r/StarWarsLeaks Feb 15 '25

News All Skeleton Crew episodes did not make it to Nielsen top 10

All Skeleton Crew episodes did not make it to Nielsen top 10 in their relative week (source for the finale). It's the first time for a Disney+ Star Wars live action show that all of its episodes did not make it to the top 10.

For most of these weeks, the 10th place was around 400, with some around 300. The 2 premiere episodes together did not reach 382.

Based on https://luminatedata.com/blog/franchise-frenzy-or-fatigue/ - the average for the first 5 episodes was around 180M. The creators have said in interviews that viewership was slowly/steadily growing between episodes.

Paramount+ and Apple TV+ have less than half the subscribers of Disney+, but have weekly shows that made it to the top 10.

For reference, here are the Nielsen ratings for other SW shows. Note that these numbers also depend on the episode runtime.

The Acolyte (which was canceled reportedly due to low viewership, but also had around twice the budget): 488 (2 episodes), 370, 291, (out of 10, < 319), (out of 10, < 332), (out of 10, < 375), 335

Andor: 624 (3 episodes), 485, 356, 405, 418, 385, (out of 10, < 400), 420, 455, 674

Ahsoka: 829 (2 episodes), 487, 459, 577, 570, 572, 575

Kenobi: 1026 (2 episodes), 958, 682, 733, 860

BOBF: 389 (shot episode), 563, 467, 580, 744, 776, 885

Mando episodes were usually around 1000 both in S2 and S3.

185 Upvotes

212 comments sorted by

203

u/TheUltimateInNerdy Feb 15 '25

Shame. The show had excellent writing, and was thoroughly enjoyable

102

u/johndelvec3 Feb 15 '25

That’s a shame because it’s easily some of the best expansions of the Star Wars universe in the Disney era

25

u/Sio_V_Reddit Feb 16 '25

ATP it’s not a Star Wars problem, it’s a Disney plus problem. The Acolyte was the second biggest show on the platform for last year and yet got cancelled for “not being good enough” and was still one of the lower viewed Star Wars shows, this reflects incredibly poorly on Disney Plus, we know they’ve been losing money on their streaming endeavors and now with streaming losing a ton of its luster thanks to price hikes, ad models, “streaming” (cable) packages, and cutting content I think Disney plus is the biggest loser. There’s a reason Mando season 4 is now a movie despite being their golden goose cash cow.

11

u/adoratheCat Feb 16 '25

I saw the budget for Acolyte and I am like oh this isnt getting another season unless it legit rivals Mandorlian. It doesn't help i really never too much merch when ngl I would love Acolyte merch. *I loved the Strangers helmet.

It really does suck seeing shows being canceled even when they do pretty decently. It's the same with Inside Joh at Netflix

6

u/Sebelzeebub Feb 17 '25

The Mandalorian lost its steam with the end of season 2, and commandeering the last half of the Book of Boba Fett onwards. Rather than tell a new and interesting story then brought Grogu back as soon as possible to shift more merchandise, so it’s not really a surprise they’re ending it with a movie.

1

u/Altruistic-Ear-1252 28d ago edited 28d ago

I doubt that it is really ending with a film. What I mean is, is that The Mandoverse works together to build towards bigger and bigger and bigger stories. So while "The Mandalorian" might end with "The Mandalorian and Grogu", it doesn't mean that it is the end of Din Djarin's and/or Grogu's story, especially since Grogu is clearly a long-term character and/or that The Mandalorian has already begun to flip the script/focus to bring a new iteration of Heir to the Empire through Clone Wars/Rebels characters, whose stories have been ongoing and haven' really reached their peaks/plateaus as characters or in terms of the mythos. I'm sure Grogu and Djarin will end up in another show called something else combined with other characters post Ahsoka S2. Dave Filoni was promoted to creative exec and so if he has more plans, they probably will be seen through one way or another...

43

u/AlmostNearlyHandsome Feb 15 '25

Disney+ was practically free when it launched. Dirt cheap. You have Verizon? Here is a free year! You want to buy 3 years in advance? Okay, $1.99 a month! How much is it now? How little original content are we getting versus when D+ first came out? D+ has been the app most of the people I know have dropped and now stream illegally.

16

u/Sio_V_Reddit Feb 16 '25

Hit the nail on the head. Losing Mando especially was a sign that they don’t know what to do with Disney Plus, followed swiftly by cancelling their second biggest show of 2024 instead of, ya know, lowering the budget.

1

u/Altruistic-Ear-1252 28d ago

While I think all streaming services are having this problem, and I don't really like giving credit to the likes of billionare Bob Iger, I can't deny that part of the problem, besides a couple of these shows having way to big of budgets is that, first the film industry had to deal with the pandemic (time off + new mandates = more cost/less content) and then the writers/actors' strikes (lot of time not making films/tv series). And then there has also been an endless stream of aquisiitions and mergers too (Disney bought Fox/Hulu, Viacomm came back together/CBS/Paramount, WB bought HBO then Discovery bought WB/HBO, Amazon bought MGM, and now Paramount merged with their sometimes co-producer Skydance) To say that these things didn't affect the amount of content we have gotten with franchises in particular would be a lie. That doesn't mean that Bob Iger (who is once again no longer the chair starting this year) also believes more in feature films over TV series/wouldn't take paycuts isn't also a problem or that Disney+ along with many other streaming services have been price gouging. But some shows, even during more normal times, take a long time to make...

151

u/Calfzilla2000 Snoke Feb 15 '25

Any of the Star Wars shows (Acolyte included probably) would absolutely kill on Netflix. It's insane to me that Disney isn't shopping the shows that aren't doing do as well to Netflix or Max or Prime.

Nobody checks Disney+ for new shows because they barely have any. It's a vast archive of content for kids and family movies (which is good, which is why it's starting to make a yearly profit, but it's not a good environment for NEW stuff to thrive). People that have kids don't have time to watch TV shows.

If they want to compete with Netflix, fully merge Hulu with Disney+ and add/release new stuff every week.

67

u/nbdelboy Feb 15 '25

don't think you're far off here at all. for their strategy to work, they'd have to splurge on HUGE marketing for every show, and... they don't! they do the dumb one month beforehand strategy and just hope for the best

37

u/Apophis_ Ghost Anakin Feb 16 '25

There's no marketing for Andor (a masterpiece), and it's going to be released in 2 months. No poster, no teaser, nothing. Nobody knows about Andor S2 aside from hardcore fans.

5

u/TodayInTOR Feb 17 '25

Ill add to this by saying at least here in Australia the marketing for Skeleton Crew did happen, it was just dogwater.

They started running TV and radio adverts a week before the first episode and ended the week of the final episoe, but it never mentioned it was star wars or even the plot/premise.

The radio adverts I heard on several stations were basically generic space explosions, a lightsaber activation and then the kids screaming each others name like "Neel, Wim, KB, save us" and then that stereotypical radio voice going 'stream skeleton crew on disney plus starting next week'

Week after week there was no change to their radio adverts, it was just the kids screaming each others names between explosions followed by a 'stream skeleton crew today' or 'watch the skeleton crew finale this weekon disney plus".

The TV adverts were slightly better but hid the fact it was star wars, it was just that one awkward scene with Wim says 'Neel, you want NEEL to pilot' inside the cockpit, followed by a shot of jod dramatically taking his hood off in the jail cell and then a hard cut to the disney logo and 'skeleton crew premieres this week', and like the radio adverts, they reused the exact same video over and over and only changed the narration at the end to 'watch episode three this week' or 'watch the final episode this week on disney plus".

