NOTE: Spoilers for Agent Carter to follow
It’s not often show runners confirm fan speculation before a plot point is revealed on-screen, but that’s exactly what happened when Tara Butters and Michele Fazekas — the team behind Agent Carter — talked with Eric Goldman of IGN. In an interview posted yesterday, the dynamic duo who helm the Peggy Carter vehicle revealed that Carter’s recently introduced girl-next-door Dottie “is a product of the Black Widow Program.” While Dottie showed off some moves that recall Scarlett Johansson‘s action-spy Natasha Romanoff in last Tuesday’s fourth episode of Agent Carter, her identity had not yet been confirmed in-story.
Butters also said that Marvel Studios and Marvel TV have been pretty open to large, impactful ideas: “It is a big idea to go and say, ‘What if it’s the last remaining sample of [Captain America’s] blood and can we put that in the show? They’ve been so excited about these ideas and so supportive. Us showing Dottie as a precursor to the Black Widow Program, Captain America’s blood, these are big things in this universe that they’re willing to let us play with.”
It’s certainly possible the Black Widow connection was publicized in hopes of piquing the interest of more MCU fans by revealing the show’s intentions to connect to the films. Despite considerable critical success, the pastiche prequel to Captain America: The Winter Solider has seen it’s ratings drop consistently since it’s two-hour premiere on January 6: from a 1.9 to a 1.3, which represents a loss of several million viewers. While Agent Carter‘s ratings are currently comparable to those of companion show Agent’s of S.H.I.E.L.D., should Carter’s numbers continue to decline, it could put hopes of a second season on ice.
It hasnt helped having it on a few weeks, then off, then is it on? If you are going to run a show midseason, run it for 8 consecutive weeks so people know when to find it and you can build a viewship. I’ve watched the first 3 but got tired of looking for the 4th episode over the last couple of weeks and gave up looking for it.
I really enjoy watching Agent Carter. I have DVR it and watch at a later time because I work nights, but it’s a great show. It gives insight into the Marvel Universe that I didn’t know about. I agree with what Joe says, ” If you are going to run a show midseason, run it for 8 consecutive weeks so people know when to find it and you can build a viewership. I hope that there will be a season to Agent Carter.
i’m into this show. i definitely think it’s better than aos…. at least people can act in this one. i really hope this gets picked up again.
The problem with AOS and Agent Carter is the hiatus it always goes into every couple of weeks it seems and you know why? Sports events will put almost all shows now on hiatus or the holidays or the State of The Union Address even.. how can you possibly build an audience on any channel if its not airing due to something not everyone wants to watch or view? If people want to watch Agent Carter more than football they will do that , I’ll pick a tv show I love over any day of the week versus televised sports. I wish shows could be more like the premium channels like Showtime and HBO but even they delay epsidoes but not as much as network and cable channels do. The main culprit here is televised sports….
It’s a great show. Better than I expected. As an aside, I will also mention that women were so much hotter when they dressed like that.
The reason it was not on last week was pretty good. The Constitution of the United States orders the president to address congress on the state of the union… so, I think we can cut ABC some slack for going with that instead of “Agent Carter.” – TREE
They couldn’t run it last week because of the President’s State of the Union address. Nobody ran programming that Tuesday. I like blaming people for things, but this wasn’t the network’s fault. So, OK, everyone together now, it was Obama’s fault! :)
We had the State of the Union to thank for the break between episodes 3&4. I think most people now view shows on DVR because we can skip through the commercials. I know they have a way to track that. I heard that the heads at ABC said this show was lacking in the ratings but with the DVR views it made it a hit show. If I can fast forward through those terrible I’m Rob Lowe and I have Directv and I’m Rob Lowe and I have cable, commericals I am going to do it. I love this show and haven’t watched the fourth episode yet. I meant to watch it the other night and got busy, so it is on deck for the weekend at some point. I am hoping they decide to do a second season run of episodes. I think a shorter season of like 8-13 episodes like Breaking Bad or the Walking Dead is a receipe for success now. Agent Carter has a chance to be around for a few seasons.
AC is a great show. Good atmosphere, daring deeds and a bombshell lead! What more can you ask for?
Agent Carter was off for ONE week because of the State of the Union Address. If you can’t get into a show because it had one week off, then shame on you.
I think the show needs to move towards the creation of SHIELD which I believe Stark and Peggy were a big part of. The mens only club where she is at now is interesting look of things in the time, but, is waring thin on viewers.
I love this show and am going to enjoy it while it is on. Hate to say it but I have given up on good written shows like this that they will be picked up for another season. So enjoy it while it is on great action and acting and surprising character interaction. Also if I may the handicapped character is both timely in two ways first off nice to see them represented there in that era of time but also in the that it is contemporary in that a lot of disabled veterans are returning. It also is heartfelt in that I am disabled. But lines like sending her out for lunch orders or when they are going to beat up a suspect. The lead agent turns to her and tells her to leave it no place for a lady. It is Ironic given what she has seen and went through during the war.
The show has definitely been growing on us – the look, the humor, the badassery, and now the introduction of Bridget Reagan’s character Dottie – what’s not to like? Keep it coming!
