Ratings Report: “Let’s Make A Deal” Debuts Decent
We’ve got a quick ratings report for you all today. First off we’ve finally got some ratings for Let’s Make A Deal and it doesn’t look at all bad once we factor in that it has to be so much cheaper to do than Guiding Light. Nationally the show seems to be averaging 1.5 to 2.0 rating with some higher ones thrown again. Again, this show is definitely cheaper than Guiding Light and the ratings don’t seem to have dipped from the transition of the soap to the game show so that’s definitely great news for the genre. The show’s been picking up in the past few episodes which is always good. Wayne Brady is doing excellent and the show’s pretty entertaining. If it can keep this up I see a nice long run coming for Let’s Make A Deal and possibly some more games in daytime (Come on and die As The World Turns and give us Pyramid). Apparently As The World Turns isn’t doing that hot in the ratings and it’s been long rumored it could be on its way out. Maybe the success of Let’s Make A Deal can get this going. I hate seeing anyone lose their jobs in these times but for the sake of our genre and given the fact that I don’t understand the appeal of soap operas at all let’s see it go away. Then again I’m a guy and I don’t think I’m supposed to understand it. So I win in that genre role regard. That concludes today’s psychology lesson.
The other big new game show is in syndication, and that’s Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader. It actually went up this week according to a 1.6 rating. I was wondering why the first few days sampled around a0.9 rating and it just jumped out of no where to this. According to a commenter as well as some other sources apparently MyNetwork, where the show runs in primetime, is throwing their numbers with syndication also so we are most likely seeing a combination of the MyNetwork numbers and syndication numbers to come up with a decent one. I expect it to be in the 0.9 to 1.0 range but to nearly double in the course of a week is crazy.
In other ratings Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! continue to blow networks like NBC out of the water with ratings of 6.6 and 5.4, respectively. Who Wants to be a Millionaire was flat at 2.3. We’ll see if the big Tournament of Ten stunt pays off for them. Family Feud lowered a bit to a 1.1 but for the cost it’s safe for now. There’s reason to be concerned with Deal or No Deal, though, at a 1.1 rating. That show’s also on MyNetwork and I’m trying to find out if they are combining ratings with that as well.
Good news for the genre indeed. Hopfully CBS will flatline As the World Turns, and Proctor & Gamble so we can see Pyramid and possibly another game show. However, they can’t officially cancel it until September 17, 2010 (which is one day shy of a year to the day Guiding Light ended). And, from what I’m hearing, ABC is happy with its daytime shows (particularly The View and General Hospital), so it’s a good chance that ABC is entertaining the idea.
Wheel and J! is blowing NBC out the water, which isn’t that hard seeing as NBC is still struggling even after our punching bag, Ben Silverman, shown himself the door. I’m particularly disappointed with Deal’s ratings, but, hopfully, it’ll get better as the season goes along. And Millionaire staying at 2.3 is ok for the show. 2.3 isn’t as bad now as it was, say, the 1980s where there was a ton of game shows.
OK…I may be showing my ignorance…but…why can't they cancel ATWT until 9/17/10? They *have* to keep it on till then?
ATWT is still watched by almost 2 million ppl. A lot of its stars are in their 70s, 80s and 90s and I don't see it getting cancelled until after the oldest one's death.
*Correction: ABC is unhappy. Sorry.
I don't know about you guys, but i hate the new 5th grader. I wish they stuck with the old format.
You know I've been thinging about Jeopardy and WOF ratings, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Sony strike a deal with a network to put them on one considering the ratings. Could be a good opportunity for Sony to cement it in a late afternoon timeslot consistant through the country, and to pick up daytime ratings for the networks.
I guess I was wrong about Let's Make A Deal. Wayne Brady is trying his very best, but all I can say is get rid of As The World Turns and bring Pyramid in 2010.
Why would they want to give up the access time periods they have in key markets? It's not a logical move. Besides, no network is going to give up a late afternoon time slot…they don't have it to give. From 4 on (3 in CT), it's affiliate time (and that excludes the CBS stations that don't take Deal at 3).
Most likely they COULD pay out the contract for the period they've renewed it through, but, really, it would be hard to make those economics work.
That said, ABC unhappy with the View? It does very well in the demos, so it's got a good life ahead of it.
Dang, I wish I didn't have to go to school so I could stay home and watch daytime game shows. I haven't even watched an episode of LMaD yet. That's the best part about staying home sick, watching Millionaire and The Price is Right. :D
If they start Pyramid again, I'm gonna be starting to fake sicknesses. :P
Bring on the $1,000,000 Pyramid is all I have to say.
Thanks for the reminder about contracts.
OMNI2 just picked it up here in Toronto and it debuted today.
I guess either they we're late or they were waiting to see if it was a success.
But I'm happy to see that LMaD is a hit.
I'm not worried about LMaD just yet. It's doing just fine here in Philly as it is nationally/ DoND, that's a diffrent story.
As for 5th Grader, something happened on the single-run episode that I saw last night that only happened TWICE on the Fox version. A plauer gets ALL 10 right & gets the "bonus" question correct for the top prize. That was AWSOME!
That was an error on my part. HomerJay. Actually, The View's ratings are actually higher than their soaps. Glad you spotted that.
