Postponed by one week, the first season finale of “Mr. Robot” aired Wednesday night. Its adults 18-49 rating and viewership total slightly trailed those posted by the August 19 penultimate installment.
Wednesday’s “Mr. Robot” drew a 0.46 adults 18-49 rating with 1.210 million total viewers. The previous episode managed a 0.49 in adults 18-49 and reached an audience of 1.319 million viewers.
On the one hand, the decline is disappointing. Despite airing with the support of critical raves (which had transformed from strong reviews into absolute gushing in recent weeks), audience buzz and ample online media attention, the finale could not even match — let alone build on — the performance of the penultimate installment.
On the other hand, the episode did face the challenge of airing without lead-in support from an original “Suits.” Unlike the “Mr. Robot” finale, which was postponed due to similarity between the on-air suicide scene and the on-air murder of two WDBJ employees, the USA veteran wrapped up its summer run last Wednesday.
While “Mr. Robot” carries a vibe and thus doubtfully possesses intense overlap with “Suits,” it almost certainly benefited from airing after a higher-rated show. The removal of that lead-in support definitely did not help this week’s episode.