“Don’t Forget The Lyrics!” and “Fifth Grader” Cancelled
The writing has been on the wall for a long time but it was made official this week. Syndicated game shows Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? and Don’t Forget The Lyrics! have been cancelled. Fifth Grader lasted two seasons in syndication, and this was the first and only season for Lyrics!. Both are former Fox game shows which made the jump, similar to Deal or No Deal.
Neither show has done that well in the ratings this season. Fifth Grader started strong in season one, peaking near the 2.0 area, but it nosedived this season. Actually it was almost identical to what happened with Deal or No Deal during its second syndicated season. Most recent rating figures have Fifth Grader frozen at a 0.9 rating, roughly one full point lower than it was for many weeks last year. It has been announced, though, that The Hub has picked up the entire run of Fifth Grader to rerun starting this year. Lyrics never set the world on fire. The most recent rating for the Mark McGrath hosted game was a 0.7.
Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader began in February 2007 on Fox as a million dollar game show. It made the leap to syndication in Fall 2009 with a quicker, streamlined format and a $250,000 top prize. Don’t Forget The Lyrics! aired with Fifth Grader on Fox for most of its life. The million dollar music game debuted in July 2007 before leaving the network in 2009, taking a year off, and coming to syndication with a $50,000 top prize in 2010.
For the past few years whenever one syndicated game show left, another took its place. We started with Deal or No Deal and got Temptation, Crosswords, and Trivial Pursuit. It looks like no new game shows will be entering the market in Fall 2011 this time around.
Source : B&C
“Fifth Grader”‘s deliberate picking of less-than-knowledgeable contestants always rankled me. It was more about contestant’s LACK of knowledge than anything else. That being said, Jeff Foxworthy was/is a FANTASTIC host and does/did a great job pacing the show and coming up with off-the-cuff humorous remarks to contestants’ deliberations. He probably does not need a hosting gig, but I would welcome seeing him host another show.
I figured that the last show of Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader will air sometime in May (like the 20th or the 27th). When someone finds out, please post that date on there.
I won’t miss either of them, frankly.
This is Tony DuMont saying that if you stare at a can of juice because it says “concentrate”, you are probably not smarter than a fifth grader.
Crosswords and Temptation debuted in September 2007 and aired their last new episodes by mid-2008. DOND and Trivial Pursuit debuted in syndication in September 2008. Crosswords was renewed for a second season, but in the end it was decided the second season would be reruns of the first season(packaged with reruns of the Canadian show Inside the Box, which debuted in 9/2008 and was gone by New Years’ 2009) I suspect Feud and Millionaire are getting renewed, as Feud’s ratings are going up and Millionaire is staying about where it was last season, but no official word.
I’m suspecting May 27th will be the last new episodes of Fifth Grader and Lyrics(for people who can only see the show once a day in a single run market that don’t have My Network or CMT), as that week is the last week of the May sweeps. Wonder if some network could do new episodes of Fifth Grader, like maybe CMT or the Hub, even if it means lowered stakes.
For the most part, any game show that gets more than one season in an era when game shows are not the most popular format on television is a success.
Any time a game show makes it to season two in syndication in pretty much any era is amazing–really it doesn’t happen that often.
By nature, game shows are repetitive, and if the format is changed too much, the fans are always outraged. This is part of why game shows are not the darlings of networks or syndicates. Yeah, they are cheap to produce, but when the show only lasts a year and you have to make another show, a new set, etc., the year to year cost is higher than a crappy talk show.
That said, game shows are cheap enough to produce that they are a bit enticing, and I’m sure we will see more sooner rather than later. This won’t be the drought the 1990s were.
Episode #150 airs on May 20th. That’s the last original episode.
Thanks for the headsup:)
I saw the writing on the wall this week when KPXJ here in Shreveport moved both 5th Grader and Lyrics to 2am and 2:30 and replaced them in their former time slots with a double run of Seinfeld. Real question is will I miss it? A little, but their ratings were no where near spectactular, but, that’s the business for you.
I was going to mention it, but you did. 5th Grader’s ratings trajectory practically mirrored that of syndie Deal and confused me just the same. How can a show lose half its ratings almost overnight like that? What’s funny is that while DOND was criticized for not changing enough, 5th Grader’s new format and payout didn’t exactly set the world on fire, either. I think second wave of big money game shows in the U.S. is officially over. Reruns are on GSN.
I thought they would end due to a lack of many viewers as well as perfect time slots in most markets, especially Memphis. Foxworthy was right about what he said on his “Lopez Tonight” appearance. He’s not used to starring in a successful series.
By that I mean three Fox seasons and two CMT/MNTV/Syndication seasons.
That’s true too, not to mention stations that originally picked the show up in Season 1 didn’t pick the show up for Season 2 (one of the reasons for the nosedive in the ratings), which was also similar to what happened with Deal or No Deal.
Well, when you produce that many episodes, you have plenty enough for reruns… which appears to be the trajectory for 5th Grader. This is basically the same situation as Crosswords– a couple seasons in syndication, then sell it off to a small cable outlet and make money without having to produce new shows.
I don’t sweat it too much– remember, back in the game show heyday there were countless shows that lasted only 13 weeks. To last two seasons five days a week– and jump to reruns right after– is a nice achievement in any era. Not every show can be Wheel or Jeopardy!
Then what would the future hold for My Network TV Tuesday night lineup?
It’ll likely be either reruns of Law & Order: SVU, which will flip-flop with Law & Order: CI (so SVU will likely end up on Monday nights) or White Collar, one of USA’s most popular shows.
My Network is looking at bringing on Psych reruns as well.
5th grader and Lyrics already got pulled from WNOL (New Orleans CW affiliate that aired both shows) a few weeks ago. The canceling of both shows really came as no surprise to me whatsoever.
here in Las Vegas, 5th grader airs at 11:30am, right after Family Feud, on CW. I like the show, especially the Theme Weeks. It would have made a good prime time access show, as a companion to Jeopardy. The producers try to find a mix of contestants; the episode that aired last evening @ 8:30pm on MYNETWORK featured a smart contestant.
Don’t Forget the Lyrics would work on Saturday Nights, in a double run to fill out the hour. NBC, where are you?
I think it’s a shame it was cancelled. I was just watching a re-run of Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader and I really think it deserves higher ratings than 0.9! >:(