Does Agent Carter Need to Be Renewed?
Agent Carter‘s second season finale, “Hollywood Ending,” was an example of good television. Loose ends were wrapped up in a neat little bow, and a thread was picked up for a potential next season (with executive producer Michele Fazekas teasing, “He’s [Thompson] not necessarily dead. He got shot. That’s all we show. It certainly didn’t tickle. But we were really clear when we talked to Chad about it, we were like, ‘Just so you know, you are getting shot. And that is all we are saying.'”) There’s just one problem: even with such a great finale, Agent Carter has not been guaranteed a third season. TVLine has reported the rather bleak ratings— 2.37 million viewers with a 0.7 in the ratings— despite its readers giving the episode an overall “A-” grade. Already, articles have popped up championing a third season with heated debate filling the comments section— the excuses range from the Nielson ratings system is archaic (we hear that), to ABC’s website is problematic for those who don’t have cable, forcing viewers to turn to unofficial streaming sites (fair enough), to Dish Network subscribers don’t get ABC (is Dish Network the be-all-and-end-all for TV viewers? Can it make or break a show?)— and despite the fact that Agent Carter has never been a ratings all-star, audience reception has been (for the most part) overwhelmingly positive. But if rumours of cancellation are enough to prompt hundreds of fans to come out of the woodwork— hundreds who, when combined, could impact those ratings. There’s even an article about how to make unsuspecting viewers watch Agent Carter on the down-low) fans of the show are doing their best to endorse it. Why is it consistently doing badly in the ratings?
Maybe this period piece is (strangely) ahead of its time. Lots of great shows with interesting characters and ideas have gotten the axe despite being incredibly watchable— Tru Calling, The Secret Circle, Lie To Me, Red Band Society, etc.— or maybe it’s just not meant for TV. Not in the traditional sense, anyway.
Let me be clear: I am not advocating for Agent Carter‘s return because third-wave feminism dictates I should. I’m not doing it because I’m tired of seeing heterosexual, cis-gendered white dudes all over my screen. I’m not even doing it to complain that mainstream television is a pile of tripe that only the most brainwashed of sheeple could enjoy, which somehow means that my tastes are superior to society’s at large (spoiler alert: they’re not).
I want to see Agent Carter renewed because it’s funny and smart with an all-star cast. But I also (and maybe this is my inner optimist reaching. I rarely let it out, as it’s so often proven wrong) think that the third season and all its potential will see the light of day. Peggy Carter will live to fight again. And I don’t think low ratings will stand in the way of an obviously quality (if under-appreciated and under-viewed) television property.
That said, if ratings are the issue people are fussing over: maybe (as Maureen Ryan pointed out in her article, linked above) it’s not the right fit for cable TV and would reach a wider audience on a streaming service like Netflix, or maybe Marvel needs to get its television properties onto a subscription-based app, much like Marvel Unlimited (disclaimer: I use Comixology to get a little bit of everything, but the die-hard Marvel fanatics in my life have assured me that Unlimited is worth the price). I’m not going to lie: I’ve often wondered what sort of show Agent Carter could become if it were made into a Netflix property. Given how wonderful Jessica Jones turned out to be, I really do believe they could work magic with any given series, even one that struggles to find a sizeable audience.
The show has so much more to do before it makes its exit, and Peggy has so much room to grow and change and inspire those around her to do the same.
On the off chance that it does get cancelled— at least we had it for two seasons. At least Atwell brought everything she had to the table and made Peggy a heroine worth fighting for. At least Peggy is more to the Marvel universe than just a woman Captain America once loved. But again, I don’t think it’s naive to hope for a third season and not worry about cancellation at this time. Agent Carter has beat the odds before, and there’s no reason that it can’t do it again.