Ratings Report: “Family Feud” Hits High; “You Deserve It” Underwhelms in Debut
We haven’t had ratings for a network game show in a while. Obviously we were all interested to see how ABC’s charity quiz show You Deserved It fared with viewers. If the first episode’s figures are an indicator of initial interest it’s got an uphill battle ahead of it. The series debuted to 8.5 million viewers and a 1.7/5 rating in the all important 18-49 demographic. That’s third place in the demo, but game shows never skew young so that’s not awful.
While that’s not bad by itself remember that it came out of Dancing With the Stars which had 19.6 million viewers and a 3.5/9 demo rating. That’s a lost of 57% in total viewers and 51% in the demographic. The show lost about 13% of viewers between the 9:00PM and 9:30PM time slots. Again, by itself that’s not bad. When you’re following something like Dancing, that’s not good. The now-departed Skating With the Stars opened better. It does make us sit and wonder, realistically, if the shoved-to-the-corner Million Dollar Mind Game, which has gotten nearly unanimous good reviews unlike You Deserve It, could have possibly done any worse. There’s no Dancing next week so we’ll see how You Deserve It does.
In good news, though, Family Feud continues its meteoric rise to the top. For the week ending November 13th the Steve Harvey hosted game show scored a 3.2 rating. Has anyone heard of anything like this ever happening before? I cannot remember a single time, in a game show, where a change in host and tone made the ratings sky rocket so much. I don’t remember it happening on any show. Most of the other syndicated game shows did well, too. Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! scored season highs of 7.6 and 6.3. Millionaire was the only odd one in the group, losing 4% to a 2.5.
Sources :
Zap2It: http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2011/11/22/monday-final-ratings-how-i-met-your-mother-2-broke-girls-adjusted-up-dancing-castle-you-deserve-it-adjusted-down/111474/
B&C: http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/477106-Syndication_Ratings_Live_Lifted_By_Regis_Final_Days.php
What’s happened to Family Feud, as far as I can tell, is unprecedented. I know, changing genres, that Family Guy came back after a couple years with much higher ratings after being cancelled and proving popular on DVD, but that’s animated comedy and those skew much younger than the average game show.
Really? From my point of view, Family Guy got much worse when it came back. Profanity started coming out the ying-yang from all characters on the show — primarily Peter, Stewie and Brian though. And the originally good premise of a diabolical young baby taking over the world got shoved to the side. I rarely watch it nowadays because they don’t bleep out the swear words on the show. One reason why I’ve stuck to watching The Simpsons and the amazingly-successful return of Futurama, in place of Family Guy, The Cleveland Show and American Dad. Different type of humor, I guess.
In any case, 8.5 million viewers is not a bad rating for a game show. Yes, when compared to You Deserve It, it looks like a small number. But compare 8.5 million viewers to the low 3-5 million viewers who tuned in for Million Dollar Money Drop and Minute to Win It.
If a game show gets any more than 6 million viewers on a consistent week-by-week basis, then it should be considered a success in my mind. Don’t set your expectations too high. If you constantly think game shows should be attracting an audience of 15+ million per episode, then you’re bound to be disappointed. Unless you’re willing to bring back Who Wants to be a Millionaire with Regis in primetime, or Greed with Chuck Woolery, then I bid you good luck on attracting a 15 million viewer audience.
*Edit: I meant to say “…when compared to Dancing with the Stars…”
I wasn’t talking about quality, though. I was talking about ratings.
Family Feud has had a couple of gaffes here and there.
Last year was the “Steak and Potatoes” answer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Pn2kv9VWnE).
This year it was a “Woodchuck-Mouse-Groundhog” debacle (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAc9eqI-jRw), and a buzzer defect (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exM6NP1ZSTQ)
With regard to the Steak and Potatoes “gaffe”:
Ron Kroeger gave two answers “steak” and “potatoes.” The rule on Family Feud is that if a contestant gives two answers, we only accept their 1st answer. The 2nd answer is off limits to their family, but the other family can give the 2nd answer. I accepted his first answer “steak”. His son then said “french fries.” which is “potatoes.” This is not allowed since Ron had said “steak” and “potatoes.” Regrettably, Ron gave two answers. The Riley’s then stole with “French Fries.”
-FF
8.0 isn’t bad, yet it’s a good rating for a premier. Let’s see if it holds up now that Dancing With The Stars is over.
I really don’t see what the big hype with Family Feud is. I’ve watched Steve Harvey’s version and I can’t stand to watch it for more than a few minutes. I really think it relies to much on dirty jokes and toilet humor to carry it forward, regardless of if it’s funny or not. And Steve really should quit clamoring about the stage when a suggestive answer is given, it really kills the moment.
I agree with you. As hilarious as Steve is, he still needs to tone it down some and get on with the game to improve his hosting ability.