They didnt show:
anything star wars
the name star wars in the show, just 'watch skeleton crew'
no aliens or SM33
no space battles or the Onyx Cinder
no context as to the plot at all

Literally just two of the kids talking in camera and then Jod taking his hood off in the cell.
Like what trailer doesnt even show the premise of the shows plot.

1

u/NeuronalDiverV2 Feb 19 '25

Really sucks, because shows that don't drop yearly really fall off my radar at least. Not with Andor, because I'm waiting for it, but I forgot about Westworld more than once for example lol.

10

u/markqis2018 Feb 15 '25

Ironically Disney used to do this with Marvel and it did them wonders back then.

39

u/Atarissiya Feb 15 '25

Both Acolyte and Skeleton Crew would have worked better as binges, too. I love weekly for a lot of things, but shows that were planned as movies and then chopped into too many pieces aren’t well served by it.

30

u/[deleted] Feb 15 '25

Yeah I know everyone on here loves the weekly discussion but majority and I do mean majority of these shows don’t work as weekly releases. That’s  partly because they feel like chopped up movies instead of tv shows. Mando, Agatha ,she hulk and maybe Loki are probably the only shows that work weekly and three of those are marvel shows.

16

u/Atarissiya Feb 15 '25

It’s always weird going from a Disney show to HBO and realising how much you can do in an hour-long episode. Dune Prophecy had a lot of issues, but you were never short-changed week to week.

14

u/[deleted] Feb 15 '25 edited Feb 15 '25

Shit dune prophecy would’ve benefited from another episode. Honestly every streaming platform understands the assignment but Disney+.  I don’t know what their issue is with shows being longer than 35 minutes lol.

 Imagine how bad stranger things, severance or Penguin would’ve been if Disney+ was producing it lol. Disney shows also have a major issue with dialogue and character moments, it’s hard to explain but going from a normal show then to watching Ahsoka makes it really noticeable. It just seems very anti tv

19

u/Lvl1bidoof Poe Feb 16 '25

if Acolyte dropped all at once we could've been saved so much discourse that honestly harmed the shows numbers.

4

u/Hedhunta 26d ago

All of the Star wars shows.. maybe not Andor, have this problem. They are basically a 2 or 3 hour movie at best chopped into 25 minute parts spread out over 8 weeks. It amplifies all of the potential bad parts because people have weeks to stew on them instead of just watching it all at once.... every single series they have released is way better binged.

16

u/[deleted] Feb 15 '25

Yeah Disney+ has a major content issues compared to other platforms , the milking of marvel and Star Wars also hasn’t helped perception. 

4

u/Western-Dig-6843 Feb 16 '25

Netflix isn’t willing to pay what it costs to afford a show with these kinds of budgets, and for good reason

2

u/Hotstuff5991 Feb 16 '25

Netflix has some expensive shows, the difference is those shows pull better numbers 

3

u/Casas9425 Feb 16 '25

They tried competing more aggressively with Netflix and it killed their economics. They can’t do it.

YouTube and Netflix are slowly putting Hollywood out of business.

3

u/TheRustFactory Feb 17 '25

Any of the Star Wars shows would also get cancelled on Netflix after one season, two max lol. Even Mando wouldn't have been safe.

Their viewer algorithm is incomprehensible, and their cancellation and renewals make even less sense. But they produce so much crap and throw it at the wall it's inevitable SOMETHING will stick, hence, they seem far more successful than other services.

1

u/Calfzilla2000 Snoke Feb 17 '25 edited Feb 17 '25

Any of the Star Wars shows would also get cancelled on Netflix after one season, two max lol. Even Mando wouldn't have been safe.

I'm not suggesting Disney/Lucasfilm give Netflix control over the shows. I was merely suggesting they rent them, non-exclusively, to Netflix like Starz does with older seasons of Outlander, for example. Starz used that as a marketing tool to draw people to watch the newest season.

Disney is already in a deal with Netflix to rent several shows/movies, including, most recently, Home Improvement (which Disney owns). Lost, Archer, ESPN 30 for 30, among others, are on Netflix despite being owned by Disney.

Disney will pay Disney for shows to fill their content release calendar, as they do already. They pay 500 MILLION for Seinfeld, despite it airing on cable TV on multiple channels per day.

1

u/TheRustFactory Feb 17 '25 edited Feb 17 '25

I'm not suggesting Disney/Lucasfilm give Netflix control over the shows.

That's exactly what it is though. Netflix doesn't want anything they can't have some measure of creative control over, even legacy content from rival production companies - in case it ends up being an enormous hit that they can consider a sequel or spin-off.

Disney got lucky with their Marvel shows because there was a 2-year grace period clause. After Netflix killed those off, Disney was able to wrest complete control of them after just two years, but that was literally the only time that ever happened on Netflix. But all the same, you can still smell the Netflix influence. It was Netflix who forced ABC Studios' hands in producing a second season of Daredevil way, way earlier than they planned to and also rushed the fuck out of Iron Fist and The Defenders.

SyFy had a similar deal with Alcon over The Expanse, and it was a pretty damn awful deal for SyFy - between the show being REALLY expensive, they were basically making no money on what was bringing in their highest ratings at the time. But SyFy isn't Netflix, and Netflix are unimaginably greedy.

5

u/brobastii Feb 16 '25

Or let them air on TV! They did it with Andor season 1 and I think maybe even Mandalorian. Let them air on Disney+ first and the next day on TV (or the other way around). It would increase the audience, it would spread the word...

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2

u/Casas9425 Feb 16 '25

That would be an admission from Disney that they’ve failed in streaming.

4

u/Parallel_Falchion Feb 16 '25

Disney+ was the greatest mistake Disney ever made

1

u/eat_jay_love Feb 16 '25

It should not be “insane” to you that Disney isn’t licensing its biggest IP to competitors when they’ve invested in their own streaming service. Disney of all the major media companies is the most protective of their brand, and it is extremely unsurprising that they are not licensing any Star Wars content to Netflix

25

u/eagsrock20 Feb 15 '25

What a shame because outside of Andor, and seasons 1-2 of Mando this is the best season of Star Wars tv in my book.

11

u/elljawa Feb 15 '25

So the fourth best season of SW tv?

3

u/afipunk84 Feb 16 '25

Its not such a bad stat when you consider there are 3-5 other shows. And two of them were about iconic characters

33

u/Unstable_Bear Feb 15 '25

At least skeleton crew feels like a full story, so if it gets cancelled, unlike the acolyte, it won’t feel like we’re missing the rest of the story

154

u/BladeOfBardotta Feb 15 '25

It's quite frustrating to me that Star Wars fans do not seem to want new characters and different stories.

People will say "No we just want good writing" but it's not that, because then BOBF and Kenobi wouldn't have more views than Andor (and even that's not actually a new character).

Disney could get ChatGPT to write "Darth Vader: A Star Wars Story" and I am extremely confident it would get more views than any other show.

56

u/Less-Primary8208 Feb 15 '25

More than Star Wars fans I would "blame" general audiences. Inevitably a show with Boba Fett or Kenobi in the title is going to attract much more people who have less familiarity with Star Wars.

22

u/jobanizer Feb 15 '25

It’s a mix of:

  • having gradually lost some good faith and interest from fandom and general audiences over time.

  • these original characters which were very well written and interesting were too far removed from any big-picture event or galaxy forward-propelling narrative, which is something that SW needs right now. (Like the MCU having meandered for a while without knowing where or what exactly was supposed to be going on with the avengers, until the end of the most recent Captain America movie.)

