Why Are Teen Wolf Season 5 Ratings Dropping Hard?
I have been keeping track of Teen Wolf ratings for a while now, and things don’t look good ever since the show started airing the current season five. So, what happened?
I did a similar post talking about the low ratings for season 4. I talked about the canon being too confusing, no significant queer representation, and the powers that be (TPTB) trying to control the fandom. With season five coming to an end in a few weeks’ time, things have gone from bad to worse for Teen Wolf. The season debuted with 1.53 million views — but views have dropped to an abysmal 0.76 million for the most recent episode.
The Plot
The plot for Teen Wolf season 5 seems to be all over the place. The season was divided into two parts, 5A and 5B, and viewers were expected to keep interest through the numerous flashbacks and flashforwards going on. It was in episode 16 of the 20 episode season that the timeline finally merged. Even though I have watched Teen Wolf from the beginning, trying to make sense of the timeline for sixteen whole episodes was exhausting even for me.
Also some fans didn’t warm up to the idea of the Dread Doctors, or the Steampunk Doctors as I like to call them, who seemed to appear out of nowhere. Viewers weren’t told anything important about the Doctors to make the audience care about them. They just arrived whenever convenient, continued their mysterious plans, and disappeared. I’m not even sure what their motivation is. Do they want to destroy Beacon Hills? Have they been performing all their experiments out of curiosity? Why did they create the Beast? What is their endgame? So many questions! Not enough answers!
The Doctors also brought along Theo and the chimeras. Again, we still don’t know much about Theo. Why does he want to become a proper werewolf? Isn’t he more powerful than a werewolf, being a chimera? Why does he want to become weak against mountain ash, wolfsbane, and all that stuff?
Teen Wolf hasn’t been known for revealing important information, and it seems like fans have had enough of the same old tactic.
Lost Characters
Teen Wolf has had a lot of main and supporting characters leave without proper explanation. It’s as if when a character leaves a show he or she isn’t mentioned again. They just cease to exist. Derek Hale mysteriously left before the start of season five, and no one knows what he has been up to. It is as if the writers don’t care about him anymore, especially when they got Braeden back without a single mention of Derek Hale. Fans have been invested in his character for four years, and it would’ve been nice hearing what happened to him, even if it was from Braeden.
An actor leaving the show doesn’t mean that their character has to disappear as well. They did the same thing with Isaac Lahey. We know he went with Chris Argent, but after that there wasn’t a single peep from him. Couldn’t Isaac stay in touch with his friends in Beacon Hills? Can’t Derek still text message or call Scott or Stiles? Peter Hale is supposed to be in Eichen House but we haven’t seen him once ever since the start of the current season, which feels strange considering almost more than half of 5B occurred in said mental facility.
CBS’s Supergirl hasn’t shown Superman’s face but at least those two are in contact with each other. Why can’t Teen Wolf do the same? It would at least give fans some sort of satisfaction knowing that their beloved characters are still part of the show’s fictional world.
The Rules Keep Changing
When Teen Wolf started we got a few rules about werewolf eye color, wolfsbane, mountain ash, etc. However, as the seasons progressed things began to grow confusing. The eye colors didn’t seem to matter anymore, a True Alpha became a thing with its own set of problems, some supernatural creatures were immune to mountain ash, mistletoe can heal a drilled head, and so on.
Even powers that were initially linked to being a werewolf began to syphon into other creatures. Malia Tate was supposed to be a werecoyote but she was shown to have the power to take away pain. Even Hayden (Baby Selena Gomez) demonstrated this power. What is even happening in this show anymore?
Also, what is a Banshee in the Teen Wolf world? What is the extent of such a being’s power? And don’t even get me started on the whole True Alpha debacle that’s been going on.
The Ships Have Sailed for Better Seas
Teen Wolf has always been a mess, there’s no denying this fact. It was a cheesy show with characters that resonated with fans, and that’s what propelled it to stardom. Fans of Teen Wolf have always been vocal about their favorite ships, and their passionate projects on various social platforms helped keep Teen Wolf in the eyes of the media.
But then actors began to leave, which led to characters disappearing or dying in the show. I do feel that each exit from an actor took portions of fans with it. I know some fans who haven’t watched the show ever since Allison Argent died. While Crystal Reed did return for an episode, they didn’t tune in because she wasn’t playing Allison.
I do believe that Derek (Tyler Hoechlin) leaving the show was the last straw for a lot of Sterek shippers. If you don’t know what Sterek is, then what are you even doing reading this part of the post?
While TPTB of Teen Wolf hasn’t been treating Sterek shippers well, most shippers still kept watching the show. However, with Derek’s disappearance, and the fact that Stiles was still stuck between being with Lydia or Malia, those fans packed their bags as well.
With Sterek gone, the only remaining big ship is Stydia. If you have been keeping up with the events of the current season, there has been a lot of Stydia baiting in 5B. But I guess fans have learnt their lesson when it comes to ship-baiting in Teen Wolf, and are now leaving in droves as well.
