Trading Egos and
Pointing Fingers - October 27
You ever have one of those
weeks that lasted about a fortnight? That's what it was
around here. Ask anyone. Jason can tell you that it was
eventful for him. Wolvie and Julie had to resend stuff.
We still don't know where Eric is. Gordon had a birthday
which is cause for concern in any context. And on top of
that, we've got a billion hurricanes forming in the
ocean, and we're running out of names. All this in a
world where a Spanish-language daily is the next
cult-classic and a pop star is hosting a reasonably
decent game show.
But enough ranting. Let's get to some numbers before it
starts raining Code Red. I suppose we should start with
the big question... Who exactly is to blame for "The
Apprentice"'s downslide?
The Blame Game
If you remember recent
articles, you know that Donald Trump is firing all of
his guns squarely at Martha's version of the show being
the reason his own show's relative failure. Granted, the
Thursday show is still second to CSI, but that's not the
point. The point is that this particular round of
accusations, if you look at the numbers, are completely
unfounded. Last week's show, which featured and
unbridled plugging of upcoming feature (say it with me
now...) "Zathura", scored second in the overnights
(8.5/12), viewers (10.39 million), and in the adults
18-49 (4.7/12). On the plus side, it did build off of
"Will & Grace". On the minus side, the show, which was
on its second season and building off of its increasing
buzz from the Bill Rancic season, posted 11.9/17 in the
overnights, 14.59 million viewers and a 7.2/17 among
adults 18-49. Last season this time (back in March, mind
you), we saw a 10.9/16 in the overnight, 13.78 million
viewers, and 6.0/15 in the demo. The week before, all
also-rans, 8.6/12 overnights; 10.23 million viewers, and
4.5/11 in the demo. So this week saw a little bit of a
boost in viewership, but Donald will probably have to
end up spinning this as "the biggest ratings drop in the
world. It's really great."
For the record,
"Apprentice: Martha Stewart" fared thusly in the past
two weeks:
10/19: 5.5/8 overnight,
6.82 million viewers, and 2.7/6 adults 18-49... all
fourth place.
10/26: 6.2/9 overnight, 7.56 million viewers, and 3.0/8
adults 18-49... all fourth place.
So, at least in the
interim... move is a good thing. But not good enough to
warrant a second try at this failed experiment.
The Poker Game
The other big question this week... Is poker growing or
dying on TV? If you were to read one source, you'd think
that it was growing. If you were to read another, you
would think that it was dying. It depends on who you
ask.
From a recent TV Week
article: "After two years of booming ratings and more
press coverage than any other programming trend this
side of reality TV, the televised poker audience is, in
many cases, dropping." The same report cites dropoffs of
Travel Channel's "World Poker Tour" of 17 percent in
total viewers during its 2005 season, ESPN's "World
Series of Poker" of 14 percent, CNBC's "Heads Up Poker"
tournament of 18 percent. "And among the three
iterations of GSN's own "Poker Royale" series, most are
similarly down."
On the upside,
"Celebrity Poker Showdown" is up 12 percent, though its
audience is considerably smaller.
A rebuttal from the
creator of WPT, Steven Lipscomb: "People have been
prognosticating the death of poker since we launched the
sensation in '03. What you do see is the maturation of a
market. Most of the wannabe shows are dying out and the
'World Poker Tour' on the Travel Channel and the 'World
Series of Poker' on ESPN are settling into ratings
numbers that rival regular-season NBA or PGA events. The
media wants to create the phenomenon, hype it, then kill
it." While that may be true, it's also worth noting that
repeats of both events have shown growth.
So two years after the premiere of "World Poker Tour",
still arguably the most watched in the genre, it's still
too early to tell. The numbers say two different things
in this case. And it is true that the cream is now just
beginning to rise to the top, as it always does in this
critical juncture (remember "Millionaire" and the
millions of clones it spawned?). But one thing remains
clear. The fact that we're even concerned for the future
of this subset is proof that it's still big business.
The Race Game
My sister swore off "The Amazing Race" during its family
edition season. Then she was gifted with a trip to
Panama, our motherland. She watched... and laughed when
she realized that, according to Phil, it was illegal to
wear underpants on top of underpants on top of pants.
She might've been the
exception of the rule, though.
Last week saw a 6.7/9 in
the overnights. The week prior, 7.4/11. The week prior
still, 7.4/10. Last season this time (i.e: the Romber
season), 9.5/14. So in the battle of families in America
against couples in the world... Couples in the world
wins. Luckily we'll see some of that next year.
Okay, we've spent enough
time in the nighttime. Let's go to your syndie moment of
zen.
The "A" Game
Wheel of Fortune (8.1
rating, -10 percent from the year-ago week) is still
America's game, scoring better than most primetime
games. Perennial second-banana Jeopardy! (6.2, -28) is
also on typical par, even though the news this time last
year was, of course, Ken Jennings. That's really the
only explanation to give for a 28 percent drop. Last
week, Wheel spun an 8.0, while Jeopardy! was on level
with 6.3.
Elsewhere, Who Wants to
Be a Millionaire posted a 2.8, down 10 percent from last
year. Cause for concern? Maybe. But then again, it's on
the air until 2009, so...
And your final number... 25. Last week, Fremantle
unceremoniously celebrated the silver anniversary of one
of its properties, "Blockbusters." The show premiered on
NBC in 1980 and has since gone on to spawn a
long-running children's version in the UK. If you look
at reruns on GSN, you can see that it's really an
engaging quiz at its heart and is long overdue for a
comeback...
Okay, so I was the only one celebrating... But hey, it's
my party, and I'll celebrate if I want to. Until next
time, remember, the numbers don't lie.
Chico Alexander will
take an E, please, Bill. As in e-mail, at chico@gameshownewsnet.com. |