This past Tuesday night, MTV aired the final episode of Teen Mom OG Season 8.
And now we must ask ourselves the following question:
Did MTV also air the final episode of Teen Mom OG… period?
As well documented by our friends at The Ashley Reality Roundup, Amber Portwood, Maci Bookout, Mackenzie McKee, Cheyenne Floyd and Catelynn Lowell simply aren’t very popular anymore.
This is not a mere opinion, either.
The aforementioned June 2 season finale garnered only 692,000 total viewers, making it the second least watched episode of the season.
The LEAST watched episode? That one aired seven days earlier on May 26.
How do these figures compared to other installments from Season 8? Well…
The March 17 premiere brought in 859,000 viewers, close to being on par with previous premieres.
However, that figure fell considerably as the season continued airing.
Overall, a scant three episodes from Season 8B earned the series over 800,000 viewers — and the number of viewers more or less dropped each and every week, meaning fans simply weren’t captivated enough to keep tuning in.
Want more empirical evidence of the trouble this franchise could be in?
One year ago, the first half of Season 8 debuted… to 990,000 viewers.
Way back in the day, for the Season 5 premiere in 2015, the show brought in over 1.5 million viewers.
These numbers speak for themselves. For the most part, that is.
Any program that has been on the air for this long will diminish in popularity as time goes on.
However, it’s clear that executives know something is very much wrong with Teen Mom OG in particular, considering how they tried to mix things up last year by hiring Bristol Palin.
And we all know how that ended, don’t we?
Palin lasted for one season, slammed the series as fake and phony on her way out and only earned the show condemnation, not praise or an increase in ratings.
Teen Mom OG has also come under fire for continuing to employ Amber Portwood after her arrest last July for domestic violence.
The fallout from the incident has led to some interesting storylines, but also to a fair amount oof negative press. Especially when you consider the extreme focus on Amber’s legal problems this past season.
Cheyenne Floyd hasn’t really caught on with viewers…
… Catelynn Lowell is in a steady and happy marriage, which doesn’t make for very much drama…
…. Maci Bookout’s storyliine centers almost entirely on her ex… a
… and Mackenzie McKee seems to be making up crap about her relationship just to remain relevant.
In other words?
Viewers may understandably be sick of these women and/or there are no stories left to tell about them.
That said, the show doesn’t cost much to produce.
And these Teen Mom OG cast members still generate plenty of social media buzz, which does mean a lot for shows these days.
Will it get renewed for Season 9?
We really don’t know, but one thing seems certain now: Farrah Abraham was right.
Love her or hate her, you at least loved to hate her — and watch her.
The ratings for Teen Mom OG simply haven’t been the same since she was fired.