It Is All Sabotage
There were some interesting points made by Beacon Hills After Dark about creator Jeff Davis intentionally sabotaging the show. I have also heard some other fans make the same assumption. To them, the writing has turned so bad that it can’t exist unless the team behind Teen Wolf deliberately wanted the show to fail. Do you think this assumption is true?
Season 6 of Teen Wolf has been confirmed, but will it see the light of day if the ratings keep dropping? Will MTV cancel the show without giving it a proper conclusion?
Right now the ratings for Teen Wolf are more or less the same as The Shannara Chronicles, with both shows hitting below the one million mark in viewers every week. MTV cancelled Finding Carter after season 2, which started receiving below 0.5 million views. If I were to make an educated guess, I think that MTV might go for a season 6 of Teen Wolf if the current ratings don’t drop further; however, if the views fall below the 0.5 million mark then a sixth season is very unlikely.
Why do you think the ratings for Season 5 of Teen Wolf have been dropping? Let us know!
Author: Farid-ul-Haq
Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.
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In addition to all that was mentioned above about actors leaving – and their characters never being spoken of again – there is another issue. These characters and story-lines stopped a long time ago being in any sense slightly believe-able about high school students! In any slightly rational world – what parent would EVER let their children attend such a high-school? In any slightly rational world – what high school students would attend such a school – with all of the weird happenings each week, every school year/season? Who would WANT to live in such a violent town, where teenage children are being violently killed weekly? The show started off as a look into a wacky quirky world of a teenage werewolf and has evolved into a complete mess! With one super-nurse for the whole town or with a sheriff who repeatedly gets most of his department killed? Again the show is about to kill off the single season Black character on the show! Then there are the repeated hang-ups about gay male characters even at the high school level. From the start there were so many approaches with the show could have been taken, and did not.
I’ve stopped taping and keeping the show on the DVR. I’ve already deleted my saved copies of previous seasons. Now, I’m debating the idea of taping the show altogether. Basically that would mean not caring whether I missed watching an episode or more of the show.
And don’t forget the queerbaiting as well. For a show that claims to be so progressive and diverse, it’s awfully heterosexual and white.
Queer baiting has always been a problem in Teen Wolf. Talked about it in my previous post about S4 ratings slip, along with other posts related to LBGTQ+ representation in TW…but I guess the show refuses to change and thus, the ratings took a hard hit.
I think you kind of explained it all.
Terrible plotting, terrible writing, alienated fanbase and etc.
I stopped watched when they started with Eichen House and I know what they did regarding mental health and PTSD alienated a lot of people ie, bad representation and outright ignoring.
I will admit to being an alienated Sterek shipper and to be completely honest I did a happy dance when Tyler Hoechlin left. I can’t even begrudge him signing up for 50 Shades Darker after getting away from this show.
The showrunner,cast and PR have treated more than one of my friends like crap and I will do another happy dance on the day this show is cancelled.
And oh yes, I took it very personally when they denied Stiles bisexuality. I would have given up sterek for that to have been followed through.
The Eichen House situation was terrible from the start…and yeah, Stiles’ bisexuality not being followed through was just wrong in my opinion, there was so much potential there, and then the show had the nerve to make him say another queer-baiting line in episode 18 when Hayden was healing Liam, and I was like…just stop it already. Ain’t nobody buying what you’re trying to sell now.
Yes! Every time you think they’ll have learned a lesson on something, they turn around and prove that they have not. We clearly took their bi-baiting lines “too seriously/too literally” and were disappointed, so what do they do? Turn around and write him another bi-baiting line. Oh please.
I think the banshee’s powers are pretty clear: plugging up plot holes. Too bad they’re not omnipotent…
My main problem is that literally nothing happens in each episode. If you count the minutes of actual plot and/or useful exposition in each episode, I think you’re coming out at maybe 2-3 minutes per episode. The rest of the time is spent in pointless conversations, people walking through dark rooms/hallways, and the characters conducting their love lives. It’s a waste of time.
It has gotten confusing but it still good if you can keep up. Im trying but its really hard
I stopped watching Teen Wolf because I felt as if the PTB were telling me that my kind wasn’t welcome in their fanbase anymore.
I honestly only watched for Stiles but stopped when I realised void stiles was never going to be a thing that came back. Jeff kept on hinting it but I got sick of his baiting. He even baited a darkness in Stiles character that I was really looking forward to and it’s no where to be found. And I just got so fed up…
The darkness came out when he snapped the hell out and killed that dude this season and was happy that he did
How on earth did he “snapped the hell out?” Donovan’s death was even a accident. Sure Stiles coursed it but that wasn’t darkness. That was a well placed lucky pole, That’s the will to survive and survive any way possible. Especially because Donovan was going to kill him.
There was only anxiety and fear and rage in Stiles in season 5a. No darkness to be found.
Besides everything mentioned above, I think for me the realization that a non-con teen sex scene in a mental hospital was more important to TPTB than giving us the scene with Stiles and his Mom was the final straw.
THIS^^^^^^
The fact that they keep making Gerard and Kate returning back from death or whatever, geez they are the worse psycho characters ever.
