Though its pilot, which bowed before 2.6 million viewers, received solid critical marks as a fun half hour of comedy, “The Hard Times of RJ Berger”‘s premiere had been criticized for not establishing a tangible “hook” for future airings. The show paid the price for that flaw, dipping to just 1.172 million viewers for its time period premiere Monday.
While a drop was expected given the absence of the “MTV Movie Awards” lead-in, the show’s tumble was significantly more steep than was hoped. With just a 0.5 rating in adults 18-49 and women 18-34, the show was also not a strong demographic performer, giving MTV little about which to smile.
“The Hard Times of RJ Berger,” essentially HBO’s “Hung” set in high school, chronicles a nerdy, unpopular teenager who develops a reputation after his massive “endowment” is accidentally exposed to the student body. Though the humor in the first episode was appreciated, episode two was panned by critics due to its departure from the premise. Monday’s episode paid almost no focus to the “hard times” part of the story, instead following the title character as he stood up for the underdogs and ran for head of student government against the school’s top jock (and bully, in RJ’s case).