Insight: Rick and Morty: Season Seven Premiere Ratings Franchise Low; New Voice Actors Lamented By Fans

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Earlier this year, Justin Roiland was charged with domestic assault only later to be cleared of those charges from the Orange County DA. Afterwards, reports of sexual misconduct arose though still no real signs of actually breaking the law had occurred with all of the allegations reading like hearsay, but that didn’t stop Adult Swim and Disney from recasting Rick and Morty and Solar Opposites respectively. For Solar Opposites, the series seemed to do the right thing and not find soundalikes to replace Justin Roiland’s iconic voice. For Rick and Morty, they opted for the sound-a-likes, and purposely hid the names of the actors until the premiere…and now we know why.

The reviews are in, and fans are not enjoying the new voices which certainly reflects on the now just-released overnight ratings (more on that in a bit). Earlier this week, it was revealed that Ian Cardoni was cast as the new voice of “Rick Sanchez”, Harry Belden as the new voice of “Morty Smith”, and Jon Allen as “Mr. Poopybutthole”. Unfortunately, for producers like Steve Levy, Scott Marder, Michael Ouweleen, and Dan Harmon who checked out during most of the decisions being made for the show several years ago, the fans are NOT happy. Some have noted the new voices of “Rick and Morty” as “trash“, “horrible“, and “awful” and the ratings seem to support that fans want Justin Roiland back in his rightful place.

Nielsen ratings are reporting Rick and Morty registering a .22 overnight rating with under 500,000 viewers having tuned in for the season seven premiere. This is actually a 50% drop in the ratings whence compared to even the season six finale of Rick and Morty, which registered just under a .5. The season seven premiere even did more than a 50% drop whence compared to the season three premiere which, if you recall, was actually a surprise April Fools Day airing for Toonami that nobody knew about and registered a .68.

If you recall, we wrote an op-ed that there was no way Rick and Morty was going to be better without Justin Roiland voicing the characters that, HE, in fact created. It really doesn’t matter what Dan Harmon thinks because he’s got a FOX deal to fall back on, Justin was the soul of this franchise, and clearly the numbers are reflecting the fan sentiment. We are, in real-time, watching a billion dollar franchise die in what might be the biggest cancel culture flop since Bud Light’s Dylan Mulvaney controversy. We still have nine more episodes to go this season with no break happening and thirty additional episodes have been ordered.

It’s also interesting that the network didn’t bother to promote Rick and Morty at all this year save for a SDCC and NYCC panels that were both half-empty during the Adult Swim panels. Fans also have no options in terms of next-day streaming of the show with the exception of e-tailers like Prime Video.

Suffice it to say, somebody made the wrong call here, and we may have some heads rolling as a result. A new episode of Rick and Morty premieres this Sunday night @ 11 pm ET/PT, check your local listings.

 

Synopsis:

Rick and Morty is a show about a sociopathic scientist who drags his unintelligent grandson on insanely dangerous adventures across the universe. Created and executive produced by Dan Harmon (Community, Channel 101) and Justin Roiland (House of Cosbys).