10 TV Shows That Lost MILLIONS Of Viewers (And Why)

Glee took the world by storm in 2009, becoming a pop-culture phenomenon the likes of which had never quite been seen on television before. Starting its very own movement, the pilot's early premiere picked up almost 10 million viewers and, after maintaining most of its audience throughout the fall, the midseason break saw those figures increase to weekly doses of 13 million - figures it maintained well into its second season.

When the sheen had worn off, the show found a solid audience somewhere between 6 - 9 million for its third season, but in its fourth and fifth seasons the cracks began to show, with the latter only pulling in an average of 1 million viewers in the back half. It's final season, however, managed to improve a little, bringing in an average of 2 - 3 million a week.

A lot of things played into Glee's massive ratings drop. Following the graduation of the original cast at the end of the third season, the quality of the show declined dramatically as the creators were unable to figure out what they ultimately wanted it to be. While the New York graduates had the more intriguing stories they were almost too mature for Glee's audience, and the newbies back at McKinley High were little more than carbon copies of the originals.

On top of all that, the show lost part of its soul after the real-life death of star Cory Monteith, which may have explained why there was such a sharp ratings decrease in the episodes that followed the beautiful tribute to the young actor.