Top 5 Ways Revenge Can Improve Its Lackluster Ratings in Season 3
It’s not easy being Revenge. After a lackluster, and totally bizarre, Season 2, the show did some creative reshuffling behind the scenes and served up a fun 13 episodes for the first half of Season 3 — but the ratings are at an all-time low. ABC has announced that when the show returns in March, it will move to the Sunday night 10 p.m. timeslot, which may help, but we thought of some other ways the show could regain some of the viewers it lost.
5. More Takedowns: One of the biggest reasons viewers fell in love with Revenge in the early episodes was the “takedown of the week.” Emily would target a new Grayson Global alum each week and systematically ruin them, be it personally, professionally or both. Season 3 started out strong, with Emily taking down the annoying Ashley and then a multi-episode takedown of Father Paul, but since then she’s been doing damage control more than anything else. Bringing Sara’s mother to ruin Sara’s fun last week was more of a preemptive strike than anything else. Let’s see some more revenging in Revenge!
4. More Glam: What happened to Victoria’s amazing, lavish parties from Season 1? The art auctions, the horse races, the galas and other fancy Hamptons events were great fun to watch, and the show went all out to make them big and beautiful. There have been some fun events in Season 3 — the July 4 party and Emily and Daniel’s wedding were nicely realized — but the grandeur just isn’t there anymore. Bring back the parties!
3. No More Spy Stuff: New showrunner Sunil Nayar has greatly scaled back the espionage and silly international spy elements introduced in Season 2, but with Aiden still acting like a James Bond wannabe, Takeda’s ninja fatale daughter Niko coming to the Hamptons and Emily using more and more violence to get what she wants, it’s becoming too much again. These stories and characters just don’t gel with the show’s setting and tone, and to make matters worse, the stories are filled with plot holes — like Aiden hiding the katana he used to murder Takeda under his bed. REALLY?
2. Less Milquetoast: In the past, we’ve rooted for the “decent” characters on the show. Jack, the quintessential nice guy, was charming and likeable and we still root for him. We also enjoy new character Margaux, who’s headstrong and willful but also kind and down-to-earth. That being said, characters like Sara, who are sickeningly saccharine and nauseatingly earnest, make us want to grab Aiden’s katana and… you get the idea. Good guys are important to bring balance to the schemers and criminals, but they don’t have to be infuriatingly saintly.
1. Take it Down a Notch: This season has kicked the stakes into high gear, with the Graysons learning the partial truth about Emily (that she’s a con-woman, but NOT her true identity) and Daniel realizing he’s been had. As fun as it’s been to watch, where do we go from here? If the show is going to survive another season, how is Emily going to get her revenge with everyone’s guard up? We enjoy high stakes and shocking moments, but they should be spaced out a little more.
What do you guys think Revenge should do to boost the ratings? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook and Twitter!