Ratings Report: “Millionaire” Hits High; “Who’s Still Standing” Exits
We’ve got some ratings and viewership figures to share with you this morning. In addition to syndication we also have some broadcast network numbers, plus international figures which will probably depress you a bit.
Let’s start with the positives, though. With the meteoric rise of Family Feud, Who Wants to be a Millionaire has accidentally been pushed to the side for a bit. However, they had some great news for the week ending January 22nd. The long running syndicated quiz show hosted by Meredith Vieira hit a new season high of 2.7. It’s been doing very well the past few weeks and it’s good to see some numbers close to where the show used to be. It’s been a little frozen over the past few months. Fun fact: we’re almost approaching ten years without a $1,000,000 winner (through actual game play). It would be really nice to even just see a million dollar question. We haven’t had one of those in about four years. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the 11th season then to, you know, prove what the title of the show actually means.
Speaking of Family Feud, this past week it froze at 3.2 which, again, is unbelievably good. Remember: next season the show will switch to HD. Steve Harvey’s talk show is taping in Chicago so could we be seeing another location change? The top two as always are Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! with 7.7 and 6.4, respectively.
Broadcast ratings weren’t anything to scream about, but not that terrible either. The series finale of NBC’s Who’s Still Standing? scored a fourth place 1.7/5 in the key demographic and a fourth place viewing total of 6.48 million viewers. An unbelievable number of things were wrong with the show so I’m frankly amazed it managed to basically stay at the same exact place week in and week out. I appreciate the effort at trying to make a fast paced quiz show, but the Minute to Win It-ization of the format made it practically unwatchable.
In England, the viewing figures for ITV’s quiz show The Exit List are depressingly low. Last night’s very tense episode, which saw a team bail out with £17,000 after believing they could not escape the Memory Maze with £115,000, only scored 1.8 million viewers. This is a show that really should be far, far more popular than it is and I’m not quite sure why numbers are dipping even lower than High Stakes. Frankly, as I’m watching, I’m not even sure why this isn’t airing on the weekends like planned. It’s got it all and I’ve yet to see a show that didn’t feature some exciting moment. Massive shame.
Photo courtesy Valleycrest Productions Ltd
Sources :
Zap2It: http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2012/01/31/monday-final-ratings-house-alcatraz-adjusted-up/118088/
B&C: http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/479914-Syndication_Ratings_Magazines_Shine_in_Light_of_Golden_Globes.php
Bother's Bar: http://www.bothersbar.co.uk/?p=5272#comments
Just amazing how a format change for Millionaire sends the show off to the races in ratings. As for Family Feud the past 2 years, I’ve been quite disappointed I don’t get Steve Harvey’s version in my area. If there is a location change, hopefully I’ll get to see it finally and GSN will pick up the reruns. I hate feeling left out.
I am incredibly devastated by the cancellation of WSS, and knew this was going happen. Couldn’t they have picked up the pace soon enough? I hate Craig Plestis and Tim Puntillo for making this show too slow-paced >:( and I hope they never get a job again.
Sorry to be harsh, but I felt this show had potential, and wanted to prove myself on it.
I mean really, what were Craig and Tim thinking?
I did not know Monday’s episode was the Series Finale… thank you NBC for not telling us that it was the last episode. I thought it might have been the Season Finale, since there wasn’t an advertisement at the end for next week’s episode, but I didn’t know it had officially been cancelled.
It does make me wonder though… 6.5 million viewers and NBC deemed that not good enough to renew for a 2nd season to fix all of the problems in the 1st season? 101 Ways to Leave a Game Show had about 2 million viewers less, on average, per episode.
To be honest, it’s really a shame. NBC hyped up this show during Christmas just like FOX hyped up Million Dollar Money Drop last Christmas. Both shows had great concepts but were so poorly executed that they were cancelled long before their time.
As far as The Exit List goes, perhaps the reason it’s not doing well is the Tuesday time slot on ITV? Everyone keeps saying how lousy the Tuesday night line-up happens to be.
However, ABC already picked up a pilot here, so if they follow through, we’ll have a brand new summer game show to air right after Wipeout, since it seems as though ABC recently cancelled 101 Ways to Leave a Game Show. Another shame, since I liked it.
The Exit List is produced by Endemol and Michael Davies, the guy who executive produced Regis’ Who Wants to be a Millionaire. He knows what he’s doing, unlike the Minute to Win It “Let’s Dumb Down Game Shows” guys. I’m sure ABC will pick it up. It has the unique Cube-like feel to it, without the enormous expense attached. And that’s what ABC is looking for — an expensive feel without it really being too expensive.
Anyways, let’s cross our fingers and see what happens.
“Michael Davies, the guy who executive produced Regis’ Who Wants to be a Millionaire. He knows what he’s doing”
Not really. When he tried “Pyramid” again for CBS in 2010, he altered the format to use full-body charades to “bring the show to its feet” and “into the 21st Century”, the latter of which he had already done quite well with the previous year’s pilots.
As Davies proved in 2009, and which Fremantle needs to learn if they ever try reviving another game show, you don’t need to change a format to bring it into a new era.
As was discussed on Invision 2 years ago, that was not nearly the big deal you continue to think it is. By all reports, it was still “Pyramid”, and it’s a show that revolves around describing objects; if that involves standing to do so, then no biggie. Having the contestants stand instead of sit is nowhere near as ridiculous as the changes Fremantle’s made to its shows. In fact, look up some of the “Pyramid” pilots shot in the late-90s to see how it could’ve truly been messed up.
Alex you said that we haven’t seen a $1,000,000 question on Millionaire in about 4 years. Please correct me if I have the year wrong but wasn’t there a $1,000,000 question back in 2009 when ABC aired the 10th anniversary episodes producing one of the biggest heartaches of all time? It’s still sad that he chose to go with the audience and not walking with $475,000 more. I think the question was something along the lines of a series of buttons one of the U.S. presidents had which said Coffee, Tea, and what? with the answer being Fresca (Fresca?!). Not too many stations in Ontario carry Millionaire but I play the version on FaceBook which is always a blast.
Yes, but that was a primetime special episode. I believe he was talking about the daily syndicated daytime show.There hasn’t been a Million Dollar Question since Lyn Payne was on a looong time ago.
And once again, NBC fails to understand what they’re doing wrong. “Who’s Still Standing” had potential, but unfortunately got ruined by the same things that ruined just about every other primetime show they’ve aired since “Deal or No Deal”. Shame…but no surprise that NBC is hopelessly incompetent at running primetime. Lose the goofy gimmicks and focus on the GAME, and you might have something.
Glad to see the syndicated shows doing well…with “Feud”, don’t they tape their seasons over the course of a summer? I could see Steve doing the season in ATL this summer, then focusing on his talk show throughout the year.
Happy trails to Standing. It was driven too much by gimmickry. It also was annoying to have commercial breaks RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE QUESTION — leave that to the Japanese, who are used to it.
Who’s still standing was a horrible show with the fake cheesy contestants it was totally Americanized. Abc should get The Cube with Regis
Who’s still standing would have been a great show if not for the overdone post-production graphics, and the mid-round interruptions.
After watching Who’s Still Standing, which IMO, could’ve helped the struggling NBC, I have become so tempted to contact several local news outlets to investigate the way OUR game shows today are being run b/c this is totally unacceptable. When the hell are execs going to learn how to really run a game show?
Didn’t Deal Or No Deal also go to commercial during the rounds?
Occasionally, but at least there you can justify it.
Imagine if Jeopardy! went to commercial during a Daily Double.