User blog comment:Paul.rea/Teen Wolf News 090514/@comment-71.236.60.20-20140907054558

I'm both older than the intended demographic for the show and didn't start watching until the second season (due in part from one of those early shippers you mention as being disgruntled). What made the show entertaining for me was the interactions of the core cast. All thoughts of shipping aside, watching Stiles, Scott, and Derek in scenes together was always a lot of fun. With Allison, Lydia, and Jackson rounding out the cast, you had some great on-screen chemistry for this group. When you take away the core of their interactions, the show loses the feel it had before.

From a storytelling perspective, I think this is one of the reasons we're seeing such a decline in viewers. The seperation of the main cast from having these lines together (and solving mysteries) hurts the show as a whole. It's like taking Buffy and Angel to interact with only Giles and maybe Xander while Anya, Willow, and Tara are doing their own thing. The Teen Wolf story revolves around Scott and he needs to be the focal point for all of the storylines. When he's not interacting with everyone (or only interacting shallowly), it takes away from the narrative. And for those of us who remember how much fun Seasons 1 and 2 were, it definitely shows in the pace and tone of the series.

When you add in the fact that people are shipping these characters based on some great lines and truly funny moments, you know you as a creator are doing something right. People are connecting to the characters and even if it's not what the writers intended, it's getting people to watch and support the show. When the response to that is to cut out some of the stuff that the most vocal fanbase enjoys? I'm really not sure what logic that follows only that it seems to be showing in the numbers.

The additional kerfluffle in timeline issues and the fact that the characters aren't aging as the cast does (something that, again, Buffy did so well and so successfully), you are going to see a decline in the audience who wants to see the characters grow as they do. When your characters start to feel stagnant, people don't need to watch to see what happens next.