“Downfall”, its Ratings, and its Prizes
Downfall had its second episode last night. Let’s get the ratings out of the way before I move on. The show, sadly, dipped 23% from last week to get a 2.7/5 rating. It held just 54% of Wipeout‘s audience which continues to do well every summer, getting a 5.0/8. Basically all shows dip week-to-week, but given the ratings weren’t that great from the start it’s troubling. We’ll see how it does in the future. It’s got the usual perks of being on in the summer where expectations are really low and the show’s pretty cheap to do, but still. I’d love to see it stick around. But given how, apparently, completely ignorant audiences watching the show are maybe it shouldn’t be a huge shock.
I am absolutely floored at the emails I’ve gotten and Tweets I’ve read regarding ABC’s fun quiz show Downfall. The only real issues I had is how I felt they wimped out with the drop, but I can see why they did and that’s more of a personal issue than anything. I also had a complaint about how many times they had to remind people about the prizes are fake constantly. I really thought people would have been smart enough to realize that they are fake. I had higher hopes for audiences. I learned my lesson.
It gives me a serious headache that such a very large percentage of people think the show is dropping real prizes despite Chris Jericho, the host, repeating it over and over, and even this week adding a very large warning to the bottom of the screen regarding it. How stupid can people be? I’m sorry, but if you think they are dropping actual prizes over the edge of a building despite an ungodly amount of warnings, you’re just stupid.
It’s really shocking to constantly get and see messages regarding this even though we’re reminded ad nauseam. Americans can’t be this ignorant to just completely ignore giant writing on the screen and constant verbal warnings. It’s rather shocking to wake up and have to shuffle through all of these. Am I alone in seeing this and just getting confused by this? It’s not actual sheer frustration. It’s just mind numbing that people are so ignorant they refuse to read and go on huge rants about how “wasteful” the show is by throwing bottled water, basketballs, and junk cars that can’t be driven over the edge of a building.
I agree, Alex. To be honest, I didn’t even think they needed to put the warning up at all. It would totally make the show more dramatic; but, then again, would the show lose viewers because they feel that the show is a big waste? The show is fun to watch and still gets me anxious (I was hoping to see that Baby Grand tumble down… it looked so real)!
Moral of the story, chill out people.
I thought that we didn’t need much warning at all, and that people would realize that they’re not real prizes. Apparently not.
And apparently, even with a massive amount of warnings and the GIANT NOTICE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE FREAKING SCREEN, people still haven’t figured it out.
Also, I wanted to see the piano drop as well. It would’ve reminded me of a cartoon when a piano is dropping onto a person. Too bad they can’t have anyone down there with an umbrella. 0:)
Waw the first 10 minutes of the second episode of “Downfall”…
Really hated the show.
As you pointed out, “Russian Roulette” was much better (and perhaps the model) than this show. “Downfall” has no suspense, no danger, no surprise. I think it was a good idea whose execution was watered down, probably due to fear of liability.
Moreover, people generally prefer to watch excellence, not mediocrity. Rather easy questions being failed to be answered by less-than-knowledgeable people. I still shake my head over the success of “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?”. Do people really prefer to watch mediocre contestants? It’s like choosing to watch the NBA Development League or Arena Football over the actual NBA and the NFL.
I don’t think I’ve ever switched the channel so quickly from a new game show before. The deservedly “falling down” ratings for this show will soon its “downfall”.
Yes, people prefer to watch mediocre contestants, otherwise we wouldn’t have American Idol. That show isn’t about finding the best singer; it’s about finding the singer with the blandest mass appeal.
Earlier in the week, I was looking the web around to see what other people thought of the show, and you would not BELIEVE what some people were whining about.
“I think it is sad that all the stuff that is wasted on this show when there are people who could use it this stuff is real i just watched a couch get wasted. All about intertainment for the rich and f*** the poor.”
“I can’t believe this show. I live in CA and will take a huge pay reduction this year! It is waste to see these things fall over the edge. I work so hard just to put food on the table for my children and to see these wonderful things burst into nothing, what are you thinking??? I’m calling Oprah!!”
“From seeing the previews, THOUSANDS of dollars worth of merchandise destroyed. If you have so much money to WASTE for some tv ratings (which I hope you don’t get) why not give it to charities or the Gulf area to help with the animals and people effected by the oil spill? Nothing against gameshows and fun but compare this to if someone didn’t win the money on something like “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” and they shredded the money. What’s wrong with simulating the loss? A total waste of money and something I’ll also not be wasting my time on watching.”
“Seriously, this show is a disgrace and proof of everything that is wrong with western civilization. Don’t they know that these days people from all over the world can see this on TV?
What will Ethiopians and other desperately poor people around the world think about this waste of perfectly good stuff? No wonder we are hated globally. Not to mention the very poor and unemployed people of the USA who could really make use of these items. It is disgusting how out of touch these people are. This show is gone in less than 4 weeks, guaranteed.”