How about Pyramid and another game show….say either Whammy (with the Press Your Luck format and Whammy board of course), or Card Sharks (reverted to the Perry/Eubanks/Rafferty versions).
J! & WOF do not need a network. And they have the best timeslots in the country, for the most part. And if they were on a network…especially daytime…you'd likely see a drop in the prize budget. Both shows are better off as syndies.
I faked illnesses to see the debuts of The $10,000 Pyramid and The $20,000 Pyramid (c'mon…I HAD to see how they were working $20K into the game, didn't I?!). But that, young Ryan, was before the days of the home VCR. Now you can get your education AND your game show fix! Tell the folks you want TiVo for Christmas!
I say to CBS, bring on The $250,000 Pyramid…then if it works, Sony can launch The $1,000,000 Pyramid in syndication…just like the old days! :-)
As happy as I am that LMAD is doing better, I'm just unhappy that I won't be able to be a contestant on it while I'm in Las Vegas. Yesterday I tried calling On Camera Audiences, the company that coordinates the audiences for the show, and apparently Canadians are not eligible due to something about a state law in Nevada or something like that. I found it weird considering that this and The Price is Right are both produced by FremantleMedia, and Canadians ARE eligible for TPIR (which I was in the audience for 2 years ago). Maybe California doesn't have such a law as Nevada does. Oh well.
Don't go killing ATWT. My mom loves that show. The show is still a modest success although not as many ppl watch it like the other 2, but it's still popular. Many ppl watch it on DVR or at CBS.com
By Deal I assume you mean Let's make a Deal, and networks could add a new timeslot, it's been done. You did forget about the news broadcasts, but I am thinking more like the CW at 6—Tyra just moved to the CW and lost some time slots but overall it is much easier to promote a show when it it on the same time and the same channel throughout the country.____The prize budgets SHOULD be less. I am tired of the crazy amounts of money being given away that are, people should learn to appreciate $10,000. Game show fans think that is cheap at this point and I'd take a check for that any day.____The point is, they DO have 3 or 4 in a lot of markets that they would do better on 6, and of course the 7pm timeslot is very competitive for syndicated shows—Millionaire and Wheel compete at 7:30 in Charlotte, for instance, and I always watched Millionaire over Wheel unless Wheel was at the bonus round at the end of the show and Millionaire was on the first 5 questions.
We're not going to get 30 minute game shows on a network anymore, and if PYL was brought back it would be called Press Your Luck most likely, although they probably would keep the Whammy look and feel.
You can still ask them if you can be in the audience but not a contestant, possibly.
A bit off topic: Speaking as someone who worked on Press Your Luck for Game Show Marathon and knows the entire backstory of it, I'm actually stunned that Fremantle hasn't been ramming CBS's ass about a revival. They tried after that episode of Game Show Marathon turned out to be popular, and then it sorta died for a few months. The Philippines brought the show back for a bit and there's constant rumor of the show in America again. Merchandise still comes out for it. It's not hard to stretch PYL to an hour. There's tons of prize plugs you can do. I'm floored they haven't tried. It's one of the few classics that has held up really well over the years because of that sheer luck element. And this is coming from someone who's not a big fan of the show.
You could have said that about Guiding Light, too…well, maybe not the 2 million people part. But the sad fact is that networks don't want to program to the demographic on which daytime soaps are so totally dependant: Seniors. You can sell only so many Hoveround and Liberty Medical ads. Young mothers simply are not home during the days in the numbers needed to sustain some of these shows. DVR use may keep some of them alive for a while, but you may soon find NBC out of the soap business soon, if not out of daytime altogether. ATWT is almost sure to go next year, especially if LMAD continues to deliver numbers at least as good as GL did. You gotta wonder if One Life to Live will last much longer. Its not a good time for soaps right now.
http://sai.cup.edu/caltimes/?p=841 Here is my point of view on this show for the college newspaper I work at. Try and sway me the other way if you can.
Someone recently spoke to someone at P&G and they said they want to continue to produce the show… CBS even said awhile back that no matter how the show does, they're going to want to continue to keep it! I was also informed that: OLTL and AMC may be moving to LA, but the World WILL keep turning and the DAYS are NOT numbered so no soap is going anywhere before the end of 2010
Fyi, my mistake, ATWT is STILL watched by over 2.5 million ppl
BFern: P&G wanted to continue producing the show, true. But they said the same about The Edge of Night and Guiding Light. The former did continue on ABC for 9 more years, and they tried to shop the latter to other outlets (particularly Lifetime and SOAPNet, but neither wanted it). So if CBS want to continue airing it, power to them.
I have heard about AMC and OLTL moving to L.A., that’s because the studio’s actually bigger and more state-of-the-art then their current New York location. And new NBC head Jeff Zucker said he wants to continue Days beyond 2010. So, in NBC’s case, the best option for a game show is if they trim the Today Show (which should be 2 hours to begin with).
I wouldn't be surprised if ATWT moves to L.A., as it will become the only daytime drama being taped in L.A.
I meant NYC lol
Actually, BFern, ABC has confirmed back in August that AMC and OLTL is moving to L.A. in Feburary. So, unless CBS announces that it will up and move ATWT to L.A., that’s unlikely.
OLTL is staying in NYC, taking over the AMC space.