Despite it's poor ratings...

[TimK2003]

If it were an actual game show, it woulda been canned long ago But since it's a reality/relationship/game show (with the word 'game' used in the most miniscule amount allowed by law), Blind Date has been renewed for a 7th season :-(

This news from Broadcasting & Cable Magazine.

Yet when I have tried to sell the concept of my new show, "The Drying Paint/Growing Grass Hour"...

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'TimK2003\' date=\'Jun 7 2005, 08:38 AM\']If it were an actual game show, it woulda been canned long ago But since it's a reality/relationship/game show (with the word 'game' used in the most miniscule amount allowed by law), Blind Date has been renewed for a 7th season :-(

This news from Broadcasting & Cable Magazine.

Yet when I have tried to sell the concept of my new show, "The Drying Paint/Growing Grass Hour"...

[snapback]88108[/snapback]

[/quote]

An actual game show with less than stellar ratings got renewed for a fifth season(i.e. Street Smarts, which is more than likely not getting renewed for a sixth, though there is no non-Perf offical word of its cancellation) and another less-than-popular game show is getting renewed for a seventh season(Feud).

[passwordplus]

[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Jun 7 2005, 10:37 AM\'][quote name=\'TimK2003\' date=\'Jun 7 2005, 08:38 AM\']If it were an actual game show, it woulda been canned long ago But since it's a reality/relationship/game show (with the word 'game' used in the most miniscule amount allowed by law), Blind Date has been renewed for a 7th season :-(

This news from Broadcasting & Cable Magazine.

Yet when I have tried to sell the concept of my new show, "The Drying Paint/Growing Grass Hour"...

[snapback]88108[/snapback]

[/quote]

An actual game show with less than stellar ratings got renewed for a fifth season(i.e. Street Smarts, which is more than likely not getting renewed for a sixth, though there is no non-Perf offical word of its cancellation) and another less-than-popular game show is getting renewed for a seventh season(Feud).

[snapback]88111[/snapback]

[/quote]

Explain your reason for saying that Feud is "less than popular". Seems like it's pretty catchy to me, with a Karn Version DVD/board game and a cell phone version of the game as well. Oh I forgot, uproar has it for free since 1999 when it came back (Louie version).

[Steve Gavazzi]

[quote name=\'passwordplus\' date=\'Jun 7 2005, 01:31 PM\']Explain your reason for saying that Feud is "less than popular".

[snapback]88133[/snapback]

[/quote]

I'll do it for him.  Its ratings blow.

[urbanpreppie05]

Not trying to be snippy, don't the ratings for Karn's Feud do decent (not Millionaire good) but at least respectable?

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'urbanpreppie05\' date=\'Jun 7 2005, 12:08 PM\']Not trying to be snippy, don't the ratings for Karn's Feud do decent (not Millionaire good) but at least respectable?

[snapback]88141[/snapback]

[/quote]
No. It barely pulls 2's. But Fremantle seems to be content with it pulling 2's, prolly because, as a game show, anything that would pull better numbers would be more expensive to produce.

[inturnaround]

[quote name=\'urbanpreppie05\' date=\'Jun 7 2005, 03:08 PM\']Not trying to be snippy, don't the ratings for Karn's Feud do decent (not Millionaire good) but at least respectable?

[snapback]88141[/snapback]

[/quote]

Yeah, the last I checked, it was around the middle of the ratings heap. It's not anywhere near the ratings monster it was back in the 70s, but it's doing well enough to make more money than something else that could be put in its time slots, or else it would not have been renewed.

[inturnaround]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Jun 7 2005, 03:17 PM\']No. It barely pulls 2's. But Fremantle seems to be content with it pulling 2's, prolly because, as a game show, anything that would pull better numbers would be more expensive to produce.

[snapback]88142[/snapback]

[/quote]

Well, to be fair, Fremantle knows that it isn't a top tier show like Wheel or Oprah. It shouldn't be compared to those. It's getting the ratings it should, considering its timeslots, its competition and the stations it's on.

I figure Fremantle is willing to keep making the show as long as the stations paying for it continue paying for it. It is what it is, a middling show that does well enough to pay the bills and then some.

