Ratings Report: “Fear Factor” Debuts Strong; “You Deserve It” Continues to Drop
We’ve got a few network game shows on television for the first time in a while so we’ve got an interesting ratings report. NBC debuted the newest season of Fear Factor after a five year break. It picked off right where it left off in terms of success. The debut got a 3.1/8 in the key demographic and 8.7 million viewers at 8:00PM ET and a 3.5/8 and 8.5 million viewers at 9:00PM ET. That’s a big, big success for NBC which has been struggling, especially on Mondays, for a while. Baring some catastrophic downfall, and given that the ratings grew at 9:00PM I doubt it, I think we’ll be seeing Joe Rogan for some time.
It’s not all good for game shows, though. ABC’s charity based quiz show You Deserve It inexplicably drop again. It sank 10% to a new low of 0.9/2 in the key demographic and a 2.3/4 overall. It’s definitely a goner. Viewers just aren’t connecting. Given that this is bombing horribly and ITV’s Holding Out For a Hero did the same, can we put a nail in the coffin of charity-based quiz shows? They aren’t working no matter if the game works or not.
Syndication perked up for nearly all for the week ending December 4th. The stand-out as always is Family Feud which grew 19% to a 3.1. Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! increased to 7.6 and 6.2, respectively. Millionaire stayed steady at 2.5. Not bad for anyone in that group.
Sources :
B&C: http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/477833-Syndication_Ratings_Dr_Phil_Back_on_Top_While_Live_Drops_Off.php
Deadline: http://www.deadline.com/2011/12/ratings-rat-race-strong-relaunch-for-fear-factor/#more-204460
Zap2It: http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2011/12/tv-ratings-fear-factor-makes-a-solid-return-to-nbc-cbs-comedies-rule-monday.html
Worth noting that a comment on ratings website TVbythenumbers suggested “The success of fear factor may open the door for other cancelled shows to be revived… What’s next? Deal or no Deal…”
Why not? I mean, it’d probably get a 2.0 in the demo, and right now that’s a big number for a scripted NBC show, let alone an unscripted one.
I can’t believe YDI got such low ratings, though. We mocked ABC not reviving primetime Millionaire right until they did, but to think that a new show in the 9pm slot could get lower ratings than Millionaire did on the same day in syndication?!?
Remember, according to what Howie keeps saying, Deal or No Deal has not been cancelled — it’s just on “hiatus”. So if Fear Factor was on hiatus for 5 years and then returned to high ratings, it’s highly possible than in 2014, Deal or No Deal will return (since 2014 will be 5 years since it has been officially placed on hiatus).
Speaking of which, why not say that 1 VS 100 is on hiatus as well? After all, there weren’t any official confirmations that it had been cancelled, were there?
All I can say is this. It feels like we’re in a time warp right about now. Fear Factor is back, Futurama has returned and Who’s Still Standing? reminds me of Russian Roulette. Are you sure the year isn’t 2002?
Nothing unexpected for those ratings…but I hope Fear Factor’s success doesn’t lead to a DOND comeback. I think the (many) reruns on GSN are more than sufficient.
NOOO! I was just ask that! Do you think NBC (or another network) will revive DOND! It was such a great show and lost viewership because of NBC overexposed the show SOOO much!
Nbc should Revive Weakest Link
Who would host? Anne Robinson’s retiring, and George Gray’s currently very busy.
Anne’s not retiring per se; she’s only very busy with other programmes, and also with writing a second autobiography. Besides, she was very out of her league when she presented the show here; she was on top of her game in the British version. If Jeremy Kyle’s US version of his talk show bombs, I think he’d be perfect for the role as quizmaster. :)
Oh come on, George Gray isn’t that busy, working a game show is a nice second gig, but the way the filming works, it only takes up a few days a month. For example, both Drew Carey and Wayne Brady have a very busy life away from their Hosting duties. George Gray could easily handle hosting Weakest Link, heck a one hour per week show would take less time than 5 hours a week. The question would be if Fremantle Media would allow George Gray to work for another Game Show Company
Blaine Capatch would fit in nicely
I would personally suggest Kennedy from “Friend or Foe”, she was fantastic, and that’s another show I wouldn’t mind coming back.
Attention ABC:
Please take note and bring back “Millionaire”. Regis is available and there is a devoted audience out there waiting for it to return. If Meredith can pull in higher ratings in syndication than your primetime game shows can, imagine what Regis and the classic format could do for your primetime line-up.
Not happening…
Regis was very disappointed with the format change and effectively ended his affiliation with the show. AND the producers would never go back to the old format.
If (and this is a big IF) they want to revive DonD, revive like the Millionjacht, make it a whole night event, entire stadium competing to be the 1 to play for the top prize. (and since it’s a competition, $5 or $10 million isnt out of line, just no MILLION DOLLAR MISSION lol)
But, I was thinking a little older for NBC to revive, and that’s Twenty-one… c’mon NBC, it was doing numbers you would dream for now, make it happen!
Firstly, I am not surprised YDI bombed. American audiences want one format for a show, and YDI has 2…the game element and the charity element. The combination spelled disaster from the beginning, imo.
Secondly, as for DOND, don’t hold your breath anytime soon unless it got picked up by a totally different network. I agree…NBC “did” overexpose the show. The worst thing they did was to let everyone know that a person was going to win the million several days (weeks?) before it even happened. It ruined the drama that a good game show is supposed to have. Say what you will, but the Million Dollor Missions (imo) were their attempt at “saving” the show in order to actually have a winner. Think about it…both winners came out of MDMs. Yes, the first one had a million and $200,000 for the last two cases. But, had there not been more than one $1,000,000 case in her game, it may not have happened.
Yes, but the MDM shouldnt of been necessary… How long did British DonD go before having a star prize winner? How long did Aussie deal go before O’Keefe had the ladies walk out the $200k cheque?
NBC overexposing, running MDMs, and over-teasing to the hilt of a show (EVEN DURING THE SHOW IN QUESTION), is what killed US deal. Plain and simple.
Chris makes a good point; the other versions of Deal didn’t need nearly as many gimmicks as what the US version had by the end of both the NBC and syndie runs. The show would benefit from a long break (maybe 3-5 years) from all TV, GSN included. If it got a rest, it could come back (possibly) and be good again.
Alas, the possibility of a gimmick-free, freshened Deal (or GSN removing it for that purpose) are about as likely as the Queen of England getting a chest piercing. :-D
or a navel ring :P
I”m pretty bummed about You Deserve It just getting taken out to the woodshed. I finally got a chance to catch this show and I really enjoyed it personally. It’s gameplay you can play along. I loved seeing Brooke Burns back in action and Chris Harrison was good as host but obviously viewers have spoken and that’s just the pain we have to bare with game shows. Win some, lose some.
I saw YDI for the first time this week and I have to say it was dull, even when they made the big reveal. The game was so slow and anticlimactic that it didn’t keep me waiting for the reveal. And I had figured out the clues long before the contestant did (I figured out what “French Toast” meant right away), so having him take a few more minutes to come up with the answer was so frustrating. I’m glad his mother got the money she needed, but I think the whole idea is a bit exploitative when it comes to people’s emotions.
As a side note to what’s been written here concerning YDI, I just read where EMHE has now been cancelled. So maybe this is the end of the charity shows.