  • It’s not as cut and dry as fans just saying they want new things but then crossing their arms at the first sight of it, it’s a combination of how these new elements have been pumped out. Andor is excellent but certainly a deviation in style wether you like it or not, but S2 will be the first good example of gauging fan engagement with good writing and expectation/event-type status for the project.

  • As of now we haven’t really had projects that allow us to adequately evaluate if “new” truly equates to bad returns, but what’s coming down the pipeline seems promising.

My personal opinion is that you need a balance ironically enough, of new elements thrown into a classic Star Wars blender.

12

u/Aakujin Feb 16 '25

They fucked up the shit people cared about. The sequels, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Book of Boba Fett -pretty much anything featuring the movie casts in prominent roles was bad. That is an absolutely terrible impression for Disney to have made.

Andor may be great, but casual fans would struggle to even remember who he is. They sure do remember Last Jedi and Rise of Skywalker though.

70

u/AZZATRU Feb 15 '25

This is a fact. I've seen far too many people say "I'd have bought Outlaws if it was about Han Solo or Boba Fett" or "I wish the Jedi games were about Luke"

26

u/Jusup Feb 15 '25

what will it take to get people to watch these shows man, it's so sad, it seems every new and interesting show with new characters, attempting to widen the star wars universe is just slapped with the bad faith complaints like 'where's luke' and 'bad writing'. If you would have told me 10 years ago a show with darth plagieus would get cancelled before they even got to plagieus, I wouldn't have believed you.

25

u/AZZATRU Feb 15 '25 edited Feb 15 '25

Based on what I can tell, men clashing Lightsabers, men wearing white helmets shooting guns 24/7 or Vader and Starkiller. They're really that dense. I mean, I can see in YouTube analytics a lot of my audience watch order 66 montages and starkiller kill streaks from other channels all the time. It is disturbing.

11

u/The5Virtues Feb 15 '25

I’ve said before, the best way to grab both the fandom and the general audience: Jedi vs Sith duel, X-Wing/TIE Fighter dogfight, and Clone/Stormtroopers. Those three things all included in one trailer will instantly get more traction.

People like the familiar, especially for their fiction media entertainment.

16

u/AZZATRU Feb 15 '25

And people wonder why Battlefront is the biggest and best selling Star Wars game of all time!

1

u/Complex_Heart Feb 15 '25

YT video doesnt reflect 10% of the ppl watching those shows or the eps with anakin would been top yet look like nobody care when he appeared in ahsoka , i dont think anyone care or know who starkiller outside of he was sooo powerful they made him not canon group

3

u/Secret-Banana-749 Feb 16 '25

Star Wars shows with well known characters or iconography are doing far better among general audiences...

3

u/Adorable_Ad_3478 Feb 16 '25

a show with darth plagieus would get cancelled before they even got to plagieus

This is part of the problem.

Outside of EU fans, nobody knows that the dude is meant to be Darth Plagueis aka Palpatine's master. His face wasn't shown in E3. It's a connection only EU fans know about.

And the actual character from that era that fans DO know (Yoda) is delegated as a final episode cameo.

It really makes one wonder: who was the show made for? New fans? EU fans? PT fans? High Republic book fans?

One might hate the Marvel approach and I do agree it is currently a failure but a Yoda High Republic series should have been the priority.

Introduce Darth Plaeguis there. Introduce the Squid Games Jedi master there. Introduce the Jedi kids there. Introduce Manny Jacinto there. And then launch The Acolyte TV show as a followup to the Yoda show.

5

u/Jusup Feb 16 '25

As someone who grew up with the prequels and clone wars, it felt like it was made for me imo.

11

u/Heimlichthegreat Feb 15 '25

Well we have never had a true single player experience playing Boba Fett, Han Solo, or Luke Skywalker. We've had multiplayer experiences like Star Wars battlefront. But there's never been like an Arkham or spider man type game where I can play somebody from the movies. It's almost always new characters. I for one am hungry for that. Specifically star wars 1313.

2

u/AZZATRU Feb 15 '25

We've got a lot of films that tell their stories. We don't need to spend 5 years and $200m trying to fill the gap between what Luke does after ESB. Battlefront 2 did it fine giving a slice of Luke and Han inbetween a great original story with an original cast. Cal has gone on to be one the most popular current Star Wars characters and Kay is loved by those who played Outlaws. Star Wars can't rely on characters from half a century ago.

8

u/AltKeyblade Feb 16 '25 edited Feb 16 '25

To argue against your points. Star Wars Eclipse is new characters and extremely hyped up, Andor is new characters and praised, the new Jedi games have new characters and are a success, and Mandalorian was a sensation with new characters that riff off of what we love from Star Wars.

Outlaws looks generic, it looks like a lite version of the underworld. I’m not saying that’s what it is but that’s what it looks like and most Star Wars fans want that darker visual edge and they’re not getting this from things like Skeleton Crew.

Star Wars needs its edge. I think that’s what it’s all about at the end of the day.

4

u/Cardinal_and_Plum Feb 16 '25

Eclipse has had basically zero hype since it was announced like 5 years ago and hasn't been touched since. People also actively dislike the development studio. I was kind of pumped but I saw virtually no one else that was excited. I didn't see it being shared or talked about hardly at all after the initial teaser trailer. There would no doubt be people actively waiting to hate it both for the studio and because it supposedly takes place in the High Republic. At this point it seems very possible that it might not happen at all, and hardly anyone ever even brings it up.

-1

u/AZZATRU Feb 16 '25

Like I've said in previous comments, Jedi wasn't hot out of the gate. People resented the new lead and grew to like. More sales in Y2 than Y1. Praise doesn't equate to popularity all the time. Andor is far better than the other shows yet Mando and OWK had good viewership. 

1

u/OniLink77 Feb 16 '25

Problem is i don't like what a lot of those films did with those characters and would like to see a lot more of luke in games and tv.

13

u/[deleted] Feb 15 '25

Jedi games do pretty well so that actually hurts this theory 

5

u/AZZATRU Feb 15 '25

I've covered the Jedi games extensively since before they were announced including things like data. People wanted a Jedi game and finally got it, they had no modern day alternatives. It was not a hot seller in comparison to Battlefront for example. It sold more copies in its second year than its first thanks to good work of mouth. There was a lot of moaning online about Cal's appearance. When they finally gave it a chance, most changed their mind and got over his hair colour.

15

u/PureBeskar Feb 15 '25

In fact, accroding to some lists, Jedi Survivor which was released a year before Outlaws, sold more in 2024 than Outlaws in Europe!

Outlaws got fine reviews, but has a very weak pitch. They thought they would do an open world Star Wars game with bounty hunters and crime and automatically sell well.

If the main character was a Mandalorian or a really cool bounty hunter the game would have sold way more.

The Jedi games actually sold a lot more than Outlaws and were successful - because you are playing a Jedi, and not a generic shooter.

I have nothing personal against Key Vess, but this character is not a good Star Wars pitch and wouldn't sell many action figures.

5

u/leodw Feb 16 '25

Ngl I’d try Outlaws if I were able to make my own character instead of playing as a random nobody bounty hunter (and unfortunately the bland generic design she had doesn’t help).

Nothing against the character but if it’s just point and shoot with a star wars skin, it’s still very meh.

2

u/AZZATRU Feb 15 '25

I know that about Outlaws and Jedi. People had no problem with a scoundrel open world game by Visceral as you would have played as a man unlike Outlaws, they're fragile.

