User blog comment:Paul.rea/Teen Wolf News 091014/@comment-75.76.109.2-20140914045858/@comment-75.76.109.2-20140914175714

I have made no claim that Teen Wolf has not suffered from a shift in how viewers use television. I entered no argument that the show suffered in ratings ONLY due to "disgruntled fans."

What I said was, "Certainly viewership trends played a role in fluxuating numbers, but to claim that is the primary reason strikes me as obfuscatory."

In the last decade, scapegoating the efficacy of Nielsen's ratings system is as sure as the sun rising in the east when ratings take sharp declines. Fans can't accept poor quality as the explanation for why a show they love is failing. It's called denial. During this phase, fans reach out into the aether in attempt to find ways to feel better about potentially losing something they love.

The data set you are using to support your claims is flawed as it is neither comprehensive nor properly attenuated. It's anecdotal rather than authentically stastical. Certainly, we can glean something from the data you have supplied. If the question is "Did five television shows similarly targeted suffer a ratings decline in their latest season?" Then the answer is yes. No other claim can truly be substantiated. The sample size is simply not large enough to extrapolate larger conclusions. Plus, it ignores historical data.

Your "disgruntled fans" phrasing strikes me as a hyperbolic conclusion to reach based on my response. I simply stated that the narrative was weak - the implication being viewers walked away due to dissatisfaction with the story, which doesn't really rise to the level of "disgruntled."

You cannot cherry pick my argument to support your own. My argument is based on a review of ratings performance over the entire season episode by episode. It suggests that interest was lost after the first episode because the ratings never really recovered in a substantial way from the intitial collapse. Instead it worsened toward the end. The final two episodes were not aired on different days, nor at different times. The ninth episode of the season aired twice, giving viewers ample opportunity to remain current. Yet they still chose to abandon the show. And an argument that Labor Day impacted the ratings cannot be seriously entertained because it is patently false that other shows suffered similarly. They did not perform outside of their norms. Teen Wolf did. In fact, it failed to meet expectations spectacularly for the final two episodes.

My argument is based on a review of the data over the entire season one episode at a time. Season averages obscure information which can be found in such a review.

But you still haven't answered my question. If it is true, if we accept your primary explanation for the ratings drop, are you not offering the best possible argument for cancellation? If the demographic has lost interest in the genre and alternate viewing methods are taking away the ability of MTV to generate revenue, then why continue to produce such programs?

Perhaps I didn't answer your question adequately either. So, if what you're saying is true, then yes, networks should abandon the genre and cancel all relavent programming.

As for what people are watching instead? Pull the data for MTV's global audience within that demographic and you'll find your answer. As for me, I just don't have reason to watch TV at that time anymore. So I do other things. In this day and age, there are plenty of things to do other than sit in front of a TV.