T Dog’s Grab Bag: Oh, Bethenny…
-As expected, ratings for syndication’s three new shows (The Arsenio Hall Show, Bethenny, and The Test) declined from Monday’s premiere, but Arsenio still was on top with a 1.5 overnight household rating, down from a 1.9 rating. Bethenny slipped to a 0.9/3 household rating/share from a 1.2/4; and The Test slid to a 0.7.
On Wednesday however, Arsenio was up 7 percent from the previous night, and beat all late-night talkers in the adult 18-49 demo and tied Leno in the 25-54 demo in the first three days, while showing double-digit increases in both demos from year ago time periods. Bethenny dropped to 0.5 25-54 female demo Wednesday, but her three day average was up from its lead-in and year-ago TP.
The bizarrest moment on Tuesday didn’t happen on Arsenio or The Test. During a segment of Ms. Frankel’s daytime show, she invited a bride-to-be onstage, and Frankel invited her and her wedding party on stage. Taking a cue from a old Jerry Springer episode from 1996 or so, out came the strippers! And the former Real Housewives star (as seen in the photo above) was stuffing dollar bills down one of the strippers um… G-strings…
Yes, meth is a hell of a drug…
– Million Second Quiz, the new game show “event” hosted by the repulsive Ryan Seacrest, has turned in a mixed ratings performance thus far for NBC. On Monday, the show debuted with a 1.7 adult demo (18-49) rating, but dropped to a 1.5 the next night, and to a 1.3 on Wednesday. In Chicago Tuesday, Quiz finished an unimpressive third in its time period, behind reruns of Shark Tank and NCIS. However, WMAQ officials pointed out to Lewis Lazare of Chicago Business Journal the strong 25-54 demos (the key audience for game shows) Quiz put up. Also, Quiz topped other first-run programming in the time period, including So You Think You Can Dance and a White Sox game.
In Quiz, the game is set outside in a rooftop overlooking Times Square in New York City with the game continuing 24/7 until its conclusion, with non-televised portions streaming live online – that is, if you get the feed to work (many complained the series’ app crashed a lot.)
The series received scathing reviews on social media and from critics, as many viewers complained about Quiz being too complicated to follow and some even said the producers were “making up rules as the show went along.” The series continues nightly (except Sunday) through Sept. 14; Quiz has got to be the most absurd concept for a game show I’ve ever seen.
– As you probably know by now, CBS and Time Warner Cable finally came to an agreement last week, ending their weeks-long feud over retransmission consent (though TWC is still battling Journal Communications, in an impasse now lasting more than fifty days.) And guess what? The next big showdown between content providers and operators is right around the corner: Dish and Disney – owners of ESPN – have an agreement expiring at the end of the month. And Dish is already talking trash, saying they’ll pull ESPN if no agreement is reached. Well, good luck with that…
– Yours truly knows the last thing some people want to hear is yet another WGN Radio news item. Well, here’s one: radio personality Jonathan Brandmeier debuted on WGN’s new internet (and soon to be terrestrial) radio station WGN.fm Friday. Enjoy!