Ratings Report: ‘Amphibia’ Concludes With Average Numbers, ‘The Sound of Magic’ Strives

CBS

Broadcast: Chuck Lorre, Eddie Gorodetsky, Al Higgins, and Gina Yashere’s American sitcom television series titled Bob Hearts Abishola, recently recorded 5.3 million viewers increasing from 5.1 million the previous week. Billy Gardell and Folake Olowofoyeku star as the respective title characters with Christine Ebersole, Matt Jones, Maribeth Monroe, Shola Adewusi, Barry Shabaka Henley, Travis Wolfe Jr., Vernee Watson, Bayo Akinfemi, Anthony Okungbowa, and Gina Yashere in supporting roles. It premiered on CBS on September 23, 2019, and was renewed for a fourth season in January 2022. It follows Bob Wheeler (Gardell) who runs his family’s competitive sock company in Detroit with his mother Dottie (Ebersole) and his younger twin siblings Christina (Monroe) and Douglas (Jones). With the stress of the job, Bob winds up in Woodward Memorial Hospital due to a mild heart attack. This leads him to be drawn to Abishola Adebambo (Olowofoyeku), his kind and hardworking nurse. CBS gave the production an early pilot order with it being written by Lorre who executive produced along with Gorodetsky, Higgins, and Yashere. The production was given a series order on May 6, 2019, with CBS ordering an additional nine episodes in October of that same year. Warner Bros. Television suspended production on March 13, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic leaving the last two intended episodes of the first season not filmed. Viewership numbers have sat average around 5.5 million for the past three seasons. It was nominated for a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Cinematography for a Multi-Camera Series in 2020 as well as an Art Directors Guild Award and NAACP Image Award in 2021. Sitting at the 8:30 PM slot on Mondays, Bob Hearts Abishola provides something different instead of the hour run-times of ABC’s UP, Fox’s 911, and CW’s All American. The highlights of this show come from the fact that it tries to break down the prejudice barrier to an extent. Highlighting Nigerian culture, it sometimes feathers at an area of discomfort due to stereotypes, however, it provides a great story of an unexpected romance.

Disney+

Cable: Based on Matt Braly’s childhood trips to Bangkok, Thailand Amphibia is an American animated television series that aired on Disney Channel from June 17, 2019, to May 14, 2022. It features the voices of Brenda Song, Justin Felbinger, Bill Farmer, Amanda Leighton, Anna Akana, Troy Baker, Haley Tju, and Keith David. The tone was inspired by films by Aardman Animations and Studio Ghibli with the storytelling format taking inspiration from Gravity Falls and Steven Universe. The series marks the first animated show to have a Thai American lead. Braly, who is Thai American, chose to make the series’ lead character because he wanted more Thai characters in television series. Braly also believed it was necessary to make three of the series’ four writers female because the show centers on a teenage girl. The series chronicles the adventures of an independent, fearless, and brave girl named Anne Boonchuy (Song) who is peer-pressured on her 13th birthday into stealing a mysterious music box that magically transports her and her two best friends to the world of Amphibia. It recorded 347,000 viewers on May 14th which aligns with the regular viewership count is. As that was its last episode, Amphibia has officially ended marking the end of this revolutionary series.

Netflix

Streaming: The Sound of Magic is a 2022 South Korean streaming television series based on the Naver webtoon Annarasumanara by Ha Il-kwon. It is directed by Kim Seong-yoon and written by Kim Min-jeong. It stars Ji Chang-wook, Choi Sung-eun, and Hwang In-youp. As an emotional music drama that revolves around Yoon Ah-yi (Sung-eun), a poor student attending Sewoon High School who does not believe in magic which she had a passion for in her younger years. Wanting to become an adult at a fast pace, she meets Lee Eul (Chang-wook), a magician who wants to remain as a so-called ‘child’. With suspicion coming down from the whole community, his goal is to claim he is a real magician. Ah-yi’s life gradually changes as she becomes a follower of Lee Eul, making herself a believer in magic and deciding to follow her dreams. The series reunited Seong-yoon and Min-jeong who previously worked together in the 2016 drama Love in the Moonlight. It is choreographed by Hong Se-jeong who previously worked on Phantom and Laughing Man. Illusionist Lee Eun-gyeol served as the magic advisor. It currently is sitting at number 4 on Netflix’s “Global Top 10 TV (Non-English)”. What may contribute to its success is the beautiful story, acting, and cinematography. Going against traditional cliché storylines, it shows that going outside of the box can pay off.

MBC/Netflix

International Series: Tomorrow is an ongoing South Korean television series directed by Kim Tae-yoon and Sung Chi-wook. It stars Kim Hee-sun, Rowoon, Lee Soo-hyuk, and Yoon Jin-on. It is based on the Naver webtoon which was published in 2017. It follows Choi Joon Woong (Rawoon) who is searching for a job, however, finding it harder to get hired. One night, he witnesses a man trying to end his life and decides to stop him. Acquainted with grim reapers Koo Ryeon (Hee-sun) and Im Ryoong Gu (Ji-on), who belong to a crisis management team, find their purpose in preventing people from committing suicide. After ending up in a coma, Joon Woong becomes half-human and half-spirit which gets him a job at a company of grim reapers. The series has been faced with some negative comments from BTS fans due to a prop that was shown in one of its recent episodes. On a list of people who have committed suicide, fans saw one of BTS’ members’ names on it with the birthday of another member. This brought fans to claim that the show is saying they want the BTS boys to take their own lives. While this is most likely false, MBC was accused of using its influence to get back at BTS for not attending their Gayo Daejeon festival in 2019. In contrast, this series talks about real-life situations and problems. While some of them are heavy to watch, it shows the power that film has in bringing awareness to what happens in real life. It recorded 9,690,000 hours viewed sitting just over 200,000 hours higher than the next series on Netflix’s “Global Top 10 TV (Non-English)” list. Time will tell if The Sound of Magic is able to keep its place on the list or if it’s because viewers have already concluded other series such as Our Blues and Business Proposal.