"Let's Ask America" cancelled

[Bryce L.]

http://www.tvweek.com/tvbizwire/2015/03/game-show-ends-its-run-after-three-seasons/

[brianhenke]

  Not surprising, given how the powers-that-be changed everything that was good about it (getting rid of Kevin, going all-in in the endgame, missing the question, and winning nothing, and cutting the top prize by $12,500) and made it worse.

  Brian

[BrandonFG]

There's also the fact that the show never made it all the way national. I think a show called Let's Ask America would've far benefited from being made accessible to more of America, not a higher prize budget or host change. In fact, airing across the country might've brought in a little more money.

That said, the initial plan was to offer lower priced alternatives to Wheel and Jeopardy! Getting three years out of it isn't too shabby.

[Joe Mello]

There's also the fact that the show never made it all the way national.

I guess the question I want to ask is what that 0.6 rating actually means. If it's 0.6 in the entire nation, that's probably not bad, considering it's on only a few top 20 markets (Detroit, Phoenix, Tampa, Cleveland, Denver) and those are all in the teens.

But if that's 0.6 for just those markets, then the choice seems a little clearer.

/Year-old Jeopardy still pulls in 2 million people?

[TLEberle]

That said, the initial plan was to offer lower priced alternatives to Wheel and Jeopardy! Getting three years out of it isn't too shabby.

Given that it was a one-note song, three years is great. If "you can play from home and win!" is the new paradigm (and let's head off at the pass the GSN Interactives where you could win a hundred bucks in prizes) then this was a great way to test the waters. But let's not pretend that the game was great shakes, and there were a handful of production decisions that I didn't agree with.

[PYLdude]

It was a perfectly inoffensive way to spend a half hour, for sure, but by no means was it a great show. Certainly to me it was passable, decent even, but if I was in a market where the show aired it wouldn't have been appointment viewing.

And three years isn't a bad run per se, but this was intended to be a statement made by a group of stations that weren't happy with having to pay the rights fees that they were for Merv's brainchildren. To me, the show either needed to have at least a few more years in the can or to have made a significant dent in the ratings of Wheel and Jeopardy in those markets to make the exercise seem worth it. 0.6 isn't significant enough, so to me the experiment failed.

[chrisholland03]

I'm not going to lie -- Kevin Pereira was the main reason I watched.  And quit watching.

[colonial]

Back in 2013, Scripps was touting how strong the ratings for LAA were, claiming a 2.4 rating in the markets the show aired ...

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/news-articles/scripps-asked-america-and-it-said-yes/114302

The show simply faded and was not a "must-see" series the way WOF and J! are.  Never had a "viral" moment, never had much media attention  (discovering a hosting change via an interview the new host did for his stand-up act is a bit mind boggling).

They went all in last season, promising "national expansion" and a big syndicator that would pair it with "RightThisMinute", which is one of the hot shows of the moment in the syndication marketplace.  The result?  An uptick to 34% of all households.  And GSN only brought that number up to 70%.

Keep in mind as well that the broadcast division of Scripps is facing some upheaval.  Scripps has been rapidly turning the news departments at its TV stations to "digital first" enterprises, hiring people with digital backgrounds as news directors and laying off employees.  "The List" canned a number of employees by scrapping two-minute local segments last month, and its future is also perilous.  LAA may simply be a victim of broader cutbacks at Scripps. 


JD     

[WarioBarker]

(discovering a hosting change via an interview the new host did for his stand-up act is a bit mind boggling).

What boggled my mind was the show pretty much wiping any trace of Kevin from the website once Bill Bellamy became host...and then GSN began airing some of Periera's shows. I think Scripps was trying to go the "African-American comedian" route, but it just didn't work out for them and I think they lost a good host by doing so.

[clemon79]

(discovering a hosting change via an interview the new host did for his stand-up act is a bit mind boggling).

It should be pointed out that the world officially learned about Drew Carey taking over The Price is Right in exactly the same way.

I think Scripps was trying to go the "African-American comedian" route, but it just didn't work out for them and I think they lost a good host by doing so.

Do we know for sure Pereira left the show not of his own volition? He has a ton of production irons in the fire these days, so it's possible he didn't want the extra on-camera workload for the minimal return it was getting.

[chad1m]

It should be pointed out that the world officially learned about Drew Carey taking over The Price is Right in exactly the same way.

Okay, but let's be real. Announcing it on The Late Show is far different than it being buried in the middle of an interview for The Arizona Republic's website.