I agree, Run it 8 weeks in a row not jumping weeks. I like how it shows Howard Stark being just like his son. A genius playboy….
The fourth episode was delayed because of the State of the Union address.
Some things still need to take priority over our entertainment needs.
I tried watching AC. I really wanted to like it but….there is something about the show that…that…repels me. I really like the lead actress. This show is definitely not better than Agents of Shield. People keep making this statement and they are wrong as hell. I hope that the intro of Black Widow Program into AC really help make the show interesting. The show as it is right now, it is not memorable and it does not inspire me to keep watching it. I totally forgot about the show until reading this article…and it was the reference to Black widow that peaked my interest.
I wish the fashions of the 1940s and 1950s would return. They are smoking hot.
As a man, I’m willing to do my part by wearing old-style suits and hats again.
Of course, I’d need to do a Kickstarter campaign to pay for my new wardrobe.
for those complaining about not finding the 4th episode, it was 1 week and even SHIELD isn’t as powerful as the President… State of the Union address. Complainers! Let’s just blame Obamacare
This new programming schedule of running a show for a couple weeks then off for a couple of weeks then back on sucks. It makes it so I don’t care about the show. If the TV stations and show producers don’t care about airing their shows I definitely will not carry the flag for them. There how plan sucks and people should be FIRED!
Joe says: “It hasnt helped having it on a few weeks, then off, then is it on? If you are going to run a show midseason, run it for 8 consecutive weeks so people know when to find it and you can build a viewship. I’ve watched the first 3 but got tired of looking for the 4th episode over the last couple of weeks and gave up looking for it.”
Sorry, Joe and Mark, but it has been on consecutive week in the Agent of SHIELD slot and only had a repeat on the night of the State of the Union Address. ABC indicated that it was their intent to run the show consecutively in that slot. But it could be your local station preempting it. ABC have also show the program in other time periods, Thursday and Saturday, in which I have seen it.
Episodes 1 & 2 was the two hour premier on January 6th. Episode 3 was on January 13th. Episode 4 was on January 27th instead of the 20th because of the State of the Union speech. Not uncommon. The rest of the episodes will be consecutive.
I agree with allowing the show(s) run a continuous 8 weeks to build up a viewership. I enjoy both and hope both will continue especially when they interact in some way with an up coming Marvel movie(s). That type of interaction tells both the history and the present of the storyline which could lead to speculation of future. Being a Marvel fan since the ’70s the storyline is already there; just love seeing it on the big screen.
I really love this show. Haley Atwell makes Peggy a REAL hero in just showing how tough it was (and frequently still is!) for a woman to be working in “a man’s job”. Pshaw! Peggy’s smarter and more clever than the “guys”, and gets put down for it every time. And Haley shows Peggy’s vulnerability and grief (over losing Cap) in so many little ways. She’s the REAL Marvel!!
It may be “just a comic book show” to some, but it’s a great show, and Butters and Fazekas have done a fantastic job in creating a woman who is smart, steely, conflicted, angry, and yet warm and caring. I love it!!
The current rating system is outdated. It doesn’t account for people who time shift and watch on demand. Live viewing is a thing of the past.
Personally, I try to watch live but often can’t because of my busy schedule. Just glad my cable provider has on demand so I can watch the most recent episode of the show at my convenience.
Please give the network programming folks a break on the 8 consecutive weeks issue. The one night it wasn’t on (episode 4) was because it got preempted by the State of the Union address.
I saw the moves of Dottie, but attributed it (apparently in error) to a covert Soviet Spy, rather than the Black Widow Program. Agent Carter showcases many of the throwback attitudes of the era and is weaving a capable storyline, but the ability to connect is failing as others have indicated because of the “is it on or is it not” scheduling. Repeating the one episode didn’t help either. Not everyone has a DVR and if you want a following, they have to be able to find it.
@Joe: IMO, your complaint about preemption is unfair in Agent Carter’s case because 1) it’s only been preempted once, hardly indicative of ABC being indecisive about the show in and of itself as a one-time-only preemption, by 2) the State of the Union Address, which preempted pretty much everything not on the CW.
Agent Carter has a great rack.
I hate internet pedants but: piquing, not peaking!
http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/101450/is-it-peek-peak-or-pique
Please delete this comment.
I just love all the folks going on about ALL these skipped weeks when it was just only 1 because of the State of the Union- and all the major networks covered it obviously. It just hasn’t happened like the complainers are saying.
Gotta love the internet.
This show is very good and very entertaining. And there isn’t a sense of needing to know every detail of the happenings in the MCU to get what’s happening. I also agree with Joe. It kills me that these show execs fail to realize, the days of having only 4 networks on TV are long gone. The viewer has options now. If you hook the viewer on something and then take it away, you may not get them back. Especially with a show that started off strong, don’t let gaps in programming show up.