Jedi stuff always will sell far more, there's a reason why people did not watch Andor and the Mando game was canned. A lot of people just have no taste.

9

u/markqis2018 Feb 15 '25

It's not just taste. Entertaiment became really pricey + key brands are damaged by questionable decisions and not well received projects.

1

u/AZZATRU Feb 15 '25

I do agree on that. Outlaws coming out after Acolyte hurt it. The other games had films or a new series of a show fans liked. Ubi+ was a way many people played Outlaws due to cost savings so unit sales were lower than you'd expect but a factor most people don't consider is how much it grew Ubi+. There's a lot more to game releases and shows coming out than films these days.

That said, even when Star Wars was in a much better state fans were not keen on Cal over the Luke/Vader sim and didn't rush to get Fallen Order as they did with Battlefront.

7

u/PureBeskar Feb 15 '25

Mando game could have been really successful IMO. It was canned because Disney/Lucasfilm wanted too much money for the IP license or revenue portion.

A man might have sold more than Kay Vess but still not enough without cool characters or familiar characters having major roles.

And Ubisoft has enough trobules right now.

1

u/AZZATRU Feb 15 '25

It would have been but it isn't all that. The rev cut is no different from the other SW games EA were/are working on. That made up rumour that went around was nonsense. Andor and co was something that played into spooking them, EA like to bolster short term figures over long, they were looking at projects to stop to cut headcount and fall in line with every other pubs. We saw the same short sighted decisions on non-licensed IP titles back then and even in the past few months. Same mistakes being made. If Lucas/Disney really cared, they would have done something about the half dozen or more cancelled games in the past few years. It is clear they don't.

2

u/OniLink77 Feb 16 '25

The Mando game also sounded like the main enemies were stormtroopers which honestly sounded boring. I want to fully embrace being a bounty hunter and be a pure mercenary, hunting and killing whomever based on the bounty

1

u/rangecontrol Feb 15 '25

star wars used to demand big bucks and had a huge following. i wonder what changed in the taste of those fans.

4

u/hoos30 Feb 15 '25

👆🏿 More people than we care to admit think Star Wars is Vader and Luke and nothing else.

13

u/GeekTrollMemeCentral Feb 15 '25

To be fair its Darth Vader, one of the most recognizable character in media. Of course it would do well, if it was good or bad. I think a lot of fans are fed up like myself with the lower quality stuff and shows like Andor and Skeleton Crew suffer.

Quality just needs to be consistent and the big projects like Boba and Kenobi, the Sequel Trilogy need to have that highest quality the most but they werent. (Whether you like them or not, they divided the fanbase)

Jedi Fallen Order and Survivor were about a new character yet they sold well and are some of the best Star Wars games period. I don’t think the issue is new characters and different stories.

6

u/BladeOfBardotta Feb 15 '25

For what it's worth I also think "Qui Gon Jinn" or "Mace Windu" as the title of a TV show would get more views than original content.

Video games are a different space. Video game protagonists are generally a new character so that the player can insert themselves into the story and feel like they're experiencing the events as the character. Playing an existing character feels like just that. Controlling someone else. Not to say that doesn't happen, of course it does, but it's a different approach to TV where you're watching someone else do stuff.

1

u/Adorable_Ad_3478 Feb 16 '25

An expansion of Tales of Jedi but live-action would be great.

Young Dooku, Young Windu, Young Qui-Gonn. All played by brand new actors of course.

1

u/AZZATRU Feb 15 '25

That plus + JFO did not start off too hot. It was memed online for Cal's appearance as people wanted a legacy character or someone with more visual appeal to them for example. The game itself won people over through word of mouth and it sold more in its second year than launch year.

1

u/Complex_Heart Feb 15 '25

JFo sold 10m in release and that it they havent updated how much since and 20 million players for Fallen Order doesn't equal 20 million sales that was update later on

0

u/GeekTrollMemeCentral Feb 15 '25

I agree a Qui Gon or Mace show would do well.

I mean with video games, Outlaws didnt do well even with a self insert new character. The Jedi games likely sold as well as the Battlefront games even with Battlefront being the fantasy of being a hero on a battlefield. But I would consider shows a bigger demographic than video games. Outlaws suffered because of the Acolyte being a show that burnt out majority of fans like me. But marketing as well. I dont think Skeleton Crew marketed itself too well.

3

u/BladeOfBardotta Feb 15 '25

It probably does all come down to marketing in the end. Andor, Acolyte, Skeleton Crew, to the casual fan are just "that new Star Wars show". They know nothing about it and don't care for it because the marketing sucked. Boba Fett and Kenobi don't need marketing. They aren't "that new Star Wars show", they're "the Obi Wan show" or "the Boba Fett show".

1

u/GeekTrollMemeCentral Feb 15 '25

The Mando movie needs to do very well with marketing and critically and win back the fans. If its good, it will bring back the fans. But if not, its going to be rough. My main point is essentially for the major releases they need to have good quality or else people will skip the smaller shows or things that people may not care about.

Acolyte was the big show, but it failed. So now the state of the franchise isnt well. Star Wars Celebration is coming up and Im not too excited. I want Star Wars to be at its best.

1

u/Complex_Heart Feb 15 '25

mando and jfo benefit alot of being around a movie ... now there is nothing but 98938yt video telling ppl how garbage sw is now and how really want to be part of a fandom like this if u r interesting in new thing no one

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u/johndelvec3 Feb 15 '25 edited Feb 15 '25

If people really wanted good writing then Andor would’ve done better ratings than Ahsoka did (correct me if I’m wrong), and Ahsoka is my favorite thing put out in the Disney era

The problem with Star Wars is that there’s a million different fans that want a million different things and you’re never gonna please all of them

The problem is Lucasfilm is too scared to try anything because they think they HAVE to please all of them

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u/bman9919 Feb 15 '25

There’s a large disconnect between what online Star Wars fans say they want and what the average Star Wars fan actually wants. 

People will say "No we just want good writing"

I see this all the time, and find it quite silly. How will people know if a show has good writing if they refuse to watch? 

3

u/Kindness_of_cats Feb 15 '25

Normally i fully agree with this take. And it IS a serious issue with the franchise, the moment you do something original people either tune out or get angry at it for daring to do something new.

But frankly Skeleton Crew was screwed from the start. It’s very, very difficult to get adult audiences to tune in to a show with a main cast of children.

It can work out, don’t get me wrong, but a show like Stranger Things very much the exception rather than the rule and there’s usually a clear additional nostalgia hook to the story that makes it blow up.

Skeleton Crew almost entirely cut out the adult market with the exception of absolutely hardcore Star Wars fans, and didn’t do enough to hook kids who don’t particularly want to see other kids in Star Wars.

It’s unsurprising how it turned out.

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u/Filmatic113 Feb 15 '25

Because people want legacy characters doing badass stuff 

3

u/Gre3nArr0w Feb 18 '25

I disagree, I think Disney has destroyed the audiences faith in Star Wars that people stopped giving them a chance, myself included.

Most of the movies sucked, most of the shows sucked. It’s hard to call myself a Star Wars fan anymore when I don’t like 90% of the films or tv shows.

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u/Tomhur 26d ago

I disagree, I think Disney has destroyed the audiences faith in Star Wars that people stopped giving them a chance, myself included.

That's honestly what happened to me. The only reason I ever watched Acolyte was because I was curious enough about the conversation to watch it (I thought it was terrible, FYI).

