‘Love Island’ Scores Low Ratings Debut With US Version on CBS

The new dating show Love Island debuted Tuesday night, and the ratings were far from what network executives had hoped. Even by summer broadcast standards, the 0.6 rating is a sad sight. Even more tragically, those that did watch seemed to like what they saw.

Love Island premiered on CBS this week in an all-out 90-minute series premiere. The network took a big shot on the show, which is an adaptation of a British reality series by the same name. Unfortunately, the show’s inaugural episode fell short of its expectations, its competition and even fans’ hopes.

Love Island got a 0.6 in the key demographic of adults from the ages of 18 to 49, with 2.7 million total viewers, according to a report by Entertainment Weekly. This does not account for some of the other metrics used in Nielsen ratings, which are growing in importance. The show could see a big boost in the Live + 7 Day ratings by next week, accounting for the fans who watched on DVRs, on-demand services and streaming platforms.

In the mean time, other, similar shows have already hit their stride for the summer, so it is up to Love Island to catch up. On ABC, The Bachelorette premiered with a 1.5 rating, while NBC’s America’s Got Talent is holding onto a 1.4 rating. Even CBS’ other summer reality show, Big Brother, is beating out the newcomer with a 1.2.

The ratings are especially confusing as Love Island got a generous advertising and publicity treatment. To its credit, however, those fans that did tune in liked what they saw, at least in the way that snarky reality TV commentators tend to like things.

“Thought I was going to hate [Love Island] but I’m hooked!” one fan tweeted.

“I put on #LoveIsIand as background noise and I have a feeling that I’m going to get hooked,” added another.

Naturally, there were those that hated the show on sight. On Twitter, people raised issues with the cast, the format and the minutia all at once.

“Ummmm, I just switched over to [Love Island] & it looked like they all sleep in the same communal room. Did I see that right? That’s gross,” one person wrote.

“#LoveIsland on CBS should be renamed LIKE Island because every single one of these f—ing airheads cannot get through a sentence without using the word ‘LIKE’ 10 times,” observed another. Inarticulate morons.”

Love Island airs on weeknights at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.