[Steve Gavazzi]

[quote name=\'inturnaround\' date=\'Jun 7 2005, 03:23 PM\']Well, to be fair, Fremantle knows that it isn't a top tier show like Wheel or Oprah. It shouldn't be compared to those.

[snapback]88144[/snapback]

[/quote]

Why not?  The Dawson and Combs runs are proof that Feud could be done much better than it's being done right now, and that if it were being done better, it could potentially get a lot more people to want to watch it.

[inturnaround]

[quote name=\'Steve Gavazzi\' date=\'Jun 7 2005, 04:28 PM\']Why not?  The Dawson and Combs runs are proof that Feud could be done much better than it's being done right now, and that if it were being done better, it could potentially get a lot more people to want to watch it.

[snapback]88149[/snapback]

[/quote]

Wheel and J! generally have very good prime access slots on large network affiliates across the country and, as such, their ratings reflect that. They're also entrenched where they are and unlikely to go anywhere anytime soon.

There's only so many prime access shows and most of those slots are taken up by "Access Hollywood" on the NBC O&O affiliates and the ET/The Insider juggernaut that swallowed up H2 last year. The other slots are taken up by The Simpsons, Everybody Loves Raymond, Friends and Seinfeld off-net reruns across the country.

Oprah herself is a ratings anomaly. There is no one else like her out there. She'd pull ratings on a pirate broadcast at 3AM from the South Pacific. No sense comparing Feud to her.

Feud got great ratings back in the day. So did Match Game. So did Tic Tac Dough. But that was when there were far fewer channels and you had to watch what was on the 5 or 6 channels you're presented with. Like mutual funds, prior performance is not a guarantee of future earnings...er, ratings.

[tvwxman]

[quote name=\'Steve Gavazzi\' date=\'Jun 7 2005, 03:28 PM\']Why not?  The Dawson and Combs runs are proof that Feud could be done much better than it's being done right now, and that if it were being done better, it could potentially get a lot more people to want to watch it.

[snapback]88149[/snapback]

[/quote]

Quality wise, you're absolutely right.

Butttttttt.....and let this be a lesson to all of you juniors out there who wish game shows were more like they 'used to be'....

Television ain't what it used to be. The TV landscape is much different.

Dawson stood atop a TV landscape where no one subscribed to this new fancy-way of paying for extra tv channels called "cable".

Combs stood sorta-successfully in a TV landscape that saw a lot less women watching daytime television, and a lot more women going to work. Nighttime ratings weren't that strong, and certainly didn't have the dominant 7:30pm clearances that it's predecessor has.

If the Karn Feud aired in the 70's or 80's, it's ratings would have resulted in a 13 week and out contract. Nowadays, it holds it's own against the Springers and Regis's of the world. Nothing more.

Why? Because Television ain't what it used to be. The TV landscape is much different. Put that to memory.

[urbanpreppie05]

I'm not even going to go back into the argument of if this Feud is good or not (I would say decent).

But, I do remember hearing that a rating of 2 or so for a syndie daytime show was rendered "decent" now simply because there is so much competition.

[tyshaun1]

[quote name=\'urbanpreppie05\' date=\'Jun 8 2005, 07:34 AM\']But, I do remember hearing that a rating of 2 or so for a syndie daytime show was rendered "decent" now simply because there is so much competition.

[snapback]88260[/snapback]

[/quote]

Quite simply, Ellen DeGeneres' show pulls quite similar numbers as Feud does, and yet she is regarded as the next big thing in daytime. Heck, look at Tony Danza's numbers; it has been hovering around a 1.5 most of the season, and even it gets renewed.
It's gotten to the point now where a 1 rating will soon be considered acceptable (Anyone for CS 2006?).

Tyshaun

[sshuffield70]

(Anyone for CS 2006?)

As long as they don't screw it up.

[uncamark]

And to get back to the original reason for this thread, "Blind Date" (and "ElimiDATE," while we're at it) hangs in there despite mediocre ratings because they're low-cost and do well enough in the late-night slots, secondary station slots where they're put to make money for NBC Universal, Warners and the shows' respective producers.  Not to mention that "Blind Date" already has a repeat contract on cable that Spike will probably expand and renew as the years go on--and "ElimiDATE" will probably be a candidate for cable repeats on GSN, Fox Reality, one of the women's channels or whoever wants it.