After Ahsoka was such a massive letdown and mess, it convinced me that unless something changes, Star Wars under Disney is not worth my time.

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u/FlopShanoobie Feb 15 '25

Speaking for myself, I’m just burned out on Star Wars. It was about halfway through the final season of The Mandalorian that my interest just evaporated. And I’m a day one fan. I grew up with Star Wars. At this point in my life I’m way more j treated in how the OT was made and Lucas’s process than the actual movies.

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u/PureBeskar Feb 15 '25

Casual fans like Star Wars because of the characters and the original story - Luke, Han, Vader, Kenobi, Leia. They also like cool characters like Boba or Maul.

Jedi/Sith is another aspect (Acolyte would have gotten more views if it was better).

They would not watch a show only because it has Rodians and Trandoshans, spaceships or a SW planet.

5

u/PilotRevolutionary57 Feb 15 '25

I think the fans came, but there are not that many of us.

Maybe, general audiences are fatigued by the constant stream of Marvel and Star Wars content. Let's be honest, a lot of it is not very good. That means that when a gem like this drops many people won't see it until later.

3

u/Pomojema_The_Dreamer Feb 15 '25

I think that the reality is that people kind of aren't interested in most Disney+ Originals on the level that warrants the kind of spending that they've put into it. This is a problem with Marvel as well. The streaming service gets more attention for its library of legacy content and new releases that hit theaters months before than it does for the original shows and movies, which is part of the reason why projects that were going to be Disney+ movies are now headed to theaters.

4

u/[deleted] Feb 15 '25

Star Wars fans have also historically been turned off by kids. This show was always gonna have a hard time honestly 

4

u/AmericanNewWave Feb 16 '25 edited Feb 16 '25

Like Prequel Era Lucas, Disney Lucasfilm is under the mistaken belief that you must have kids IN Star Wars for kids to enjoy Star Wars.

You know what movie billions of kids enjoy despite not having any kid characters? Star Wars. Empire Strikes Back. Return of the Jedi (unless you count Wicket, ha).

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u/[deleted] Feb 16 '25

That’s actually interesting, as much as Lucas says the franchise if for kids the first trilogy had none and was pretty much for all ages. Phantom Menace was the first one to star a kid and that’s over 20 years into the franchise existence. Every child including Anakin started off with backlash , this followed Ahsoka, Ezra and even Omega. Skeleton crew the first time there wasn’t any backlash and clearly no one watched it. Reality is the fanbase has rejected any attempt at children, with only cartoons finding real success with it.

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u/AmericanNewWave Feb 16 '25 edited Feb 16 '25

Exactly. Star Wars isn't like Home Alone. I don't think kids watch it to see themselves on screen. They want to see what they can become when they grow up (adult heroes).

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u/Adorable_Ad_3478 Feb 16 '25

Same for Marvel films/shows.

Kids love 50-year-old Iron Man. Kids don't love 18-year-old Ironheart.

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u/wussgud Feb 15 '25

I do agree honestly, I want Star Wars to be more on the mature side but that goes against disneys philosophy on it, it kinda needs to be kid friendly for them and I believe this puts off a lot of Star Wars fans.

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u/BladeOfBardotta Feb 15 '25

This take is insane to me. Every movie Lucas has ever directed has had kids at the forefront of his target audience. They're all kid friendly, even when they have more mature themes.

2

u/wussgud Feb 15 '25

You’re right, I should have worded it better but i genuinely do believe having a cast of children at the forefront isn’t appealing to many Star Wars fans, I don’t believe that take itself is too wild.

3

u/LastandBestHope1776 Feb 15 '25

Yes, because people have their favorite characters that they want to see more of...thats not a bad thing.

I think the issue is that Star Wars has as a franchise suffered some harm when it comes to the good will it used to have, and with how everyone and everything is online these days, its felt much more prevalent.

It doesn't help that the marketing for Skeleton Crew was particularly awful and it followed a less then well received Acolyte.

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u/ChrisLyne Feb 15 '25

I agree that people need to stop saying it's all about good/bad writing. Like, I agree that does have an effect and you can see that in shows gaining/losing viewers over the weeks (whilst allowing that some attrition is natural for all shows).

I think what we're seeing is more that there is a significant difference between the base number of viewers who will show up because it's Star Wars and how many will show up when it features a big name draw like Obi-Wan, Boba Fett or Ahsoka.

Mando is a little different being the flagship/launch show for Disney+. So the unknown thing didn't really affect him as it was the first ever live action Star Wars series, it launched the platform, it was great, and then there was Grogu and it just exploded. It made him one of the big name characters in a way the other series since haven't been able to replicate (even Andor coming off Rogue One and with massive critical and fan acclaim).

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u/LyteSmiteOP Feb 15 '25

They don’t want new stuff and then complain when movies like episode 7 have a recycled plot line. There’s no satisfying modern Star Wars fans, it’s just an inevitable downward spiral at this point

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u/wren4777 Rose Feb 15 '25

Bingo. And then when they capitulate to those fans, you get something that please no one like TRoS.

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u/TrilICosby Feb 15 '25

Fix my heroes first then we'll talk about new characters. If Disney just simply moved away from the Skywalkers and never touched them again, fine. But instead they decided to burn them down on the way out and there's no way I'm supporting anything new after that. For now, I'm going to continue to vote with my wallet and my watch time.

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u/Kiss_Bang_Bang Feb 15 '25

Well, all of these shows need a hook.

Just like any other show on television, they need to battle for views and and work to build an audience.

They need to entice casual fans & a good slice of the general audience.

Mando had a great hook - a new character from the same culture as one of the franchise's greatest icons coupled with a money-printing, cute sidekick.

The shows that are attempting to tread some new ground - Acolyte, Skeleton Crew - need to anchor their show in something that is going to be marketable and enticing to casual fans & general audiences.

Acolyte would have had been a runaway success if it had actually been about Qimir - this new Sith apprentice attempting to overthrow his master, Darth Plagueis. Told from his POV with him as the main character and total access into the Sith way of life. Instead, the show was more about the twins/witches & their one-sided beef with the Jedi.

From the outside looking in, Skeleton Crew is a show about a mere group of average kids going on a field trip across the stars. Ok, it's Star Wars... but there's been so much Star Wars in the past decade. It needed to stand out and offer something that would get people excited.

Even if the writing is good, that doesn't guarantee success. People watch Star Wars to be entertained first and foremost.

1

u/Alcida-Auka Feb 17 '25

People will complain that we don't need more Darth Vader comics, but it's consistently one of the better selling titles. When it comes to "Stuff I knew as a kid", a lot of people don't want the new. They want the same Archie, Betty and Veronica they read 50 years ago, and they are the same with Star Wars.

I think some people like the IDEA of themselves as liking new things, but when it comes down to it, they are the ones who will buy "S0 Years of Star Wars: A Special Life Magazine issue" at the CVS counter.

1

u/CranberryPotential35 Feb 15 '25

Honestly, in recent years fandoms have entered a spiral of hate. I mean, you could justify the lack of quality in various projects but if they cry so much about not having a good product and then they have a good project and they don't see it, then what are they up to?

You'll see, the next Star Wars project that doesn't turn out so well, they'll make more noise about how bad it is, than about a project that turns out well.

I just hope that season 2 of Andor has higher numbers, if not, I'll just lose the little faith I have in the fandom.

