Rating-wise, the show hit the ground running. Its first episode got 3.57 million viewers - admittedly, not huge numbers, but good considering it was going up against the NFL kickoff - it was the biggest number for the network in the time-slot for 18 months. The total actually improved on the numbers posted by the established show that preceded it, The Vampire Diaries, which was also have its season premiere, and managed 3.35 million.

Numbers have declined somewhat since, particularly in the past couple of weeks which have seen the number drop from 3 million for episode five to 2.5 million for the seventh installment. However, it's worth noting that it's still more than other CW "hits" like Gossip Girl, which has been at or below two million, and a full season order for the show was made by the CW a couple of weeks back.

Looking at the numbers, it seems that a drop in viewership among the female 18-34 group is a good part of the reason for the decline. And that's the core demographic the CW covets, which led to the network
"looking to lighten the show’s somber mood and jack up its title character’s love life", according to reports.

That set off warning bells for me. I was quite surprised the show aired on CW: it's about a group of coerced assassins, which is hardly One Tree Hill. But what they're doing here seems to be trying to drive a square peg into a round hole. It's a show that needs to be dark and somewhat edgy. If it's not, then while you may get a few more teenage girls not changing the channel after Diaries, there's a real risk that the rest of the audience's interest will wane. "We’re really only talking about some slight tweaks. The core of Nikita will not change," EW were told.

We can but hope.

personally i enjoy nikkita. while the first episode left me less than impressed i'm glad i stuck around. the character is strong very crafty and the fight scenes are well handled.except for a few oh please moments. Its a shame there planning on making the show lighter.

Yeah, I've been pleasantly surprised by the action scenes. One thing my wife keeps mentioning - and it's a fair point - is how skinny Maggie Q is. She looks like she'd blow away in a stiff wind! I've certainly seen cases where it's just been not credible to see a woman take on a bigger, male opponent, but they manage to avoid that here.

Maybe it's her Hong Kong background? Hmmm... Just realized how much the plot of her Naked Weapon mirrors Nikita. Coerced into an organization that trains her as an assassin, then breaking away to try and destroy it...

I have a bit of catching up of episodes to do, so I'll certainly be keeping an eye open to see if the approach changes.

I finally got caught up. I did notice something of a change in the most recent episode (#8); most obviously, they abandoned the "Previously..." sequence entering the show, and just got going.

However, the good news was, if this was a "lighter" version, I really could not have told you. In fact, this was perhaps the best episode of the season so far: tightly-plotted, with a twist I didn't see coming, and a nice sense of moral ambiguity, in that Division's actions could be considered justified. The action remained as impressive as ever, so I'm hopeful that any revamp is going in the right direction. But I think we're still waiting for Nikita's love interest to show up - that probably won't be until the show comes back after its winter hiatus.

And, breathe... Things are looking better for our favourite junkie turned hit-woman turned good, with a couple of members of the case recently saying that the show will likely get renewed.

Melinda Clarke, who plays Division's psych evaluator Amanda, reportedly told Entertainment Weekly, "From what I hear, the buzz is that we'll be fortunate enough to have another season. I think we've got some great fans of there [and] I know internationally people are really excited about it." This echoes what Xander Berkeley (Percy) said regarding the possibility of renewal a couple of weeks previously: "It seems likely to me. They've invested a lot into this happening and there's enough of a following to warrant further investment in another season at least I think."

Of course, relying on cast members' public proclamations is somewhat risky, but these seem confident enough. Bill Gorman points out that the rating for the show in the key 18-49 Adult demographic is basically identical to that posted by the likes of One Tree Hill and Gossip Girl. It is weaker in the 18-34 women demographic, but how important that is to the CW is a topic of some argument.

THAT'S GREAT NEWS!

I have to confess that although I like Maggie Q (her surname is Quigley! Go figure!) I did prefer the original La Femme Nikita show.

However, that could be just me as I can't get into Chuck either...

Read more

Hooray!

Nikita season two is underway, albeit moved to Friday nights. And ratings early have been down, scoring a 0.6 rating, which works out at about 1.7 million viewers, compared to about 2 million by the end of first series. That doesn't bode well for renewal, though Friday has been referred to as where TV shows go to die, and ratings are expected to be lower.

One note of hope is that the Live +7 ratings for the first episode [which include those who DVR the show and watch it later in the week] were up at 0.9: that 50% increase was surpassed by only three other shows, including another Friday night on the CW series, Supernatural. I think the network have already signed on for 23 episodes this season, but whether it will last any longer, remains to be seen.

i'm enjoying the new season but the last episode was truly awful hopefully they remember to keep the focus on alex and nikkita and NEVER on michael.