There's been a lot of hype surrounding the debut of Ghost Rider in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., but it doesn't appear as if that exactly translated to ratings during last night's season four premiere. The introduction of Robbie Reyes brought in a 1.1 with the show's key 18 - 34 demographic, while it scored a total of 3.58 million live viewers. That's actually down from season three's 1.7 and 4.09 million viewers.
However, these numbers are still in line with where Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was by the time the finale rolled around. It's not all bad news either as this rating was higher than that and the numbers mark an upswing for the 10pm slot the show has now been moved to. Despite that, you have to believe that both ABC and Marvel TV were hoping for better returns after adding a character like this to the series.
The reaction to Ghost Rider has been a positive one though, so the show could start improving in terms of ratings moving forward thanks to word of mouth. If not, there's a very real possibility that season four could be Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s last, though it's still far too soon to say whether that will be the case. Still, based on the way ABC pulled the plug on Agent Carter, it will need to improve soon.
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