Think about it, what was on in place of Agent Carter last week? (honestly, I don’t recall and that’s a BIG FAIL) I don’t often have reason to applaud Fox as they’ve messed up so many current or potential hitmakers over the years..NY Undercover, MWC, In Living Color, Gang Related. One thing they did right is hype everyone up for Empire while Gotham was on break. The 1st episode appeared during a week Gotham came on. 2 days later Empire came on. Kind of getting folks hooks on two new shows at the same time. Even though they aren’t on the same day, I believe it helped. Empire played again when Gotham was off.
ABC should not complain if Agent Carter’s ratings go down. It isn’t the show. It’s the gapes that cause it. FAIL FLASHBACK: I heard back in the 60s that Star Trek TOS was moved to Friday nights and in a time slot when most of their viewers would be out of the house. CBS wanted the show to fail. It’s been 40-50s years. These execs should know by now what to do to keep a show on the air now.
If the ratings drop for anything, it was probably because fans forgot to re-tune back in since we had an extra surprise Tuesday night off from Peggy when Obama’s State of the Union commandeered TV on 1/20/15. We had its 1st 2 episodes back-to-back on 1/6/15 (those 2 hours really flew by; it had me sucked in the whole time), then another ep on 1/13 but then 1/20 was where Obama stole her TV time. Poor Peggy, overshadowed by men (non-White men this time, heh) even in our day and age.
I won’t say if this show is better than or worse than AoS, since 1 is a period piece and the other takes place inbetween the MCU films. Different genres, essentially. Both are good but if this show doesn’t make Hayley Atwell a leading-lady star (her Peggy deals with leading-lady stuff right there in the 1st few episodes), then Hollywood’s standards are impossibly high. She’s an absolute gem. Excited to see her also in Age of Ultron and Ant-Man, since she’s credited in both.
CORRECTION: I guess it helps to be in good health. I was sick last week. Had the DVR set, but didn’t check to see why we missed a week. State of the Union Address. Okay so it wasn’t ABC’s fault. Give us another double episode this week to make up for it. Just an idea.
My husband and I really like Agent Carter. Love the period feel. We compare it to Nero Wolfe without the big guy yelling in every episode. Keep the show!
I thought they were going to release this show on Netflix. I was surprised when they aired it. I’m liking it, but then I am a Marvel fan. Always have been, always will be.
Uh, the only week that was skipped was because of the State of the Union last week. Otherwise, ABC has shown new episodes every Tuesday since it premiered.
AGENT CARTER was really only intended to be a time-filler to begin with, until AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. returns.
I look forward to seeing it on home video.
Agent Carter is a very solid show. I really hope more people start watching it.
I really like Agent Carter. Glad to see what happens to her after the war. My only complaint is that this show had to be scheduled around the State of the Union Address so keeping up with what goes on is a pain in the neck. Overall, I realy like the show.
So much of what the good people here are saying is true, yet some of it is as stupid as the network idiots who confuse ratings spikes and dives. It is ridiculous for a network to not show an episode due to another network showing a sporting event, no matter how big the sporting event is. (and don’t get me wrong, I LOVE SPORTS!) But, diversity in audience preferences is why we have 787,462 channels now on basic service providers. (143 if you don’t count home shopping channels) Also, lest we forget, that todays working world is not a 9 to 5 world, which means more people watch DVR television shows than live TV. Why would anyone base Viewership on live TV ratings? That is moronic. It also means after the big game, people still want to watch their shows, and still get pissed off when the network just decided for them that this weeks shows wont air until next week or the week after. That is why viewers bail on good tv shows. As far as the State of the Union Address goes, while it is better to wait on airing any shows that occur at that time slot, than just to air over them like the networks once did, I am pretty sure the rule of airing the SOTU only applies to good, fair, or at best poor presidents and clearly does not apply to the horrible fiasco of a moronic, idiotic, and im pretty sure demonic excuse for a president that gave the most recent SOTU. Not to name any names or anything…That being said I think Agent Carter is a great show, way better that AOS which I also love. But no matter how well made either of them are, they still need to take notes at what CW is doing with Arrow and Flash. Behind the scenes of the superheroes is cool, but watchers still wanna see some actual super heroes, which neither AOS nor Carter has yet to deliver. (aside from simply reairing 5 minutes of Captain America 1)
So, to sum up. If you want better ratings 1) dont skip weeks due to other network airings. 2) dont base ratings solely on live viewership and account for DVR viewers, and 3) show some real superheroes sometimes. do these 3 things and ratings will go up.
That sounds pretty stupid since black widow was NOT part of shield in the beginning.
Terrific show and the entire thing appears so well thought out.
I wish the fashions of the 1940s and 1950s would return. They are smoking hot.
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Tony, I couldn’t agree more. Women dressed far more classy then than now. Now, the vast majority of women either try to dress like men, or they dress in a style that leave little to nothing to the imagination. Ladies, take it from a red-blooded American male: we love seeing you dressed as classy as possible, not dressed in some “hoochie-mama” “outfit”.
Such a good show. It doesn’t help at all the people are stacking the show on DVR to watch in chunks. Advertisers no longer care about the ratings of a show after seven days of being on a DVR. So for people who want the show to succeed…watch it on the dvr that night. Don’t save them.
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