Rough average viewer on network - Stats from Wikipedia

Big Bang Theory : season 6 - 20.0M

Person of Interest : season 2 - 16.5M

Two and a Half Men : season 10 - 15.5M

American Idol : season 12 - 13M

Glee : season 2 - 10.5M

The Voice : season 3 - 10.5

Walking Dead : season 3 - 10.5M

Sherlock : season 2 - 10.25M

Sherlock : season 1 - 8.7M

Walking Dead : season 2 - 6M

Glee : season 4 - 5.5M

Game of Thones : season 3 - 4.5M [raising consistently, plus its HBO which you must pay extra for]

Game of Thrones : Season 2 - 3.8M

Hannibal - 3.0M [I could not find an average apart from a few episodes, so not entirely accurate, but rough]

[As a disclaimer, I’m not judging anyone for watching any of these shows because they all have demographics ranging across the board, however they do also have a main demographic.]

As the list goes down, the shows get to be more intricate and developed; so why are they not doing as well as the shows with the running gags and simple formula models?

I think its because the audience that watches more intricate and developed shows are also more intellectual people who are aware and capable of downloading and pirating shows. Now lets be honest, its much more convenient for us to pirate, not to mention free, so I can relate with those benefits. However lets not forget that these shows are a part of a business, and without the proper viewership in a medium that they can actually document or record, they won’t be making any more of that show.

Not only does this stop shows from being produced, but it also ruins the quality to which shows are being created. When you can make more money making a simple show that requires little budget and no real development in plot and character, you tend to lean toward having more of that. But I know that the passion in a lot of different corners of fandom would prevail if more people were aware of this and what its doing to the quality of production.

I think piracy is acting a lot like Google Fiber. Its taking something that is not convenient, overpriced, and ok quality, and forcing companies to change that to, convenient, affordable and high quality, and because of that I am a piracy advocate. However, if there is a way to watch that helps support the show, and the show deserves it, consider watching the way that supports the show.

This is a plea to those Fannibals [mostly] and many other fandoms that suffer their viewership; considering watching these shows legitimately, because you’re effectively destroying the integrity that these shows hold and worsening the quality of art for this and future generations.

Please; think before you pirate.