On the one hand, the network television premiere of “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” marked a full circle victory for the project, which started as an inexpensively-produced web series designed to shed light on alternative means of creating and distributing quality content during the television writers’ strike.
That it was finally airing on television, albeit on the low-rated CW, was a victory in and of itself.
On the other hand, the special airing completely flopped in the ratings, even by the heavily-reduced standards of The CW.
Tuesday’s airing of the “Dr. Horrible” series generated an abysmal 0.2 adults 18-49 rating with 570,000 viewers, losing half of the 0.4 rating and 1.20 million viewer average posted by lead-in “Hart of Dixie.”
The number is not surprising. By this point, anyone who had interest in seeing the special had ample means of locating it online, and so there was no way this was going to come off like a must-see television event.
But, still, given the potential for satisfied viewers to tune in for a repeat viewing or for those who had spent years hearing the buzz to finally give the miniseries a look, it would not have been unreasonable to expect a better overall rating.