REALLY, people, it is only a game show. Think: it is paired with a show that’s main hook is falling in mud and hitting people where it hurts with giant red rubber poles. Aah! Insensitivity to other’s pain! Offensive! It runs against a crime drama that focuses on investigating homicides (Simulated murder! Offensive!) and a cooking reality show whose host has a very short temper (Language! Violence! Bad cooking! Offensive!).
You’d think people would have better things to complain about.
#1–if someone doesn’t like it, they don’t have to watch
#2–yo treehuggers–don’t ya think the gulf is a little more important to cry about right now…
#3–so what if they’re still “wasting” stuff because it’s props–they didn’t build a set that will only get destroyed after this show fades into the realm of obscure trivia questions, so it all evens out in the end.
For me the show just isn’t working because of the tone. As “Game Show Pro” mentioned, the show just doesn’t have any suspense, danger and surprise, despite that it was billed that way with a lot of the promos. I agree that it was likely liability issues, but nonetheless, unfortunately the concept is just not working in execution.
I wrote my own write-up of the show at my blog, and I encourage you to check it all out.
http://iamsmiley.com/blog/?p=118
–Thanks, :)
it would be so much better if this 1/2 hour show wasn’t stretched to an hour.
ChadF, I actually missed the premiere episode in favor of Hell’s Kitchen. This time I recorded HK, and I probably will during the duration of Downfall. I actually watched the premiere online early yesterday morning, which led me into a 10-hour long craving for another episode.
Now, I’ll tell you right now that the show would not make it without the FAKE prizes dropping, but I completely adore the gameplay and the questioning. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: The contestant’s don’t need to be able to pass the Jeopardy! test, but there should definetely be a greater emphasis on knowledge during the contestant selection. If the heart of the game lies in the questions, then let the heart beat freely! Take Jeopardy! in this example: During season 1, J! was marketed mainly as a quiz show in reverse, but over the years, the heart of the game (knowledge) became the main focus, with the quiz show in reverse still holding strong. So could Downfall work if it were marketed as a quiz show rather than a drop show? I certainly hope so. I’ll end by posing the following question:
If Downfall kept the drops, but switched the format to “completing a challenge involving household objects within 60 seconds” from answering a series of questions, would the show still work? With a prize dropping every 15 seconds (maybe a panic button, maybe 3 lives), could the show still work? Does this show need to focus on knowledge or on downfalls?
Let me know what you think!
Nothing against HK specifically, I was just using it as an example of how pretty much anything in primetime TV can be considered offensive if you’re uptight enough.
Yeah, the drop’s the gimmick to get people watching, but if you look past that and the belt and the building and all the other “trimmings”, there’s actually a pretty good game at the heart of it. It’s got that Pyramid feel, you know? I couldn’t stop myself from shouting out answers at the TV. If they did what most other shows did and just made it a one-question-per-round money ladder, with the belt as thinking time, then it be much less fun to watch. They deserve credit for coming up with the “drill” rounds, they are genuinely fun to play along with.
They could focus a smidge less on the drop and a smidge more on the gameplay. Perhaps do a splitscreen with the drop on one side and the clue on the other, and save instant replays for immediately after the round.
America is filled with morons. This is why the most popular programs are so bland – in order to grab a large share of viewers it must cater to the lowest IQ possible.
America is filled with morons because they want to watch America’s Got No Talent, the summer Idol. NBC, you suck for letting such a piece of ass air and I would like Piers Morgan and the pink-haired judge to sit through 10 straight hours of action 52. I also curse at NBC for showing Last Comic Standing. This season is worse because they added the douchenozzle Craig Robinson and added the annoying bee-otch from Chelsea Lately.
I didn’t watch the second episode, but from what you guys are reading, it makes me wonder if those comments are coming from people who actually SAW the show, and not just commercials. Because if you don’t see warnings at the bottom of the screen (again, I didn’t see the episode so I wouldn’t know how big it was), there’s more wrong with you than stupidity.
Well, LaJuan, I actually saw BOTH episodes in its entirety, and I didn’t see the big deal. It seems as though the people that had a problem with the prizes, which, by the way, Chris Jericho repeatedly mentioned that they were all replicas, dropping from a skyscraper, didn’t understand the concept of the show. Hopefully this show can get better because I see longivity in this show.
So…wait…are they REALLY dropping those prizes off the side of the building?
If that wasn’t intended as a joke, you didn’t read the article at all.
