Lowest ratings EVER (1 Viewer)

[Garrett Lundy]

SHHHHHHhh! I'm trying to read a book.

 

[MatthewA]

I'm always amazed by comments along the lines of "Why should I watch it when they'll just cancel it?" Attitudes like that are exactly why shows get cancelled. It's a risk you're going to have to take with any new show that you like.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

This is a different world than it used to be. Nowadays, it's all continuing serials and reality competitions, and networks don't hesitate to yank new shows at any time, even after only one episode. It used to be that you could at least count on a half-season of something new, and most shows didn't use continuing storylines that needed true endings anyway. Plus, anything good will be available on DVD soon enough.

It's like starting a novel with the possibility that the book could just end after any random chapter, whether or not the story was finished, and you have the option of waiting to find out for certain. Why bother?

 

[Todd H]

I watch more NBC than any other network.

Heroes
The Office
My Name Is Earl
Scrubs
30 Rock

I actually watch CBS the least. The only one I ever watched there was Jericho.

 

[DanielCo]

Well the Stanley Cup final game got an overnight high of 2.0 at 10:00.

I know that some people watch each station -- NBC didn't get a 0.0 after all -- but decisions like putting on the NHL or overkilling Law and Order to the tune of over 60 hours a week on various outlets including USA and Bravo which have ties to the Peacock thus diluting their own product have hurt NBC more than any other network.

This year's prime example is the dinosaur that is Saturday Night Live. It's one this to have this institution eating up an hour and a half a week of, I assume, some soft of profit. But to toss millions of dollars to Aaron Sorkin and Tina Fey to basically promote this 30 year old show with not one, but two fictional accounts at the same time shows a remarkable lack of creativity on their part.

 

[Jonny P]

Another thing hurting networks are the quality offerings on cable outlets.

This really evolved years ago with pay channels like HBO, but took off in 2002 with the introduction of the following shows:

The Dead Zone
The Shield
Monk

Suddenly, people took basic cable seriously (rather than being a place to air old John Wayne movies and Quincy reruns).

Since then, we have seen a situation where talented stars are making unique shows...and the three shows I mentioned above are still on.

And now we've added shows like "Rescue Me," "Nip/Tuck," "Psych," "The 4400," "The Closer"...and failed experiments like "Over There," "Peacemakers," and "Lucky."

A couple of years ago, I watched "Into the West" on TNT and thought that miniseries was one of the best things I'd seen on TV in a long time.

Slowly but surely, the cable outlets are increasing their original offerings.

I recall in the summer of 2002 saying to my wife, "'The Dead Zone' and 'Monk' are better than 90% of what the networks are airing these days."

 

[LarryDavenport]

Jonny, I totally agree. Off the top of my head, the cable shows I watch (btw, I have no movie channels): Psych, The Dresden Files, Eureka, The Closer, Saved (canceled), Dr. Who, Life On Mars, Blood In The Wire, Murder City, South Park, Daily Show, Colbert report, Countdown, and I'm sure there is more but my mind is a bit frozen.

Matthew, hey I watched Drive and Fox canceled it. And I remind you, unless you are a Nielsen family, you have no effect whether a show stays on the air or not.

 

[Malcolm R]

Yep, unless you're one of the mysterious "Nielsen" households, what you watch has no bearing whatsoever on the ratings of any show.

 

[Greg_S_H]

I'm not that big on football, so I think so. It's more about the human drama. Though, you are a hard man to read, so I wouldn't automatically assume you'd like it.

 

[Jonny P]

I forgot about "Eureka" and "Battlestar Galactica" (both excellent shows on cable).

Even if you aren't a Nielsen household, you can have an effect if you DVR (with TiVo or other) certain shows. Nielsen does factor in viewers who watch on DVRs.

