Poor Fox isn't doing so well. Boo Hoo

POSTED BY: Beatle
UPDATED: Saturday, July 3, 2004 20:32
VIEWED: 9908
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BEATLE

Wednesday, June 30, 2004 4:19 PM

http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/TV/06/30/nielsens.ap/index.html

Fox's year-round season struggling
Network finishes fourth in Nielsens
Wednesday, June 30, 2004 Posted: 9:40 AM EDT (1340 GMT)

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FACT BOX
Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen Media Research for the week of June 21-27.
1. "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 15.3 million viewers.
2. "Without a Trace," CBS, 12.6 million viewers.
3. "American Film Institute's 100 Years and 100 Songs," CBS, 12.3 million viewers.
4. "Law & Order," NBC, 11.9 million viewers.
5. "CSI: Miami," CBS, 11.8 million viewers.
6. "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 11.3 million viewers.
7. "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS, 11.3 million viewers.
8. "60 Minutes," CBS, 10.9 million viewers.
9. "Cold Case," CBS, 10.2 million viewers.
10. "Law & Order," NBC, 10.1 million viewers.

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NEW YORK (AP) -- Fox is preaching patience as its attempt to run more original summer programming has yet to be embraced by viewers.

The network finished fourth in the ratings last week, behind even ABC, which Fox routinely beat during the winter months. Fox came in third among viewers aged 18 to 49, the demographic it most cares about.

Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie's "The Simple Life 2," which finished just out of Nielsen Media Research's top 10 last week with 9.3 million viewers, is Fox's summer highlight.

None of Fox's five other new shows are doing well, including the one by usually reliable reality producer Mark Burnett. His look at Las Vegas in "Casino" was seen by fewer than 5 million people last week.

Perhaps most disappointing is "North Shore," a soap about young workers at a luxury hotel in Hawaii. Fox hoped it would catch on as "The O.C." did last summer, but it drew 4.4 million viewers last week.

Fox was hoping to catch attention in the summer, saying it was no longer a time it would subject viewers to a steady diet of reruns.

"While we're seeing the shows come out of the gate slowly, we are seeing growth in virtually every show each week and we're optimistic," said Fox spokesman Scott Grogin. "You can't start an entirely new way of programming a network and expect it to come out of the gate like gangbusters, especially in the summer."

While the shows' numbers are small, Fox is taking some solace in the fact that they're not dropping much week to week, so they may have potential to build.

Fox has no plans to change its schedule, Grogin said.

Otherwise, viewers enjoyed the American Film Institute's salute to Hollywood music. The CBS special was the week's No. 3 show, with 12.3 million viewers.

CBS won the week, averaging 8.8 million viewers (6.1 rating, 11 share). NBC was second with 7.2 million viewers (4.9, 9) and won among the 18-to-49-year-old demographic. ABC averaged 5 million viewers (3.4, 6), Fox had 4.8 million (3.1, 6), UPN 2.4 million (1.7, 3), the WB 2.3 million (1.6, 3) and Pax TV 920,000 (0.6, 1)

NBC's "Nightly News" won the evening news ratings race, averaging 8.6 million viewers (6.1 rating, 13 share). ABC's "World News Tonight" had 8.1 million (5.7, 12) and the "CBS Evening News" 6.7 million (4.8, 10).

A ratings point represents 1,084,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 108.4 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.

CYBERSNARK

Wednesday, June 30, 2004 6:01 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Beatle:
Fox is preaching patience

Well, isn't that. . . special.

-----
We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.

HAKEN

Wednesday, June 30, 2004 6:12 PM

Being from Hawaii, I can tell you right now that 'North Shore' suck and choke like you would not believe. It insults the viewer's intelligence. Nothing new there.

Although it's set in Hawaii, you would never know it by watching it. Anyone who has been to Hawaii can tell you in a second that what's on screen doesn't represent Hawaii or its people. God forbid, even 'Baywatch Hawaii' did a better job.

A show about Hawaii? My bet is on NBC's Hawaii. It looks like Hawaii.

FIREFLEW

Wednesday, June 30, 2004 6:27 PM

You know, mayhaps someone high up should suggest the idea of repeating Firefly?

Jayne: "Know what the chain of command is? It's the chain I beat you with till you understand who's in command."

CHRISTHECYNIC

Wednesday, June 30, 2004 6:41 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Fireflew:
You know, mayhaps someone high up should suggest the idea of repeating Firefly?

But who could grow a brain that quickly?

