Ava DuVernay’s ‘Naomi’ Series Has Lost Almost 40% Of Its Audience In Just 4 Episodes

John F. Trent |

Feb 8, 2022

Ava Duvernay and The CW’s Naomi series starring Kaci Walfall has lost nearly 40% of its audiences in just four episodes.

The fourth episode of the series, which aired on February 1st, posted the show’s worst demographic ratings as well as its worst viewership numbers.

According to TV Series Finale, “Enigma” had a rating of .09 in the 18-49 demographic. And the show only brought in 507,000 viewers.

The series debuted with a .14 rating in the 18-49 demographic and saw 802,000 viewers tune in. The drop from 802,000 to 507,000 is a total loss of 295,000 viewers and a 36.7% drop.

As seen in the chart above, the fourth episode continued the trend of viewers abandoning the show. The show previously lost close to 10% of its viewers with the second episode.

It declined almost 20% from episode two to three. And most recently it declined close to 14% from episode three to four.

The show’s ratings drop should not be a surprise to anyone. DuVernay marketed the show by boasting that it would embrace identity politics.

She spoke at the Television Critics Association 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 stated.

She 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.”

DuVernay also admitted the show’s main character is a knock off Superman.

She told Variety, “The more evolved way to think about representation is that she is treated like any other hero and that her powers are not specific to the way that anyone treats her.”

“And so, one of the reasons why I liked this is she literally has powers that will eventually [be] almost identical to Superman,” DuVernay explained. “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,” she concluded.

Along with DuVernay’s marketing, the show is also terrible according to Az from HeelvsBabyface and Jayne Theory.

Az begins his review of “Enigma” stating, “I was not prepared for the absolute — they gave up on this episode.”

After Jayne Theory points out the episode is titled “Enigma,” Az states, “Well, yes. It is an enigma it made it into TV.”

Az and Jayne Theory go on to state the episode is so bad, they predict the ratings for episode five will be even worse than episode four.

In fact, they both lampoon the show with Az stating, “This episode, they a.) Don’t have have a budget. b.) Don’t have a bloody error c.) Don’t have a director by the looks of it either.”

“No writer already, we know that,” adds Jayne Theory.

Az then opines that the show is a complete experiment. He explains, “They literally grab people off the street and say, ‘Can you make this episode of Naomi, please.'”