‘Sleepy Hollow’ Season 3 Under Pressure to Deliver Good Ratings on Second Half to Ensure Season 4 Renewal!

The second half of Season 3 of the American supernatural police drama TV series “Sleepy Hollow” is set to premiere on Fox on February 5 and reports have it that the show would be under pressure to improve its ratings to ensure that it gets renewed for a fourth season late this year.

When the TV series debuted on Fox sometime in 2013, the network really thought that it had hit a home run with the show’s very strong debut.

But the ratings of “Sleepy Hollow” got worse and worse over the course of the first two seasons. In the spring of last year, network execs renewed the show for a Season 3 amid the not-so-good ratings, which has gone down by as much as 40% year-to-year, reports TV Series Finale.

It also did not help “Sleepy Hollow” when it was move from its Monday night time slot to the very competitive Thursday night schedule after its Season 3 premiere in October last year

During the first eight episodes of “Sleepy Hollow” Season 3, the show got a 0.92 rating in the all-important 18 to 49-year-old viewer demographics and is actually averaging 3.25 million viewers per episode. In Season 2, “Sleepy Hollow” was averaging 4.57 million viewers per episode and Season 3 experienced a 28.83% drop on viewership.

That is actually a not-so-bad rating but compared to other shows in the same Thursday timeslot, “Sleepy Hollow” is not doing well.

The ratings are typically the best sign of a show’s likelihood of staying on the air so the higher the ratings, the better its chances for survival.

Moving to Friday

In order to shore up the chances of “Sleepy Hollow” getting renewed for a Season 4, Fox will be moving the TV series from Thursday to Friday when it returns for its midseason premiere on February 5, reports Deadline.

“Sleepy Hollow” is being relocated for a second time in the last few months. Critics believe that the move could be interpreted in two ways.

The first one may mean that the network wants to improve the ratings of “Sleepy Hollow” by pitting it against lesser competition. The second reason, on the other hand, means that the network has already given up on the chances of “Sleepy Hollow” for a Season 4 renewal.

There is an analysis on TV circles that every time a show is moved to a Friday night schedule, the chances of it being axed soon are very high. And it seems that there are trends and strong evidence to back up such presumption.

Abbie would be alive

“Sleepy Hollows” follows the story of Ichabod Crane, played by Tom Mison, a patriot who was killed 230 years ago. He finds himself resurrected in modern day and partners with a female police lieutenant in Abbie Mills, played by Nicole Beharie. The other cast members include Lyndie Greenwood, Shannyn Sossamon, Nikki Reed, Lance Gross, and Zach Appelman.

Season 3 of “Sleepy Hollow” is still on its customary winter break after its nerve-wracking eighth episode titled “Novus Ordo Seclurum” which is Latin for ‘Witness of the Apocalypse,’ was shown on November 19.

It can be recalled that during the fall finale episode of “Sleepy Hollow,” Abbie Mills took a smashed shard and drained all of the Anubis energy from her sister Jenny, played by Lyndie Greenwood.

However, the smashed shard was unable to hold the power of the Anubis. Sensing that it would blow up, Abbie took it inside Pandora’s evil tree, before the explosion of the glowing orb.

Following the explosion, Ichabod Crane realized that Jenny had survived the ordeal but Abbie might not be as lucky but her body was nowhere to be found. The episode closed on Ichabod, emotionally gutted and nearly collapsing from the shock of what had happened.

It was almost certain that it was not only Ichabod Crane who got the shock of his life after the explosion but most of the viewers of the TV series, who have rooted for the ‘Ichabbie’ romantic pairing.