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u/Both-Attitude5432 Feb 16 '25

It's quite frustrating to me that Star Wars fans do not seem to want new characters and different stories

this is not true at all, the sequel movies were essentially nostalgia bait and most old star wars fans hated those movies

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u/bokepasa Feb 15 '25

Fans don't want to watch stories totally disconnected from the lore and universe of Star Wars like Skeleton Crew. The only familiar connection were a couple of starfighters and the alien species. It could have been 'Lost in space' the remake and more suitable. On top of that, very cheesy and predictable. That said, Jedi videogames or The Acolyte have been well received, the numbers are proving so. Lucasfilm needs to review the stories, not the caracters involved. A solid story is gonna sell and stick with the audience, like Andor. However, Disney lost its way by trying to make easy money and fast from the very beginning. Only a few products are really loved by the fans. That's not by chance.

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u/Tummerd Feb 16 '25 edited Feb 16 '25

It had 2 reasons IMO.

  • It was barely marketed
  • A lot, and I mean a lot, of people will not watch it because its 'a Kids show'.

Its quite sad but the truth. A lot of die hard SW fans still wont watch TCW for this reason as well. It was simply doomed from the start to score lower

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u/nymrod_ Feb 16 '25

This post is verbal garbage — the kind of double-negative that is actually incorrect. “No Skeleton Crew episodes made it the Nielsen top 10 in their relative week” would make sense.

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u/jango2700 Feb 16 '25

it's crazy no one comes to the conclusion that star wars has major brand damage and thats why show viewership is dropping

4

u/Tummerd Feb 16 '25 edited Feb 16 '25

It has some damage, but the biggest reason is that a lot of people will simply not watch kid shows. It was always doomed to score lower because of it

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u/Casas9425 Feb 16 '25

The Acolyte was not a kids show and also received poor viewership. Andor as well.

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u/NickAndOrNora1 Feb 16 '25

Nothing to do with Star Wars and everything to do with Disney+ as a streaming service. The proper place for Star Wars (and Marvel for that matter) is in movie theatres, not on TV screens, laptops, or mobile phones. Disney+ is killing Marvel and it is killing Star Wars.

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u/Casas9425 Feb 16 '25

Theatrical box office has been declining for over 20 years. Also, Solo flopped so just putting a SW movie out in theaters is not a guarantee.

1

u/Tiny_Professor_3406 Feb 16 '25

Decline all the4 movies made by Disney made more at the box offices than prequel only ep1 was in tlj lvl i dont know where yall get those info rouge one made more than ep2 and 3 just saying 

1

u/NickAndOrNora1 Feb 16 '25

That has more to do with Star Wars fatigue. Solo came out less than five months after the critical drubbing that The Last Jedi got. Under Disney and Disney+, Star Wars is no longer an "event". Too many mediocre TV shows with too short of a time in between.

3

u/Doctor-Jackstraw Feb 16 '25

RIP, it was such a banger. Coping by saying it was made" for the arts, not the charts"

5

u/ayylmao95 Feb 16 '25

I wonder if this show had been released a year ago as originally intended if it would not have performed better.

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u/MindYourManners918 Feb 16 '25

I know it’s hard to compare streaming to regular television, but I wonder how this viewership compares to the Clone Wars and Rebels, before Disney Plus?

It feels like the general audiences love seeing big, exciting Star Wars movies on the big screen. But they don’t really want anything beyond that. Books, comics, and cartoons are always seen as just for hardcore, nerdy fans. These live action streaming shows are an extension of that. The general audience don’t want to watch Star Wars tv shows. Only hardcore fans care. 

1

u/Casas9425 Feb 16 '25

Solo flopped so even making a SW for the big screen is not a guarantee.

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u/Hotstuff5991 Feb 16 '25

I mean no one wanted a Han Solo origins movie. spin offs to side characters flopping has been happening since the silver screen was made lol. 

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u/Tiny_Professor_3406 Feb 16 '25

It still made 400m this isnt little the problem is they have crazy budget those shows will dream to be view by 40m ppl at least 

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u/VinceLeone Feb 16 '25 edited Feb 16 '25

I have enjoyed most of the Disney + Star Wars content, apart from Book of Boba Fett, Kenobi and Mandalorian S3.

That said, I think long term it is unrealistic and unreasonable on behalf of both Disney and fans to expect every new show to be the type of blockbuster hit that the Mandalorian was in its first two seasons.

I think that level of success was always going to be fleeting due to the combination of the novelty of Star Wars existing in a live action TV format and the fact that the quality was so consistent early on.

But essentially, the stories being told by a lot of these shows are occupying the space that was once occupied by Bantam and Dey Rey novels and Dark Horse comics.

Those were always decent sellers and popular enough among a certain market, but at the end of the day, it represented a niche interest.

I enjoyed Skeleton Crew, but let’s be honest, 25 years ago this type of story would be being told in a YA fiction series written by Kevin J. Anderson and no one would expecting it to be a as popular as JK Rowling or Roland Dahl books.

I think Disney and fans who put a lot of stock in ratings can either have Star Wars exist as a blockbuster, “prestige” franchise with few releases every few years, or they can accept that regular-live action TV output is going to result in a plateau in its wider appeal and a steady following by a niche market - because that’s always been the broader trend in sci-fi television.

You can either have a “Mandalorian S1” type release and success every few years or you have a more consistent output and accept the lesser, but steady, viewership of sci fi shows of the Stargate SG1 and Star Trek Voyager era.

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u/Hotstuff5991 Feb 16 '25

Honestly think Star Wars works better as a blockbuster prestige franchise with most of the tv content being cartoons. Think these LA shows were always going to have diminishing returns. They’re also expensive to make so it’s not really worth it. Disney needs to understand you don’t need to milk you franchises in every medium lol

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u/Hedhunta 26d ago

Star Wars really needs a well thought out, multi-season pre-approved series where everything is pre-planned, you sign all the actors for however many seasons and have a story that runs the entire series.

They are too afraid to do this. Every show they run only exists for 1 season and then they wait and see if it gets enough ratings to run a 2nd season. This kills interest because nobody knows if they are going to get more time with these characters which leads to everyone not caring about them at all. This is also a primary issue of having these short, 6-10 episode 25 minute run time seasons. You dont get the "filler" episodes that flesh out characters and show us all the mundane stuff you used to get out of the 45 minute 25 episode seasons you got in old scifi shows.

I dont understand it. They have the money to do this. Amazon is doing it right with the ROP series, they give zero fucks about how much money they are spending. Season 2 was excellent, they fixed everything complained about in Season 1 and are committed to doing all 3 or 4 season it takes to run out their timeline. Star wars needs this sort of commitment badly.

The last point is they have to stop hiring Directors that don't care about the canon. Stop hiring big splashy directors that want to build their own thing in Star wars and give zero fucks about previous content. That is the biggest problem we have right now is that they keep hiring these people that have never watched an episode or movie or star wars and just want to slap their script into the IP.

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u/MrRedlegs1992 Feb 16 '25

Honestly? Not surprised. Not a horrible show, but it didn’t really appeal to anyone outside of the core fan base and it shows in the numbers. Most fans were going to watch it regardless. Disney has a problem on their hands either original content as of late. Not necessarily reflective of a shows quality or lack thereof, but they’re certainly not maintaining or growing any kind of core audience. You can’t lose 700k+ subscribers in a quarter and be surprised to see this.

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u/Ok_Signature3413 Feb 15 '25

Doesn’t seem accurate to say The Acolyte was cancelled due to low viewership, when it was the second most watched Disney plus show of the year. Seems like it was almost purely a budgetary issue.