HOWDYROCKERBABY1

Wednesday, June 30, 2004 8:00 PM

Fox is sooo full of crap, just yesterday i saw a commercial for stupid North Shore calling it the seaons number 1 drama! what a load of go-se. somebody needs to pull that stick out of their butt and beat them over the head with it!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
MAL: This is my scrap of nowhere. You go on and find your own.
SAFFRON: You can't just leave me here, on this
lifeless piece of crap moon...
MAL: Sure I can.
SAFFRON: I'll die.
MAL: Well, as a courtesy, you might start
getting busy on that, cause all this chatter ain't doin' me any kindness.

BEATLE

Wednesday, June 30, 2004 10:22 PM

Another article I just read...

Summer a bummer for network TV programming
By Gary Levin, USA TODAY

Network TV's year-round programming push has turned a hoped-for summer sizzle into more of a fizzle. (Related story: TV's long, hot summer)

Fans aren't exactly kicking down doors to watch NBC's Next Action Star.
NBC

Five weeks after the traditional TV season ended, only two summer series are unqualified hits: Fox's reality-comedy The Simple Life 2 and NBC's stand-up contest Last Comic Standing.

But a rash of new shows, in the most aggressive summer rollout yet, are mostly clunkers, including Fox's The Casino, NBC's Next Action Star and ABC's Ultimate Love Test.

"It's interesting that NBC and Fox have declined the most from last year, and they're the ones putting on most of the (new) stuff," says analyst Steve Sternberg of ad firm Magna Global USA.

The summer programming rollout continues Tuesday, when CBS unveils fifth seasons of Big Brother and The Amazing Race. But early returns suggest there won't be new breakout hits to mirror past hot-weather phenomena Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Survivor, Fear Factor and American Idol. And NBC's For Love or Money and Crime and Punishment are down sharply from last year.

"This may be the summer we see the reality bubble burst a little bit," Sternberg says.

Uniquely, Fox has sought to retrain its audience to a year-round schedule of sitcoms and dramas: It added four this summer, part of a plan to blunt delays caused by postseason baseball. But The Jury and North Shore are flops, and Quintuplets and Method and Red have won only decent ratings astride Simple Life.

"I'd say it's a mixed bag right now," Fox entertainment president Gail Berman says. "But if we come out of summer with three shows (that can return), it will be a pretty extraordinary strategy." She notes that last November's delayed rollout produced mostly failures. (Remember Skin, Luis or A Minute With Stan Hooper?)

All told, broadcasters are down 8% from last summer, while basic-cable networks are up 8%, helped by MTV's Newlyweds, FX's Nip/Tuck and USA's Monk, along with TBS' Sex and the City reruns.

WB's Summerland has gained traction. But "no new shows have broken out this summer," says CBS' David Poltrack, who says the bold push for new series — even modestly rated ones — is "a better alternative than running repeats of failed shows." But "you're still better off, if you have successful shows, repeating them."

Case in point: CBS had eight of last week's top 10 series. All but one was a repeat.

THEREALME

Thursday, July 1, 2004 1:43 AM

Huh.

So, do you think that there is any chance that some Fox executive will lose his or her job over this?

Someone who DESERVES to, that is...

The Real Me

LAILING

Thursday, July 1, 2004 2:05 AM

By the way, I never DID hear: just why, exactly, did Fox say they cancelled Firefly - and was that the real reason? Also, I've heard many rumors and hearsay, but nothing specific (no actual quotes by anybody - Fox or Firefly) as to what Fox did or said, to piss Firefly people off - or vise-versa.
I try not to listen to rumors. And it's too easy - IF ONE IS TRYING TO BE OBJECTIVE - to put down the insults to Fox as sour grapes. And any Fox insults of Firefly people, too, for that matter, because it's happened before, and the real truth usually turns out to be somewhere in between. (He said/she said - and sometimes neither did - and sometimes both did!) I don't want to stir up a hornet's nest here - but I really don't understand.

"They've gone to *plaid*!"

THEREALME

Thursday, July 1, 2004 2:22 AM

My personal guess is (yes, my guess, nothing official):

Firefly by its tenth episode was not doing as well as the X-Files at its height of popularity.

And it was much harder to produce than yet another reality show.

I'll leave out the parts about all the thinking that was needed to get by that PLOT thingie, whatever THAT was, and...

Oooops.

I know, this doesn't help your objective view and I apologize, but I couldn't help myself...

I will consider your tagline carefully, and try to do better next time.

The Real Me

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