Duck Dynasty season 6 is wrapping up on Wednesday night and fans are wondering whether the show will be renewed or canceled.
The network has not yet made an announcement either way and there don’t seem to be any reports that have inside information one way or the other.
The lack of official word isn’t necessarily a bag thing--it sometimes takes weeks or even months after a season ends for official confirmation of a renewal or cancellation--but the ratings have continued slipping this season, hitting a low of 3.4 million in episode 8 on August 6.
The show premiered back in March 2012 with only 1.8 million viewers, but climbed to 2.5 million by the end of the season.
Season 2, running from October through December that year, found 6.4 million viewers at the season finale, and season 3 in early 2013 climbed to about 8.5 million per episode. Season 4 in August through December last year his almost 12 million viewers in its premiere, although it later dipped to as low as 7.3 million.
Season 5 saw a big dropoff, down to as low as 4.7 million viewers.
This season has been the worst since season 1, with just the premiere above 4 million viewers.
Then again, even while the show has dipped when compared against itself, it’s held strong against competition. On July 17, for example, the show came in with 3.7 million viewers over all–but most importantly, with 1.4 million in the coveted 18-49 age bracket, the best for the night.
It has been at the top in both overall viewers and for that bracket most of the season--So while the numbers have dipped, it’s likely the show will be renewed.
Then again, Fox News reported back in January that A&E was searching for a new reality show starring “Christian talent” to follow the success of Duck Dynasty as the latter’s ratings slipped. If executive were worried about the season 5 ratings then the season 6 ratings would cause even more concern.
Melissa Henson, grassroots director for the Parents Television Council, told Fox at the time that with some tweaking, it shouldn’t be too hard for A&E to replicate the winning Duck Dynasty faith-based formula.
Perhaps they feel that they can get an even broader cross-section by maybe taking a different approach or focusing on a family from a different part of the country, or a different kind of family dynamic,” said Henson.
“Last year, for example, there was a pretty good ratings success with the Mark Burnett and Roma Downing produced ‘Bible’ miniseries. They got really good ratings with that. So, I think what’s behind all this is that they’re recognizing the profit potential in catering to Christian audience and they’re trying to capture that market.”
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