Yeah, the ratings may have dropped, but ABC is apparently happy with those ratings because they were better than last year’s ratings for that timeslot in the summer. Here is ABC’s direct comments:
Against well-established unscripted competition on NBC (“America’s Got Talent”) and Fox (second hour of “Hell’s Kitchen”), “Downfall” continued to improve its time period for ABC year to year, jumping by 1.4 million viewers (4.1 million vs. 2.7 million) and by 40% in Adults 18-49 (1.4/4 vs. 1.0/3) over the year-ago evening.
What do you think? Based on this comment from ABC, they seemed pleased with the ratings and hopefully will keep it around, remember, it’s up against America’s Got Talent
There is and remains a perception that many gameshows pick their contestant from the Moron Division of Central Casting. This is not a new phenomenon, however. Over where they Do It Better Than Us, fans of “The Crystal Maze” have often complained that Chatsworth assembled their teams from a menu, wanting to pick up one of each of the following: dunce, dummy, dimwit, dolt, numbskull and nincompoop!
Even in this day, the producers of “Eggheads” are accused of selecting opponents for the home team of game-show winners who will be easily beaten. If these accusations are to be given any credence, championship pub-quiz teams need not apply!
So, if contestants are picked more for looks and image than for any other factor, it’s quite possible that you’re going to find some who can’t answer general-knowledge questions about cartoon characters or ingredients in popular ethnic dishes.
Even if i had applied, I’d figure I’d have no chance of getting to be a contestant. They want young professionals, or at least employed folks; not fifty-seven-year-olds with back braces and Harry Potter nerd-specs.
Of course, there may be something in selecting dummkopfen for game shows that require some degree of question-answering skills. If the folks at home think “Hell, I’m smarter than that bozo on the television–I can get these answers easy!”, then, he might be more inclined to tune in a regular basis, just to think he’s superior to that yahoo that is about to go off the side of a tall building in a single bound!
I mentioned in my review of the show on another site that “Downfall” is a program that’s worth taping in the DVR, as there’s a good quiz to watch despite all the fluff. Ratings wise, it’s struggling due to competing against AGT, Hell’s Kitchen and NCIS LA — two established summer hits and the second-best “rookie” show on network TV in terms of ratings. Would moving the show to, say, Thursdays at 8 or Sundays at 8, where the competition is much weaker, help?
I used the DVR for both episodes so far, only took me about 15 minutes to watch each one since I didn’t have to watch all the “suspense” crap.
“Americans can’t be this ignorant to just completely ignore giant writing on the screen and constant verbal warnings.”
Yes they can. You underestimate the ignorance of the American public. Have you ever seen NotAlwaysRight.com? Or heard of all the incidents where people see “Don’t try this at home!” and proceed to try it at home? Or looked at YouTube comments for anything remotely related to politics or religion? Or seen a poorly-informed nutjob who stand outside yelling at thin air espousing idiotic crackpot theories?
At least a third of the US population is insufferably stupid and ignorant, and while I’m unsure of the ratio for other countries, a fair share of humans anywhere will be that ignorant. Don’t let them get to you, just ignore them. Don’t try to enlighten them, either, because it’s like trying to teach a pig to sing an opera – you’ll just frustrate yourself.
“Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.” –Attributed to Albert Einstein.
In next week’s episode, it’s revealed that the building the fake prizes fall from is also fake.
How stupid can people be? Without getting into my usual eveidence (that might get me run), suffice it to say that Phil Hendrie has been doing those fake voices on his show for over a decade. Most of us know that its Hendrie, but for some reason , every night, he finds at least 5 fools who really think its Bobbie Dooley or Jay Santos they’re talking to.
Yes there are people that are THAT dumb.
And because of that, I would reckon that the DIsney lawyers got Freemuddle…err…Fremantle to add those disclaimers (and show the the poor loser did NOT spatter all over the parking lot. And anyway, if it did, it would probably be a Chuck Barris Production, anyway [see the book "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind"]….but that’s another story.)
People who worry too much about the stuff falling are not watching the actual game. In my Opinion. I mean Even I was screaming at the TV when they passed a question I knew(“juan peron,Argentina you moron”. And Chris Jerhico even surprised me on how good he is.
Alex your point about them “lessening the blow” about people dropping I think thats done more to please the mouse ears and less to put the folks at home at ease.
Another point there are some people no matter how many times they are told something theyt don’t listen. A TV Show that isn’t news can’t signal the end of civilization
IF YOU DON’T LIKE THE SHOW CHANGE THE CHANNEL WATCH GSN AND ONE OF THEIR MILLION RERUN EPISOIDES OF DEAL OR FAMILY FEUD,
ABC… It is very hard to play along at home when the clues are on a video board across the stage where the home viewer only gets to see it for a quick second. I know Chris Jericho is reading them out loud but please add some sort of on-screen graphic which cycles every clue so the viewer at home can see what the player is trying to guess.
Exactly! The quiz is wonderful! Maybe if they would focus more on the quiz element, people wouldn’t get so worked up over the fake prizes falling from a building.