Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (which airs no new episode tonight) is on FOX.  FOX owns the rights to the Major League Baseball World Series.  These two facts may not seem important to the future of Terminator, but they are.  Over the next couple weeks, as the MLB playoffs run their course, FOX viewers will be bombarded with promo after promo for a variety of FOX series.  One of those series will certainly be Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.  This is important because Terminator needs more viewers.  A lot more viewers, and quick.  While Terminator managed to gain a fair percentage of viewers last week (5.37 million to 5.84 million), the total ratings still leave a lot to be desired.  Nonetheless, FOX recently ordered two more scripts for the action drama.  FOX is likely banking on a ratings boost post-World Series.  Will they get it?

As a fan, I certainly hope so.  Here's something crazy to think about: the baseball playoffs fluctuate wildly in ratings depending on which teams are still playing.  The New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox tend to garner the highest national ratings thanks to their expansive fan bases.  The Yankees are not in the playoffs this year (which brings me great joy), though the Red Sox (who employ a nationwide phalanx of pink hat-wearing fair-weather fans) are.  If the Red Sox make the World Series (which seems likely now, given they lead the Tampa Bay Rays in the ALCS), then a lot more people will watch the World Series.  As a result, a lot more people will see the Terminator promos and, possibly, tune in to new episodes of the show.

In a way, the future of Terminator may rest on the fragile legs of David Ortiz.  Chaos theory-type stuff, right?  The two episode order from FOX is another move in the long line of loyal treatment the network has shown to Terminator, a series that has been well-received by critics and ignored by fans.  The time slot is an issue, Terminator airing on Mondays at 8pm against Dancing with the Stars, two CBS comedies, Gossip Girl, Chuck and Monday Night Football.  Maybe the World Series will be the turning point for Terminator.  More likely (and I say this with a heavy heart), it will be a last-ditch effort by FOX to keep the series alive.


-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer
Source: TVGuide
(Image Courtesy of FOX)