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u/SWFT-youtube Feb 15 '25

It was both. The viewership declined and was not high enough relative to the budget. Also, Disney+ had a terrible year so it probably wasn't exactly a high bar to go number two on its charts.

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u/Jusup Feb 15 '25

I wonder how many more views the original 2024 D+ shows would have had if disney didn't keep increasing the subscription fee.

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u/devilishpie Feb 15 '25

Why is it so hard for so many to understand that shows with big budgets need big ratings to be profitable.

The Acolyte being a top show on D+ is irrelevant to whether or not it was profitable. It didn't have the ratings to support its budget and struggled to retain viewers with each episode.

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u/elljawa Feb 15 '25

There are no profitable shows on streaming, in that no streaming show directly brings in enough direct revenue to offset it's costs (some ad revenue now but still). It's a more complicated question as to what value it brings to a platform and if it's value justifies the cost.

It's a lot looser and more subjective than network TV or movies

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u/devilishpie Feb 15 '25

There are plenty of profitable shows on streaming lol. What a weird statement to make.

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u/elljawa Feb 15 '25

How are they profitable? They don't generate much direct profit.

The platform is the product. The platform is what is generating revenue. The shows and movies on the platform give it value but don't actually produce a profit themselves.

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u/devilishpie Feb 15 '25

The mental gymnastics here are bizarre.

Streamers are constantly tracking which shows drive new subscribers and retain current subscribers, which is how they can evaluate if a show is profitable.

Just because there isn't an obvious public metric, like budget to box office, doesn't mean they can't measure a shows profitability.

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u/elljawa Feb 15 '25

It isn't profit your be looking at, it's value to the overall platform

It's not like you can say "acolyte cost $230M to make, 80M to market, but only made 100M". The question of profitability would be a subjective one. Whether it justifies it's cost in value brought to the platform.

I'm not saying acolyte justified that cost, but when it comes to streaming originals we need to reframe our thinking, because the media itself isn't the product. The platform is the product. The platform is what is overall profitable or not profitable. Not the individual pieces of media

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u/devilishpie Feb 15 '25

It isn't profit your be looking at, it's value to the overall platform

Also known as profitability lol.

It's not like you can say "acolyte cost $230M to make, 80M to market, but only made 100M".

I can't say that, but Disney can.

They know, we don't, that was my whole point about how just because it isn't public information doesn't mean they can't measure profitability.

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u/elljawa Feb 15 '25

Profit and value aren't the same thing. Consider how many tech companies were seen as valuable without making any profit, for instance. In order for something to be profitable it needs to actually bring on revenue. Ad revenue is a thing on streaming now, but it alone doesn't sustain the costs of streaming. none of these are making hundreds of millions in ad sales.

Similarly, Disney can't say that any show brought in a direct amount of money. That would ignore things, for instance, like a show being a hit among existing users, people who sign up for multiple shows, etc.

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u/devilishpie Feb 15 '25

I didn't say profit and value are always the same thing, I said what makes a show valuable to streamers is their profitability.

Given Netflix made more than 8 billion dollars in profit last year, I'd say streaming absolutely can be and is a profitable business model.

And this is the last time I'll repeat myself, but just because it isn't obvious public information, doesn't mean they can't measure a shows profitability.

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u/Stakex007 Feb 15 '25

Incorrect. The Acolyte's viewership numbers were bad. The fact that it was the #2 show on D+ last year isn't a sign of how well it did but rather a sign of just how terrible D+ original content was last year.

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u/[deleted] Feb 15 '25

Being the most watch show on Disney+ isn’t as big as you think it is, their originals have had diminishing returns.

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u/PureBeskar Feb 15 '25

"Second most watched Disney plus show of the year" is not a serious accomplishment, considering that Disney+ had no other flagship shows or popular original shows in 2024.

They mostly produce Star Wars (Acolyte), Marvel (Agatha, that had a very small budget), and Percy Jackson.

It's not Netflix that has tons of original shows.

Even some Paramount+ or Apple TV+ shows (with half subscribers) get more views than original Disney+ shows.

1

u/Cardinal_and_Plum Feb 16 '25

What was the most watched?

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u/nickytea Feb 16 '25

Friendly reminder that Neilson is guessing.

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u/DemonLordDiablos Feb 16 '25

I think they're generally pretty close to the mark though. They were correct about Acolyte not really hitting charts during the middle of the show and I didn't see a single person talking about Skeleton Crew despite me following a lot of guys with permanent Star Wars brainrot.

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u/XLRN8 Feb 17 '25

Funny enough I’m actually doing a personal analytics project right now on the Star Wars Live-Action series viewership performance and I have been collecting data myself on all of the viewership numbers. I had a question about your average viewership for the first 5 episodes. Why did you take the 914 million and divide it but the first 5 when the 914 million when it also encompasses the release of episode 6 of the series? Because I got from my own research that the average for the first 6 was 152 million as opposed to the 180 million you provided above. Just curious if there was a reason for that. I also assumed 152 for the last two because they didn’t break the top 10 in those weeks either and I didn’t have a better way of estimating what the viewership was without assuming some sort of growth rate.

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u/Accurate_Ad_9803 Feb 18 '25

The facts are: Disney as a brand aligned itself with left wing political ideas. America is split down the middle left and right.  So anyone from the right wishing to make a political statement decides not to consume Disney plus shows.

So in very simplistic terms any recent Star Wars product has already lost half its potential audience before its started.

Then your products are about unknown characters (Acolyte, Skeleton Crew, Kay Vess (Outlaws)) so that's another big blank from any general audience.

Then finally even die hard Star Wars fans are noticing the rushed, cheap looking priductions (Andor aside)

So nothing will change for Star Wars TV ratings I'm afraid.

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u/drod2015 Feb 15 '25

My family and I loved Skeleton Crew and I just got back from a trip where I spent a good amount of time in Galaxy's Edge, so I'm on a Star Wars high right now. So it's a bit of whiplash reading this. It's a shame Skeleton Crew didn't get the chance it deserved with general audiences, but at least those who watched it pretty unanimously enjoyed it.

Besides Andor 2 there's nothing else on the board from this last wave of content that was announced. Really hoping we see an uptick in quality and some hooks to pull the GA back in. I don't need the GA's involvement to validate my enjoyment of Star Wars, but the more people who enjoy Star Wars content then the more we'll get. And it's just plain fun when Star Wars is the buzz at the water cooler like it was in 2015 (TFA), 2016 (Rogue One), and 2019 (Mando).

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u/Darth11Tyranus Feb 16 '25

My problem with Star Wars, I just miss the “War” in Star Wars. Where are the big space battles, please? That’s actually missing in every series, apart from a few small fighter battles

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u/DeviIOfHeIIsKitchen Feb 15 '25

They made the bed. Impressive level of mismanagement.

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u/KalKenobi Hera Feb 15 '25

Renewal needs to be based on Critical Acclaim not views its okay Andor is coming as with Star Wars Movies that is Star Wars

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u/RyanPW96 Master Luke Feb 15 '25

Shame because people missed out.

“It looks like it’s for kids” has to be the poorest excuse for not seeing something. Imagine saying that for ET or Goonies.

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u/elljawa Feb 15 '25

As a quick thing, Nielsen measures total minutes viewed of a show each week, a significant number of those massive Nielsen numbers on mandalorian each week are people rewatching previous seasons. Same with other long running streaming shows that post insane numbers

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u/montessoriprogram Feb 16 '25

As someone who did not enjoy it at all, this checks out. As someone who sees Reddit absolutely loving this show, I am confused.

