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Previously... 2005 2006 2007 January 3 January 10 January 17 January 24 January 31 February 7 February 14 February 21 February 28 March 6 March 13 September 15 September 22 September 30 Opinions expressed in the Numbers Game do not necessarily reflect those held by Game Show Newsnet as a whole.
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Absence Does Not Make the Heart
Grow Fonder This week, American TV found out the hard way just how much the writer's strike affected their programming. Out of all of the shows that debuted so far in September, only 10 percent had numbers better than last year. A number of shows took horrendous 30 to 60 percent hits on their viewership. The writers may have gotten new product back on the air, but apparently, no one told the audience that. Here are just some of the shows who went from media darlings to near or under 7 million viewers and in danger of being cancelled. My Name is Earl (NBC) - 7.01 Million
In addition to that, Heroes (NBC) is at 9.24 million (which is a huge drop from 15 million last season), Private Practice (ABC) is at 8.08 (a huge drop from 14 million last season) and Dirty Sexy Money (ABC) is at 7.14 million (down from 10+ million). Doing the math, CBS only has 1 returning show in danger, while NBC (5) and ABC (5) may think about getting those greenlights ready. And my original correlation thought about more people staying at home because of the bad economy? Nope, as the dismal numbers have shown. But how did this affect game shows? Let's find out as we take another week to look inside the numbers. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29 DANCING WITH THE STARS (ABC)
DWTS easily cruises through it's second week. And we may get more eyeballs to see the show this week as the audience learns the fate of Misty May Treanor. Will an injury force her out of the competition? TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30 DANCING WITH THE STARS (ABC)
Keeping in mind that Tuesday nights are much more competitive than Mondays (and that this is 55 minutes worth of filler), the show holds it own. However, if the numbers continue to dip, they may take a page out of American Idol and make it a half hour show, which would be a nice cushion to a 30 minute comedy they would want to showcase. OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS (ABC)
Or maybe they'd want to put a 30 minute version of this show to help boost its ratings. Any more decrease in ratings, and Opportunity Knocks may go the way of My Kind of Town and Amne$ia very, very soon. We here at GSNN are all J.D. Roth fan boys, but he needs to take a skillet to the head for this one. THE BIGGEST LOSER (NBC)
So why is this show not in the 'trouble' section? Because it's getting some of the best ratings in the show's history and it's making a ton of money for the network with it's website, books, and other merchandise. So chalk up another good season for the show and J.D. Roth, who's production company helmed this. See J.D., us fan boys still love you, despite Opportunity Knocks. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 1 AMERICA'S GOT TALENT (NBC)
AGT enjoys a nice little spike at the end of its run for the season. It gets a well-deserved renew, and we'll see the show in the Summer. Attention NBC: DO NOT get greedy and make a version in the Spring of 2009 to compete against American Idol. Yes, NBC heads and Ben Silverman, I'm talking to you. Don't do it. The temptation is there because of some of the faltering shows, but you will regret it big time if you do. AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL (CW)
It's dropped a little, but it's still a 'hit' in the CW's eyes. And as the highest rated show on the network, it will remain that way. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2 SURVIVOR (CBS) The grand-daddy of reality shows only sees it's membership drop a notch. It's still doing better than last season and is easily in front of it's competition by a few million votes. And it's turned back into water cooler conversation again - something it hasn't done in a while. HOLE IN THE WALL (FOX) I don't know how many more episodes HITW has left, but it should clearly be in burn-off mode now - especially since we're seeing the celebrity episodes (you know, the ones usually held over for November Sweeps) now. There's been a rumor that one team does indeed walk off with $100,000 - but if FOX is burning off the shows and if HITW is in danger of being yanked, my bet is that the show will not see the light of day. If I'm FOX, I may want to pull an Al Davis and not pay out the prize money if I don't have to. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3 ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A 5TH GRADER?
(FOX) We see the million almost being awarded. WHY is this show still on Friday nights and not moved to Thursdays, where I guarantee it will do better than HITW? DEAL OR NO DEAL (NBC) We also see the million almost being awarded. WHY is this show still on Friday nights and not moved to Mondays, where they can swap out the ailing Chuck and make this show the lead-in for Heroes - the combination that NBC used 2 years ago which made both shows hits? DON'T FORGET THE LYRICS (FOX) AMERICA'S TOUGHEST JOBS SUNDAY, OCTOBER 5 THE AMAZING RACE (CBS) The show is one of the rare ones to actually GAIN numbers this week. Whether it's because this looks like a good season or because 60 minutes was compelling, the show's numbers and Emmy win justify CBS' decision to bring the show back. AMERICA'S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS (ABC)
And those are the numbers for the week. The numbers don't go down at a 30% clip from last year and some shows numbers actually go up, which is a good sign for the genre. Next week: VH1 unleashes 2 more reality shows to the world. How will they fare? How will the game show numbers continue to fare? And will we ever get a stock market that doesn't match the volatility of some of the returning shows? I can't answer the last question, but we'll answer the first two in 7. Gordon Pepper was never absent in grade school... E-mail him at gordon@gameshownewsnet.com. |
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