As a fan of the first seasons, this show is utterly trash. They keep queerbaiting, ship-baiting, the show is racist towards the POC characters. They keep giving scenes that we don’t care about aka Stiles and his mom or dad. The characters that are gone aren’t even mentioned, we didn’t even get a funeral for Allison!
This show is poorly written, some actors are really talented and deserve to work in a better place than this show.
Teen Wolf,People can’t follow the show, because they aren’t paying attention to detail, or just don’t follow the show very well…it’s easy to understand, if you have a brain…
Wow that’s so bad it’s even getting funny at this point…& well good riddance I’d add!
Actually I was patiently waiting for a little revenge against Jeff’s (& others’) bad treatment of us from the Sterek fanbase since ages (& ça va sans dire I’ve never seen an ep./or bought a season again, post 3rd series of TW ;-P).
I can digest all but not this absurd attitude they had with their audience: I still can’t understand why they continue to go against their public…maybe it wasn’t what they was hoping for? & sorry besides what did they expect, the Shakesperean royal club watching TW?! LMFAO.
-You almost suggest that this boycotting was intentional, but if that’s the case is plain silly: if he truly wanted to end this mess, let’s make a great last season to really say farewell in a good fashion! Why destroying his own show it’s beyond me…perhaps it’s some weird psychological downfall?! WTH?! >_<
I know TW was never supposed to be a stellar meaningful series, but c'mon…at least once upon a time it was a fun cheesy fake-scary show with some perks (as the cute actors & the OTPs, both bromance & romantic), now it's NADA, so of course adieu, I go back reading the way better TW fanfics out there.
PS-BTW @Kevin & @Farid-ul-Haq are awfully right, the queerbating & the black lashing etc were simply disgusting, as I'm with @SAIB for the non-con teen sex in the mental hospital fiasco.
It's a pity cos it could have been so much better afterall with just a little improvement from the showrunners listening to their audience, or at least making a tad more sense as a whole; also because they were on a network that in theory could have more freedom to experiment compared to others, & well lest we forget since the main creator was supposed to be gay…but whatever, this is what we get instead: frankly I've more faith in the new Shadowhunters, at least they've taken Malec seriously from the start, plus the original book series is a good starting point to realize a fantasy series. 😉
You pretty much hit the nail on the head with this. The writing makes no sense anymore, there are too many plots and characters for the writers to focus on. Add into this the TPTB who are always trying to convince people that this show is just so progressive, when in reality it’s not. It could be doing more for LGBT representation, but it’s not. It queer-baited with Sterek and with Stiles’ possible bisexuality, only to shut that down and laugh in the fans’ faces for even thinking both or either could actually happen. And their treatment of gay characters and POC characters just sucks. Danny mysteriously disappeared from the show before a season where it would’ve been a great idea to make him a main character. Mason is apparently the beast and turned into a 300 yo white man last night. Kira is a damn lead character, and she has had the least amount of screen time out of all the leads. She was absent from, what, four episodes? And now we’ve learned that Kira is going to be gone from Beacon Hills after the finale episode? She might be another in the long line of characters who have just disappeared from the show with no explanation or acknowledgement after.
The fans aren’t buying this “it’s such a progressive show” crap anymore. They’re getting tired of it, and they’re moving onto better shows that actually treat their POC and lgbt+ characters the way they should be treated.
You spoke the truth, *progressive* my ass LOL?! & about the bad treatment the fanbase had from TPTB well you know what they say “fool me once not twice”…
At this stage I really hope the show will finish as soon as possible, there’s no good reason to continue: especially since we already know that won’t have a modicum of sense even for a big finale. ;-(
I did talk about Kira being the best weapon to use against the Doctors because of her lightning kitsune powers in the review I did for last night’s episode. And that’s why seeing her pushed so much into the background makes no sense to me. It’s frustrating. And now with Mason turning into Sebastian there should be no way Scott and co’s able to save him especially due to the whole Domanatio Memoraie thing and that if Sebastian appears then the teenage chimera is no more storyline that had everyone worried. However, if they do figure out some way (which isn’t going to make any sense) to save Mason then it’s just going to further ruin Teen Wolf and I don’t think even the current yet un-decided viewers will be tuning in for Season 6.
Reading all of these comments made me feel better. Because this site doesn’t show up so easily, you have to look for it, and at first I was trying to find poeple’s opinion and din’t find it. That’s the internet today: the voice of poeple is hidden behind a thick screen of advertisement. Anyway, I agree with everything you said, and it’s reasuring because I feel like the whole fanbase is disappointed, not just me.But unlike what someone said, I could never dance a happy dance. I am angry, but mostly sad when I see this sabotage. Like Kuroko said about basketball: “When you come to hate something you liked, it is incredibly painful.” And TW… I really loved it in the past, it had flows, but so much potential! I was offended when Jackson disappeared, when Isaac left, when Allison died, but when Derek fleed the mess too,I knew it was time to say goodbye. And yet I had to try, I wanted to believe it was still possible. But we got Mason,Theo, the chimeras, the dread doctors… none of the new things was good, NONE. It is so obvious that – I agree – it had to be intentionnal. But why? Does Jeff believe he’s gonna become an alpha through the pain he causes us with terrible writing? He just lost his pack.
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