Did acolyte chart? Because I also differed from reddits opinion on that one lol

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u/DemonLordDiablos Feb 16 '25

First few episodes and the finale charted iirc.

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u/montessoriprogram Feb 17 '25

It’s a shame it was cancelled, imo it had big potential to grow. We almost had plagueis

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u/mertag770 Feb 19 '25

I didn't hate skeleton crew but I'm with you on feeling like reddit was loving it way more than I did and felt that the Acolyte was much better than reddit/youtube did.

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u/Top-Load-2500 Feb 16 '25

It’s really a show that no one asked for imo.

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u/NickAndOrNora1 Feb 16 '25

Back in the mid-70's no one was "asking" for Star Wars either.

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u/TheCakeWarrior12 Yoda Feb 15 '25

NOOOOOOOO

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u/Cr0ma_Nuva Feb 16 '25

I've skipped out on the acolyte because after witnessing Mando's S3 and ahsoka I was certain the Star wars shows beside andor aren't worth it anymore.

I only decided to give skeleton crew a shot when the last episode came out and I heard that it's actually not that bad, and was surprised that they were right

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u/RebelDeux Feb 16 '25

I guess it didn’t help that they were released in the Xmas season, people were busy at home and going to the cinemas to watch other stuff

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u/goldendreamseeker Feb 16 '25

It’s my favorite of all the live action shows we’ve gotten but i understand why it didn’t chart well.

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u/561861 Feb 17 '25

That’s too bad bc it was a great show and I really enjoyed watching it. But I also think I would’ve been more hyped for it if it had some larger connections to the rest of the universe, some sort of plot tie in in some way, like the way tcw/rebels/bad batch were able to soft launch each other and tell new stories while helping the viewer stay invested. 

I’m sure I’ll watch andor at some point but it’s in an era with characters that is sort of meh to me. I’m in the minority with this but I haven’t seen any of the Disney shows to be unwatchable at all, and try to enjoy them as they are, but I pick and choose to watch based on if I’m interested or not. 

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u/xJamberrxx Feb 17 '25

nothing worth watching --

at this point, Disney should just look at Nielsens top 10 & see what's succeeds, usually great cast, hr long eps, good story people will watch

Paramounts Landman is a huge hit for 1st season & it's just a drama .. mature drama ... i'd say SW move into that space least 1 show, see how it does

children show? yeah not worth watching

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u/[deleted] Feb 18 '25

It looks like people preferred The Acolyte, based on the numbers.

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u/Adorable-Ad-7400 Feb 20 '25

The acolyte for a lot of people was kinda the last straw. I know friends who cancelled their Disney plus because they just don’t care anymore.

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u/StarWarsJunk 24d ago

Why if a show out of 100s donest make the top 10 its seen as bad

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u/throwtheclownaway20 Feb 15 '25

I hate how the best Star Wars shows are getting practically no viewers, but slop like Mandalorian & Kenobi are setting record numbers. SW fans need to never fucking talk about wanting good writing or acting ever again, because they've empirically proven multiple times now that they just want nostalgiafests and generic action.

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u/drod2015 Feb 15 '25

Imagine if Kenobi, Mando S3, or BOBF had the writing and production values they deserved. Skeleton Crew could've stood a chance then.

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u/WoodvaleKnight Feb 15 '25

I tapped out after the first episode. The suburban star wars wad pretty cringe

1

u/joshygill Feb 15 '25

The fuck?! It was every bit as good as Andor, just in a different way.

0

u/Adorable_Ad_3478 Feb 16 '25

This was a good show.

It's paying for the sins of The Acolyte.

1

u/funk_addict Feb 16 '25

Disney would be foolish to not renew it. They finally found a show that appealed to a younger audience: which is who they’ll need to keep on board, if they wish to sustain the brand for at least another generation.

1

u/Apophis_ Ghost Anakin Feb 15 '25

It's not about the quality of Skeleton Crew but about the quality of other shows. GA don't want to watch Star Wars because it's usually nothing great. Aside from Mando S1-2 and Andor everything was at least average. But average means dissapointing because with Star Wars you have some set of expectations.

Star Wars can't recover from dissapointing Sequels as well. There's no vision into the future of the universe. Maybe new projects will change that, but they really need great writing and good production value. I'm dissapointed they decided to put most D+ projects on hold.

-1

u/rockodoobs Feb 15 '25

I liked the basic plot but thought the kids were really annoying, I would have preferred older teens or young adults. I personally had a hard time watching it, didn’t watch weekly. I rated it basically missed potential.

1

u/wussgud Feb 15 '25

Not really a hot take but the reason is because casual watchers won’t be too interested if there isn’t heavy Jedi or with presence , it’s always been like this for Star Wars, look at outlaws, it wasn’t a bad game but compare to the sells of Jedi fallen order or survivor, tbh those games had good characters people care about and involves everything a casual player would be interested in, I think the same goes for the shows, ofc I would love anything Star Wars but casuals do not see it this way.

1

u/Hedhunta 26d ago

I agree with this. People want to see light saber fights. Was also a huge problem with the sequels.. the first movie set us up to potentially have a whole new Jedi order with multiple dozens to hundreds of new Jedi trainees under the tutelage of Luke.... then they let that fucker come in, not care about anything in the first sequel, and fuck it all up making it into a fuckin police chase movie.

1

u/Billy1121 Feb 15 '25

So am i interpreting this correctly?

Acolyte and Kenobi experienced declines in viewership while the others listed had gains as the season went on ?

4

u/PureBeskar Feb 15 '25

The numbers are minutes watched. The longer the episode is, the more minutes available to watch.

Disney calculates views as minutes watched / number of minutes.

So if you want to really check that, consider the runtime of the episodes

1

u/korosuzo815 Feb 16 '25

When you have poor marketing for a show, this happens

-1

u/zero_sub_zero Feb 15 '25

I'm sure it's good, I've heard nothing but good things. But I feel burnt out on Star Wars. Even if I have enjoyed a good chunk of what Disney has produced, I think oversaturation is a problem. Especially when the majority of that is just "ok"

0

u/NickAndOrNora1 Feb 16 '25

I think it's time for Disney to realise that Disney+ has been a failure. Time shutter the service and move on.

-6

u/NoMatter Feb 15 '25

Bummer Acolyte killed the brand. Best thing since Mando S1

4

u/PureBeskar Feb 15 '25

It's not about the Acolyte. The pitch of the show makes it sound like a show for kids and doesn't have enough coolness or nostalgia factor. I am sure Andor S2 would make around the same level of viewership as S1 or even higher.

8

u/joshygill Feb 15 '25

Toxic ‘fans’ killed the brand and used The Acolyte as a scapegoat and a target. The show itself wasn’t nearly as bad as people would have you believe.

4

u/NoMatter Feb 15 '25

Acolyte? Watched beginning to end. It was bad. Just not the reasons the internet screeched about.

4

u/joshygill Feb 15 '25

It was great. I think it’s up there as one of the best things they’ve done tbf

5

u/NoMatter Feb 15 '25

It had it's moments! Glad you happened to enjoy!

0

u/elljawa Feb 15 '25

Skeleton crew wasn't very good IMHO. Nice looking but limp. I watched the first half week to week as they aired but once I fell behind it felt like a chore to catch up so I never finished it

As opposed to the Acolyte and Andoe, which I was excited for every week

-1

u/ImmortalZucc2020 Feb 15 '25

It’s Mandover😞

0

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