Ava DuVernay’s ‘Naomi’ Loses Almost 10% Of Its Audience For Episode 2
John F. Trent
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Ava DuVernay’s CW show, Naomi, lost almost 10% of its audience in its second week.
Source: Naomi
The show had the worst opening of all time for a superhero show on The CW. TV Series Finale reported the show’s debut episode was only watched by 802k people and it had a .14 rating in the 18-49 demographic.
Arrow’s debut episode was viewed by 4.14 million people with a 1.3 rating in the 18-49 demographic. The Flash’s first episode was viewed by 4.83 million people with a 1.90 rating in the 18-49 demographic.
Supergirl Season 2’s premiere episode was viewed by 3.063 million people and had 1.09 rating in the 18-49 demographic. Season 2 was the first season the show was on The CW, the first season aired on CBS.
Source: Naomi Season 1 Episode 1 “Don’t Believe Everything You Think” (2022), The CW
RELATED: Executive Producer Ava DuVernay Confirms The CW’s Naomi Will Emphasize Identity Politics
DC’s Legends of Tomorrow’s debut episode was viewed by 3.214 million people with a 1.23 rating in the 18-49 demographic. Black Lightning brought in 2.305 million viewers with a .77 rating in the 18-49 demographic with its first episode.
Batwoman saw 1.86 million people tune in with a .47 rating in the 18-49 demographic for its debut episode. Stargirl, which had previously premiered on the now defunct DC Universe, saw its first episode of Season 1 debut on The CW with 1.224 million viewers and .31 rating in the 18-49 demographic.
Finally, Superman & Lois’ premiere episode was viewed by 1.745 million people and had a .37 rating in the 18-49 demographic.
Source: Naomi Season 1 Episode 1 “Don’t Believe Everything You Think” (2022), The CW
Following the worst premiere for a DC Comics TV series on The CW, Naomi’s second episode dropped almost 10% in viewership and saw its rating in the 18-49 demographic almost drop by a quarter.
TV Series Finale reports the second episode only brought in 730k viewers and had a .11 in the 18-49 demographic.
Source: TV Series Finale
YouTubers Az from HeelvsBabyface and Jayne Theory explain that the show is essentially a rip off of Superman’s origin. “It’s a poor man’s Superman,” Jayne Theory states.
“It’s like a very badly written, low-budget Superman,” Az adds. “Naomi is set up in the first episode to be the bestest of the best. Amazing. So smart, so great. Everyone loves her.”
The comparison to Superman is no surprise as the show’s showrunner and executive producer Ava DuVernay admitted the character is a Superman knock off.
She told Variety, “The fact that DC has this Black, teenage girl superhero who eventually will have powers that are on par with Superman — who is the quintessential cis, white male superhero — is a thrilling proposition. And in order to really do that, you’ve got to throw away any kind of social construct and just dive into the fact that she’s a badass.”
Source: Naomi Season 1 Episode 1 “Don’t Believe Everything You Think” (2022), The CW
She also spoke at the Television Critics Association about the show saying, “It’s not about representation, it’s about normalization.”
“We’re doing really muscular things that relates to race and gender and class but we’re doing it by playing it normal like it’s just a part of the everyday,” she added.
DuVernay elaborated, “I say it kiddingly but it’s real. The more you can portray images without underlining or highlighting them and putting a star next to them. By showing a different type of hero that centers a girl, a Black girl, that centers different kinds of folks. We start to make that normal and that’s a radical and revolutionary thing.”
Source: Naomi Season 1 Episode 1 “Don’t Believe Everything You Think” (2022), The CW
What do you make of these poor ratings? What do you think the ratings will be by the end of Season 1?
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