ABC President Paul Lee addresses 'Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' disappointing ratings and teases what's next

ABC debuted Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to plenty of hype in the aftermath of the blockbuster success of The Avengers and other acclaimed films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Joss Whedon's guiding hand raised expectations even higher, and the show premiered to double-digit million viewers. But the show declined in the ratings nearly every week thereafter, as some fans were disappointed with the slow pacing and lack of answers.

At the 2014 Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour, ABC entertainment president Paul Lee addressed that issue and said the following (via Comicbookresources.com):

"It was obviously disappointing that we started with a very high number and it came down," he said. "It took a little bit of time to find our sea legs, but now the show is really doing well. Creatively, we are loving what we're seeing for the back nine. We're doing a lot of work, and I'm really enjoying doing this with Marvel. We can announce that Lady Sif is coming in, in Episode 15. We're shooting it now, and that's going to be absolutely integral to that hour of television. And then, there's going to be this really cool arc to the end of the season. You're going to find out who the Clairvoyant is, and it's going to be very, very cool." 

He also addressed some of the creative struggles that the show had in its first half of Season 1:

"It did take us a little bit of time to find our sea legs," Lee said. "I think the key to us was really starting to work closely with the studios, and really figure out with our showrunners and all the creative brains, how we could have a show that didn't have Iron Man in it, but did have an incredible amount of the Marvel universe and an incredible amount of the mythology that went through there. We also took a little bit of time to get the balance between a procedural and an arc. I'm so proud of how they've now arced out the last nine episodes. But, that's something that many shows do, as they go through that." 

Are you still on board with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., or did you jump ship a while ago? Let us know in the comments below.