BuzzerBlog

The past week’s ratings weren’t really positive for any game show except Family Feud.  The eleventh season of the popular quiz show stuck at a 1.2 rating.  It’s been in that area for essentially the entire season despite lots of bad time slot changes in the country and just flat out dropping the show, not to mention a new competitor (Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?) on the market.  The fact that a show this old without the clearances some other shows have can stay alive at this level is great.  The show’s changes seem to have clicked and no one’s turning away because of it.  I know we say it constantly but it needs repetition: the show’s very cheap to make.  They shot the entire season this summer (tapings ended in September I believe) and it’s like a well-oiled machine in that studio; that crew in Los Angeles for Feud is unbelievably great at what they do.  If we can stay in this area I can’t imagine that we wouldn’t be seeing a 12th season of the show, the fifth for host John O’Hurley overall.  You can check out clips of the show on their YouTube page.  It would be great if they could update their website to remotely fit with the current edition of the show though.  I know a few people who would be really interested…

Also at a 1.2, but down 8% from last time, was Deal or No Deal.  It just squeaked by the first season by crunching the budget and moving to Connecticut for the second season.  Ratings aren’t looking positive at all and the show isn’t necessarily the cheapest thing on earth to make.  We’re getting close to 2010 and getting close to when companies start deciding if we’re getting a renewal or a cancelation.  I’m not really sure we’re going to see season three of Deal or No Deal.  The show made a huge mistake this season practically making no distinction of a second season.  No small tweaks, no acknowledgement of the move, no real excitement, nothing.  Last syndie season there wasn’t a week that went by that I didn’t get some excited email about an event on Deal.  It seems to have just become too stale.  It’s funny; the primetime version was too overly reliant on gimmicks but the syndicated version seems terrified of switching things up at all.

The rest of the shows were at the same general level as always.  Who Wants to be a Millionaire dipped 4% to a 2.4 rating.  We’ll finally be seeing the first millionaire in seven or eight years in just two weeks and you can guarantee they will be plugging the living hell out of it to get some more eyes to the television.  Who can blame them?  The game’s popular but people love seeing a big win.  If I were them I’d be sure to promote the fact that it’s been an unbelievably long time since the confetti dropped…until now.  Build up the excitement huge.  I know a lot of people don’t like promos and commercials with spoilers but they do work.  Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader dropped 6% to a 1.5 rating.  Despite my fears and worry, the crew at Fifth Grader managed to pump out a pretty nice daytime version of a largely forgettable primetime edition.  Given how many networks it’s on, which is adding revenue to it, I’d put some money on a second season.  And of course the kings of syndication are Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! with 7.1 and 5.8.  Those are only down 1% and 2% from last time, respectively.  Fantastic as always.

We’re hunting down some other cable ratings for you, but there we have it.  Sweeps is November and shows always put their most exciting shows on during this time so I’d be on the lookout for big wins.

• Ratings Report: “Family Feud” and “Millionaire” Hit Season Highs
• Ratings Report: “Millionaire” Tournament of Ten Sees Increase
• Ratings Report: Eh
• Ratings Report: “Fifth Grader” Continues to Grow
• “Fifth Grader” Renewed; “Deal or No Deal” on the Bubble