Geez, if Once can’t recover to higher numbers for the rest of the Season, I don’t have high hopes for anything past a third Season. While everyone is blaming the “constant breaks” for Once’s ratings, you have to realize that Season 1 had the same breaks last winter (one for the Super Bowl, one for the Oscar), and yet it actually continued to do really well. There was also no special competition (award show or Football) to blame for these ratings. I’m afraid people are actually losing interest, particularly a good portion of the Nielsen viewers (the very sample of viewers who determine how the ratings turn out). I’ve heard several people complain about this Season’s pacing and writing, and these diminishing ratings seem to correlate with those complaints.
All we can do now is hope by some fluke Once’s ratings go back up for the last episodes of the Season. Especially the Season finale, because if that can’t get higher ratings, that would be pathetic. I would advise that ABC and the producers rethink how to handle Season 3. A stronger sense of direction is definitely in need, and perhaps even a timeslot change could help. Season 3 will have a clean slate to start with, so if it starts out strong and continues to do so, Once can be saved from this declining slope.