I am a big reality TV fan and Summer is the time for the major US TV networks to air original non-fiction reality and game shows in place of re-runs of their Fall-Winter fictional series.
Below is a list of where the major original Summer reality series placed in last week's US prime time TV ratings. The first number is the placement out of the 97 programs that aired on the 5 major US TV networks last week. The column after the show name shows total viewers (2 years and older) and the column after that is the rating. For benchmarking purposes, the average program airing in US prime time last week drew 4.8 million viewers and the average rating was 1.7.
Analysis:
Although both America's Got Talent and Wipeout increased their viewership levels this week over one week ago, the latter narrowed the former's audience lead by 850,000 viewers
At the other end of the spectrum, ABC's Monday night all-reality slate continues to draw abysmal ratings as all of HSM: Get In The Picture, Wanna Bet and The Mole are bunched near the bottom of the ratings pack, along with the finale of ABC's Friday night reprise of the gameshow Duel (that we have likely seen the last of).
Greatest American Dog lost viewers again in its 3rd outing (which may explain why CBS has flipped it in favour of the weekly live elimination ceremony episode of Big Brother 10, which also scores better in the key demo, given Dog's older audience skew) . Likewise the audience for NBC's Baby Borrowers continues to erode from its higher debut levels
Original Summer Reality TV Ratings
FROM 07/21/08 THROUGH 07/27/08
1 AMERICA'S GOT TALENT 13240 4.6
2 WIPEOUT 9980 3.5
5 SO YOU THINK CAN DANCE-WED 8600 3.0
8 SO YOU THINK CAN DANCE-THU 8380 2.9
14 SMARTER THAN 5TH GRADER 7420 2.6
16 CELEBRITY FAMILY FEUD 7280 2.5
22 BIG BROTHER 10-WED 6220 2.2
25 BIG BROTHER 10-TUE 6070 2.1
GREATEST AMERICAN DOG 6070 2.1
27 NASHVILLE STAR 5850 2.0
28 BIG BROTHER 10-SUN 5840 2.0
31 I SURVIVED-JAPANESE GM SHOW 5550 1.9
36 AMERICAN GLADIATORS 5210 1.8
46 BABY BORROWERS 4730 1.7
53 LAST COMIC STANDING 6 4250 1.5
68 MOLE, THE 3350 1.2
73 HSM: GET IN THE PICTURE -MON 3130 1.1
74 DUEL 3120 1.1
WANNA BET 3120 1.1
76 HSM: GET IN THE PICTURE-SUN 3050 1.1
Reported by Steguinrants http://steguinrants.blogspot.com/
