Could a Three or Four Year Long Sentai/Tokusatsu work?

[Beast King]

In theory, I think it could work. A lot of people would have been perfectly happy to see Shinkenger run for three years. Toei has been dragging out Den-O for several years and there's supposedly the possibility of another TV series, so who knows?

Keeping it fresh would be a problem however, as would keeping the cast on

This is why MMPR had so many problems.

 

[ryuuseipro]

Strange considering the fact that the ratings for KR1 looked extremely solid unlike today's shows, or was it more about the merchandise not selling or something?

The first Masked Rider series was not made to sell toys. The toys were made around the show. (When Rider 2 debuted into the show, Popy sold replica Henshin Belts and such.) That was only icing on the cake.

The ratings were lower in the first 13 episodes, because even for a children's program, the show was very drama-like. Also, because it was very different from more popular shows like Spectreman and Return of Ultraman, both of which started the 2nd Kaijuu Boom.

Notice that Spectreman, along with Mirrorman and Silver Mask, all had very humble and conservative beginnings, just like Masked Rider did, and were not much different in evolving from hardcore sci-fi dramas into outlandish kids' fare. But it worked! 1971 was a huge year for the Japanese superhero genre. Not to mention some very tough competition.

The reason the first series had such strong ratings after Episode 13, aside from introducing the Henshin Hero formula into the Japanese superhero genre, was beacuse there were much fewer channels. No different from here in the US. Back then, we had CBS, NBC, and ABC (not counting local networks). Back then, Japan had TBS, NET (now TV Asahi), TV Tokyo, NTV, etc. Today, both the US and Japan have many channels, especially cable networks! As network exec Fred Silverman said in a recent interview, the best a show can get is a 3% or 5% rating.

 

[Darkster]

:sly: Dude, geez. Let him call it Masked Rider if he wants. I mean, if you go by official romanizations, every Rider series pre-Double was a "Masked Rider" series, so it's totally acceptable to call the original rider series "Masked Rider". besides, not everyone has their qualms with Saban's Masked Rider, so just chill out

:eyebrow:

:disappoin

Thank you.

I hate the Saban series with a passion, but the translated name was the only thing they got right. (Sort of.)

So that makes two of you that I know.

Masked Rider

:sparta!:

Ratings represent a percentage of people watching any given show at any given time. Ratings in older shows were higher purely because there were fewer channels. What was considered a weak or bad rating in the 70s would be considered extraordinarily high today.

Well, if someone had the numbers, we could get technical.

Masked Rider

Masked Rider

:sparta!: :sparta!:

 

[KouAidou]

Well, if someone had the numbers, we could get technical.

The Japanese tokusatsu ratings wiki is your friend.

The average rating for original KR is deceptive, though; I advise checking out the per-episode ratings. Note that it doesn't start getting into the 20-30% shares until around ep 23 or so. The ratings on the first ten eps or so are actually pretty terrible for that era.

 

[Darkster]

I have a new friend. *Gets emotional*

Thanks. Now I should find the number of channels to make a comparison. That's the most difficult part.

Looking at the ratings, they really did get much higher, so I doubt it's just something dismissible.

 

[Beast King]

As network exec Fred Silverman said in a recent interview, the best a show can get is a 3% or 5% rating.

So sentai isn't doing that bad after all.

 

[ryuuseipro]

So sentai isn't doing that bad after all.

Compared to the newer Rider Series, it's not doing great, though. Only enough to keep the franchise going.

Putting its nostalgia theme into consideration, let's see what happens when Gokaiger premieres...

 

[KouAidou]

Compared to the newer Rider Series, it's not doing great, though. Only enough to keep the franchise going.

The year's Sentai series has always been a point or two lower than its concurrent Rider series, though. This has been happening ever since the two started airing together. Most people tend to assume this is just the difference in the audience, and/or the difference between airing at 7:30 and airing at 8:00.

If Gokaiger gets a nostalgia bump, OOO will see it too.

 

[Lynxara]

Generally Super Sentai's ratings trend only around a point lower than Rider's, which is easily explained by the earlier timeslot.

 

[Darkster]

What if more people watch Gokaiger than OOO? :O_O: