlin actually ended up being among the network’s highest rating shows for the week.
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My wife and I love Merlin. Very good graphics, not cheesy like the Sci Fi Channel. The acting is very good with young new faces.
We look forward to each episode. We like others taped the first two episodes, as we weren’t sure about the program and were used to other shows on the Sunday time slot. Merlin is now programmed to tape each week, although it is now our prime Sunday viewing.
My 19 year old daughter that is a Harry Potter fan actually liked the show as well.
I love this show
i was very pleased with the storyline and the actors chosen to play the characters
i hope this show does not get cancelled
i look forward to watchin it, i even got my brother hooked on it.
I really enjoy this show. The cast is great and the story lines are very entertaining. Please don’t cancel this wonderful show. Give it time to find it’s audience. Quality entertainment is hard to come by these days. Three cheers to Merlin!!!
I love the Brit Imports and Merlin is at the top of my list. My only hope is that if Merlin does get canceled by the Network idiots whom seem to ONLY cancel smart quality programing, the show might find its way to the BBC America where most quality Sci-fi shows are currently being nurtured. It would be a crime for Merlin to disapear altogether! Fantastic Cast, Fantastic show!
I stumbled upon this Gem week 1 and have been dedicated to watching this every week. Get the word and mention it to others. This is a great program!
This is an excellent program, and I look forward to it every week! Please let it continue!!
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I love this show!:( but I have to watch it on YouTube since they dont show it in Singapore:( I only watched Season 1 on Hallmark last year but they’ve stopped showing Merlin after Season 1
It’s really sad. However, I really hope this show does not get cancelled, I really love it. 
PLEASE WATCH PEOPLE, IT’S A GOOD SHOW.
Can those ratings really be used as a reliable indication of how much something is liked any more? HULU and online viewing in general is redefining the way most computer savy folks are watching TV. I myself NEVER watch actual TV, it’s just too limiting. I DO however watch whatever catches my fancy on the websites–at my own convenience. (Not to mention the millions of weird hour jobs there are these days that prevent people from watching it when it’s on, TiVo just can’t compare to online viewing–which isn’t taken into account in today’s ratings nationally–which is ridiculous btw…)
I had heard about Merlin, but never watched it until it was released on HULU. It’s now one of my favorite shows.