"Bet On Your Baby" renewed

[colonial]

In a bit of a shocker, ABC has renewed the low-rated toddler game "Bet On Your Baby" for a second, eight-episode season.

http://variety.com/2014/tv/news/bet-on-your-baby-renewed-by-abc-1201074253/

No word on when the episodes will air.


JD

[TLEberle]

Million Dollar Mind Game had some faults to be sure but it was challenging fun once you accepted the show's mindset. It languishes in the dustbin of television history after six episodes on a Sunday afternoon. Bet on Your Baby had almost nothing positive going for it and it gets a second go.

No justice.

[Vahan_Nisanian]

Can someone please explain to me how can a low-rated show get renewed? What sense does that make?

It's like with 30 Rock. Almost nobody watched it, but NBC, for no reason, kept renewing it over and over and over again.

[Fedya]

It's cheap to make and, in spite of the low ratings, makes money?

[TLEberle]

Can someone please explain to me how can a low-rated show get renewed? What sense does that make?

It probably made some money for all concerned. (I'm guessing that game shows are per-episode much less expensive to produce than a sitcom or drama). If the show makes eight episodes they now have an insurance policy if something tanks. I don't like it either but it does make sense for them to have something up their sleeve like this. And if they don't air, so what? It isn't like the world has missed out on something great.

[clemon79]

It's like with 30 Rock. Almost nobody watched it, but NBC, for no reason,

I'm gonna guess they had a reason. Probably several million reasons. Unless you have access to their books and know something we don't.

[colonial]

As Fedya notes, "Baby" is relatively cheap to produce.  It also had big-name sponsors in P&G and Walmart for Season 1.   Bringing them both back to the fold (or a similar sponsor -- say, Target instead of Walmart) probably guaranteed them a second season.

It will likely air again on Saturdays during the spring or summer, although it wouldn't hurt ABC to try the show on Fridays at 8pm ET before "Shark Tank" once "Last Man Standing" and "The Neighbors" end their seasons.  "Shark Tank" has a very strong following not just with the key 18-49 demo, but also with families (The ABC programming chief mentioned in the fall schedule announcement in May that "ST" is, in his words, "the most popular ABC prime time show with children").  It's a longshot, but "Baby" might benefit from the "Shark Tank" pairing.

JD

[TLEberle]

(The ABC programming chief mentioned in the fall schedule announcement in May that "ST" is, in his words, "the most popular ABC prime time show with children").

I like this sentence quite a lot.

[BrandonFG]

It's like with 30 Rock. Almost nobody watched it, but NBC, for no reason, kept renewing it over and over and over again.

Speak for yourself (remember how you got upset unnecessarily for doing that yesterday?). The show was critically acclaimed, it won Emmys, and produced in house, which means it was a little cheaper to produce. Besides, none of NBC's sitcoms of the last 10 years have really set the Nielsen ratings on fire, but aired for several years (Scrubs, The Office, Parks and Rec, Community)

Oh wait, it did have Alec Baldwin, didn't it?

[PYLdude]

It's like with 30 Rock. Almost nobody watched it, but NBC, for no reason, kept renewing it over and over and over again.

Speak for yourself (remember how you got upset unnecessarily for doing that yesterday?). The show was critically acclaimed, it won Emmys, and produced in house, which means it was a little cheaper to produce. Besides, none of NBC's sitcoms of the last 10 years have really set the Nielsen ratings on fire, but aired for several years (Scrubs, The Office, Parks and Rec, Community)

Oh wait, it did have Alec Baldwin, didn't it?

I'm gonna go lock myself in the TTD90 room until Vanna Nissan's inevitable blowup clears out.