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.
Man, Alex…I don't know that I'd like a 60-minute PYL…or an hour-long Pyramid, for that matter. Both shows were formatted to fit two main games and two bonus rounds. That works pretty well for me. More than that seems like overkill. I thought Million Dollar Password would have worked better as a 30.
It wouldn't be hard to stretch either show to an hour. I'm just not sure I'd like them twice as much.
A 60 minute PYL? That would defintiely be pressing one's luck, as I think the law of averages would guarantee The Last Man Standing passing his/her spins to the house and win because the other two whammied out.
Either that, or B2B episodes like Are You Smarter Than Joe Kingman's Daughter does.
I highly doubt if Press Your Luck or whatever dollar amount they use Pyramid airing for an hour would be good for CBS. Granted The Price Is Right and Let’s Make A Deal pulled it off (barely in the latter’s case), but one would agree that airing hour long game shows that’s not in prime time would be, for the most part, stretching it.
@DOriginalDonald: I see I’m not the only one who knew that that was Joe Kingman’s daughter in The Game Plan (good movie and I’m not too much of a live action Disney fan).
No worries. And somewhat like Deal, The View is a better economic bet than a soap. Even with multiple co-hosts,it's still a smaller cast than a drama.
ABC has an interesting situation. It's weakest link is in the middle of two stronger soaps. AMC and GH are in decent shape (as a relative term), but moving either of them into OLTL's spot risks killing off that show. Conversely, slapping something in the middle of two soaps (as opposed to at one end of the block or the other) creates a massively disjointed schedule. At least CBS had–and still has–the "advantage" of its weakest soaps on the outside edge of its block.
The networks–CW included–cannot realistically add a new time slot at this point in network-affiliate relations. What happened in the past really isn't relevant now.
You may be tired of the larger prizes (some of which really aren't large when you adjust for inflation), but the ratings show that's not the prevailing opinion of the viewers. Factoring in general broadcast erosion, spending a quarter century at the top of the heap for Wheel and Jeopardy proves they know exactly what they're doing, when they up their budgets (or don't) and make tweaks to the games themselves (obviously more in Wheel's case, but the principle holds true).
And last time I checked, there's been no problem promoting Wheel of Jeopardy–the markets do quite well promoting their shows. The fact that it's on at a different time in a different city is irrelevant to the fans within a specific market.
Not that it'll happen, but if P&G were to choose to keep ATWT going after its inevitable cancellation from CBS' lineup, it could always try DirecTv, as PASSIONS did.
Inasmuch as I know how many readers and fans here will continue to chomp at the bit for a revival of THE $_____PYRAMID, PRESS YOUR LUCK, or whatever other game show to come back onto a network daytime schedule, just (try) to bear in mind that in the eyes, minds, and mentalities of the network suits, talk shows, courtroom shows, and whatever other forms of overplayed, oversaturated crap yhey can think of are (likely) still cheaper to produce than game shows, and as long as theere's an audience for them, they will continue to be a staple (as well as the bain to game show fans) of daytime TV's existance.
I don't understand.. Let's Make a Deal is probably the WORST remake of a game show I've ever seen. Wayne Brady is sooo rehearsed and unnatural that it's distracting and there are so many deals for one contestant that it becomes pointless in the end. Replace this with Pyramid ASAP CBS!
If they did that, how would you squeeze it into a half hour?
Again, thanks for the correction, imhomerjay.
It's been done in the '60s, that was back when some stations, mostly in smaller markets, were cherry picking shows (this was done because back then ABC was a weak network, thus, in some markets, multiple stations were affiliated with them). But, now, in a 5 network universe, it can't be done mainly because the networks have to worry about how affiliates would feel about it (or, as HomerJay calls it "network-affiliate relations"). There is a golden rule when it comes to that and that is "Keep the affiliates happy". If that rule is broken, then they will defect to another network.
Having said, why put Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy on network TV? As stated a few months ago, doing that would kill its ratings, whereas keeping it in its comfort zone, aka the Prime Time Access hour, would keep its ratings high. And I agree with HomerJay, the fact that it's on at a different time (and, in most cases like here in Shreveport, different stations) in different cities is irrelevant.
As far as adding new timeslots, remember this: stations often pre-empt the 10/9, the Noon/11, and the 4/3 time slots in favor of syndicated programming, or, in the Noon/11's case, local news. So it would be network suicide to do that.
"I am tired of the crazy amounts of money being given away that are, people should learn to appreciate $10,000."
Why? -_-;
When $10,000 doesn't buy as much as it used to, why in the FUCK should we appreciate it!?!
Please, explain that to me. :|
I didn't like LMAD 2009 when it first came out, but it's starting to grow on me.
The deals are getting slightly better (for instance, one episode had two Big Deals, and another had a remake of a Card Sharks game), and Wayne Brady and the announcer are growing a bit in their qualities, and starting to work better as a team. It's still a bit too cheap for my tastes, though, and my jury's still out on the Zonk signs that accompany Zonks…
That's what On Camera Audiences told me when I called them, but there will be plenty for me to do in Vegas anyway.
Wow…I didn't actually think there were FANS of game shows-I just figured semi-brain dead people forgot to change the channel when they came on. Another sign of the apocalypse, for sure.
LMAD'S A CUTE SHOW-GIVE IT TIME TO GROW. WE NEED MORE GAME SHOWS.