Sarah Connor has a serious problem. And it's not the relentless army of bots cloaked in human skin determined to kill her and her son.
It's the show ratings, which are steadily dropping with each episode.
Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello delivered a grim outlook last week: "An SCC insider tells me that if the show's numbers don't start to climb, Fox is unlikely to order any additional episodes beyond the
13 currently in the pipeline."
The season premiere started out with a bang: The opener featured great action sequences and an emotionally wrought, tense struggle between the Connors and their high-tech bodyguard, Cameron, after a malfunction caused her to flip from protecting John to attempting to assassinate him.
So, what happened? Maybe it's the multitude of new cast additions: John's oddball girlfriend Riley and Shirley Manson's shape-shifting character have been slow to pick up speed.
Whatever the reason, if ratings and viewership don't increase, Sarah Connor might be the first major causality of this season's sci-fi television lineup. Maybe Monday's episode will do the trick: In "Allison From Palmdale," another software glitch causes gynoid Cameron to go missing, giving viewers a peek at the Terminator's back story along with more robot-riddled glimpses of the future.
Charlie Jane Anders, sci-fi blogger at io9, thinks that killing off future rebel leader John Connor (played by
Thomas Dekker, pictured) might be a viable solution: "That would be a pretty shocking turn of events, and a powerful storyline -- and it would have the bonus effect of getting rid of the show's weakest link."
Does the show need a more radical boost to kick-start ratings, like Anders suggests? Or could an influx of a few new characters, like Battlestar Galactica alum Stephanie Jacobson, do the trick?
What drastic measure could revive Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles long enough to see the apocalypse? Comment below.
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