 

[LarryDavenport]

Right now that is up to your individual cable company. Comcast in Seattle is switching from Microsoft software to Tivo this month (the box will remain the same) so maybe I will have some effect after all. I already record what I plan to watch as shown (in case for some reason I can't make it home) and what I plan to watch later. If it is confirmed that my viewing habits indeed have some effect on what remains on TV, I'll be more diligent in what I record. NBC will still rule in my house. I watch the local news, but switch over to NBC to catch the National News (Countdown, Scarborough, Meet the Press, and if I am home sick in bed I pretty much leave MSNBC on all day as I drift in and out of sleep).

 

[MatthewLouwrens]

I live in New Zealand, so obviously I don't watch NBC itself, just the individual shows when they air over here - but watching this discussion, I am astonished that the network that airs shows like Heroes, The Office, Scrubs, Earl, shows that I thought had quite a lot of buzz and popularity around them, is doing so badly.

 

[TravisR]

Those shows are doing well but I think the problem is that nearly every show has pretty poor ratings.

 

[Brent M]

It is an absolute crime that The Office doesn't get better ratings than it does. In my opinion, it's the best comedy on TV since Seinfeld. Well, actually it's a toss up between that and Arrested Development which suffered from even worse ratings. It just goes to show that the vast majority of the viewing public has no taste. :frowning:

 

[Ray Chuang]

Folks,

Welcome to the world of de-massified media that Alvin Toffler prophesized about way back in 1979 when he wrote The Third Wave.

With 60+ channel analog cable TV, 100+ channel digital cable TV, 150+ channel small-dish satellite TV, modern home video devices such as VCR's, DVR's and DVD players, satellite radio and the public Internet, very few TV programs have the ability to attract a true "mass" audience. We now live in a world of niche programming.

 

[Craig S]

I watch a lot of NBC as well: "Office", "Heroes", "30 Rock", "Friday Night Lights", "ER", "Studio 60".

Conversely, CBS (the number one network) is probably my least watched, mainly because it seems to be almost all procedurals, and they tend to bore me silly. On CBS it's just "How I Met Your Mother" and "Jericho" (coming back, yeah!) for me.

These ratings things run in cycles. NBC has certainly been here before. About 25 years ago, they hit rock bottom (the afore-mentioned "Supertrain" era). The good thing is, that's when a net starts to take chances. That's about when "Cheers" & "Hill Street Blues" started. Because the net wasn't swimming with hits, they nurtured these shows through early low-rated seasons. HSB changed the face of television drama. "Cheers" became a hit. Then came "The Cosby Show", which was an immediate success and was credited at the time with saving the moribund sitcom format. By then, NBC was on a roll, and they kept going for almost 2 decades.

They've let things get stale the past five years and that's what's killing them. It's time to say goodbye to "ER" and all the "L&O" shows. Throw out the old and bring in the new. They'll be back. "Heroes", "Office", "30 Rock", and FNL are a pretty good foundation to build a comeback on.

 

[Dan Keefe]

Interesting...for me:
NBC
Heroes
Friday Night Lights
Americas Got Talent

CBS
How I Met your Mother
Jericho(ummm thanks CBS)

ABC
Lost
Boston Legal

Fox
American Idol

CW
Smallville
Smackdown

nothing but drivel on tv really...the above represent the very best television has to offer IMO

 

[Brent M]

Sorry, but failing to include shows like The Shield, 24, The Sopranos, The Office and Rescue Me certainly don't convince me that your list is the "very best" television has to offer.

 

[Regulus]

With the exception of FOX's Americas Most Wanted I seldom watch anything on Network TV. (I dropped my Subscription to Cable in January. ) I got fed up with all the Garbage being trowled out by them, along with ever-growing number of Commercials they shove "In your Face". So I dumped Em! I watch DVDs every evening, and being able to ENJOY an evening of Entertainment without having to have my finger on the "Mute" switch is, IMO
P-R-I-C-E-L-E-S-S!

 

[TravisR]

Oh, I thought The Office was kinda popular but, like I said earlier, I just got into the show. I loved the British version and when I saw the pilot for the American serires, I hated it since it was just jokes and situations from the British show cannibalized into one script. However, a buddy of mine kept singing the show's praises so I gave it another shot and I fell in love with the second and third seasons.

Unfortunately for NBC, that'll be the only show that I'm watching on their network next year.