• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, June 10, 2022

In the past, and even now, this could be represented by what are called “hash” marks -- which would either zero or a number that is too small to be important.

Of course, we know someone was watching somewhere: The director, the producer and technical staff of the show, family and friends of the cast or on-air talent.

Funny to see business stories with data that seems to suggest that -- in theory -- no one anywhere was watching.

For the first episode of the final season of The CW's “Roswell, New Mexico”, the show recorded 430,000 total Nielsen-measured viewers, according to one TV publication and a “a 0.0 demo rating.”

This was down from the previous seasonal averages 550,000 and a 0.1 in the demo. The publication didn’t classify what specific “demo” -- but one can assume it was the broad and long-used, but now slightly out of favor one of adults 18-49. (TV Watch confirmed this through other sources.)

Now, of course, this is not the whole story. This published data didn’t reveal whether this measure included time-shifted viewing through three or seven days, nor that of any video-on-demand, or streaming viewing.

For sure we could also identify perhaps many other U.S. TV shows on small cable networks, on local digitally based over-the-air TV networks, or other platforms, that also regularly get a 0.0 rating in a demo.

All this amplifies the issue of our outmoded TV measurement system, as headlines have blared over the last several years and months in this publication and elsewhere. Data credibility has been iffy at best. Something -- or someone -- has gone missing.

Perhaps for more edification of this issue viewers and business observers should look at another summer show on the CW -- also on its farewell tour like “Roswell” -- posting a 0.0 in the demo (and 320,000 viewers).

The name of that show: “In the Dark.”