The season 2 premiere for ‘Falling Skies’ garnered great reviews but in the world of television ratings, the numbers weren’t as compelling. The two hour debut didn’t come close to the viewers it had when the series’ first episode aired last year.

‘Falling Skies’ was touted as basic cable’s number 1 new series with adults 18-49 earning 5.9 million viewers when the series’ first premiered. Last night’s debut only managed to gather 4.5 million total viewers, down 24%.  In adults 18-49, the viewers amounted to 1.9 million as opposed to 2.6 million last year. Of course, a lot of this could be attributed to the fact that the NBA finals were also airing at the same time.

The network expects the show’s audience numbers to adjust from the 4.5 million as originally noted to over 6 million once the DVR numbers are added in. Even with the lower marks, ‘Falling Skies’ still helped TNT become the No. 1 basic cable network for the night with a 2.3 household rating.

Considering the tough competition of the NBA and the fact that reviews of the sophomore debut were very favorable, if this season continues to bring in the audience response it has, then it will be very likely that we’ll be seeing a third season of ‘Falling Skies.’

Source: Deadline