That's it folks! Scandal!'s big seven day extension ends suddenly next week when it returns to weeknights only from Monday 2 September.
It didn't even last a month and a half after starting on 13 July.
Clearly the seven days a week set-up hasn't performed well enough to keep it going.
As we mentioned in our article about the show's weekend ratings
here, we were impressed with the numbers because millions of people tuned in, making it the weekend's No. 1 show across channels.
A refresh of the ratings on these dates:
| Date |
Viewership |
| 10 August 2024 |
1,775,529 |
| 11 August 2024 |
2,070,072 |
| Weekend total |
3,845,601 |
The most watched week night episode in July attracted 3,682,170 viewers - before the extension - so the Saturday and Sunday episodes were more or less half of that, which is no mean feat considering how abruptly the change happened.
We imagined it could grow to become a real weekend phenomenon so it's a pity we won't see what it could have become but it seems the more-or-less-half who didn't tune in have been the deciding factor.
e.tv announced the five day return today and got us choking on our hot chocolate because they're saying the seven day extension was a binge treat for winter, ha!
As if it was always the plan that it would end after winter when they didn't say aaaaaanything about winter or binges when they first announced the extension. Someone save us from the cringe.
Still, it was brave of them to do seven days and it's revealed this interesting state of affairs when it comes to free-to-air TV: it's possible to have a hit show on Saturdays and Sundays at 19h30. Something that dominates the weekend. The audience is there and ready.
They just don't want to be pulled from the week into the weekend. The problem is if they've been watching in the week and then miss the weekend episodes, they're missing too much so the series needs to be a signature weekend show.