The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: pianogeek on February 23, 2004, 10:45:15 AM
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Quoting from Marc Berman of Mediaweek.com
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Since we are all wondering how Super Millionaire did I will begin by congratulating ABC for choosing the right time to bring back the game show. In addition to winning the 9 p.m. hour, Super Millionaire was the highest rated show of the evening with an 11.8/17 -- 74 percent above lead-in Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (#3: 6.8/ 9). Super Millionaire beat NBC's competing (and normally dominant) Law & Order: Criminal Intent (10.6/14) by 11 percent while lifting lead-out The Practice to a second place 7.9/12 at 10 p.m. Yes, ABC could again have something here if they take things s-l-o-w-l-y.
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The excitement of this Millionaire return has been justified alright.
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Zap2it has posted the nationals, which are always a tad lower than the overnights. Millionaire did a 10.6/16, which was again the highest of the night on any network. The show faced tough competition from L&O and the series finale of Sex and the City.
Even the demos, always the bane of game shows, appear to have been decent. MediaLifeMagazine, which obsesses on the 18-49 demo, says that Millionaire did a "solid return." Unfortunately, they don't seem to have the numbers up yet. But Zap2it says ABC won the night in 18-49, so Millionaire couldn't have done too badly.
BTW, MediaLifeMagazine appears to think we're all born 18 years old, and we all croak on our fiftieth birthday.
EDIT: MediaLifeMagazine finally got the 18-49 numbers up. Millionaire did a very respectable 5.7 in the demo, again the highest of the night on any network. That performance pushed ABC to a very rare 18-49 win for the night. The web site notes a significant rise in the second half-hour for Millionaire, and theorizes about viewers tuning in after Sex and the City stopped sexing around.
Now will the suits be able to resist run-it-into-the-ground syndrome?
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I wonder if the rest of the nights will be has high...many people probably just tuned in to see what they changes were like. I hope the ratings stay high enough to warrant subsequent sweep weeks of the show.
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[quote name=\'CaseyAbell\' date=\'Feb 23 2004, 11:38 AM\'] BTW, MediaLifeMagazine appears to think we're all born 18 years old, and we all croak on our fiftieth birthday. [/quote]
That's the way all advertisers think. We don't really die when we reach 50, but we tend not to throw our hard-earned money at just any old junk we see on TV, which would make us essentially useless to advertisers.
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So I have three years to spend, right?
It's good to see some good game show news for a change, especially given the Pyramid-H2 double hit and nothing new on the horizon. Although I'm sure some of the ABC suits will find some other way to explain it other than people actually liking the idea of a game show.
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One thing to take into consideration is the fact all the rest of the shows are at 10PM Eastern, so we don't know if that will effect the audience rating.
For comparison, here are the ratings (the fast nationals from zap2it) from last week the nights it will be on, both the leader and ABC's:
Monday: CBS led with a 12.3, ABC had an 11.2 (but take that with a grain of salt, because that was the big Mel Gibson interview; the week before, ABC had the last part of a movie end with a 4.4)
Tuesday:NBC led with a 9.6, ABC had a 6.3
Thursday:NBC led with a 14.4, ABC had a 5.6
Friday:NBC led with a 7.8, ABC had a 6.2
So I'd guess if they can get 7.0's or so across the board, we'll see some sort of return in May, or even if it isn't and it's close, they'll probably decide if they went at 9 instead of 10, it would do better. The fact the rating went up in the 2nd half hour is a good sign as well.
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with this good of ratings, no matter what they said, i would expect to see Super Millionaire back in 2 months: 3 months tops.
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In fact, some advertisers are finally figuring out that money can be made from older demos. CBS explicitly targets 25-54 and seems to do okay.
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I'm more interested in the overall week's demos than just one night's: If they go down now that the initial shock has worn off, or go up because people like the show.
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If I were ABC, I'd be thinking about how to extend the millionaire franchise (eg, keep it on the air a bit)
It *was* the same millionaire that we all know and love, no question there. The only thing I hope is tonight's show moves at a faster pace. (eg, the explinations and so on can be minimized)
One other thing with going to the $10 million format, it effectively stops them from doing celeb episodes, or doing any run too often. What happens if someone *does* hit the $10 million or even several someones do? ABC may be making serious cash, but a couple big winners a month (assuming it went back to a weekly run) would definately kill the prize budget.
Why they wouldn't do a celeb version: They'd have to come up with potentially millions for non-profit orgs and that could be rather costly.
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So I'd guess if they can get 7.0's or so across the board...
Well, that's a pretty low target, especially after the ten-something on Sunday against the L&O franchise and the series finale of Sex and the City. Tonight it's a tough go against CSI: Miami, which was the number five show last week. As you point out, Tuesday and Friday mean softer competition. And, of course, Friday means lower numbers for all the broadcast nets.
If Regis does double-digits (hm, sounds a little kinky) tonight, ABC is really on to something. That might be a tough ask against real competition. But I'd bet on better than a seven. We'll see soon enough.
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WOO HOO!!!!!!
Now don't oversaturate the bad boy...
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[quote name=\'itiparanoid13\' date=\'Feb 23 2004, 12:49 PM\'] with this good of ratings, no matter what they said, i would expect to see Super Millionaire back in 2 months: 3 months tops. [/quote]
Expect to see it for sweeps, and sweeps only, assuming ABC learned the saturation lesson. So every three months. Maybe a two-week run for the November period.
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[quote name=\'CaseyAbell\' date=\'Feb 23 2004, 04:45 PM\'] If Regis does double-digits (hm, sounds a little kinky) tonight, ABC is really on to something. That might be a tough ask against real competition. But I'd bet on better than a seven. We'll see soon enough. [/quote]
Not much better....fast nationals from Zap2it.com:
CBS' "CSI: Miami," 13.1/20, easily won the 10 p.m. hour and was the night's most-watched show. "Super Millionaire," 7.9/12, was off from its premiere Sunday but still put ABC in second. "Average Joe" finished up with a 6.8/11 for NBC.
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Millionaire didn't do too badly against strong competition. It still bettered most anything ABC tries at 10:00.
Tonight Millionaire goes against L&O: SVU (how many flipping L&O's are there?) which pulled a 9.1 last week. Millionaire could brush up against that number.
If the numbers keep going down, though, it's bad news for Regis and company. At least I won my bet last night, if only by 0.9.
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[quote name=\'CaseyAbell\' date=\'Feb 24 2004, 01:11 PM\'] Millionaire didn't do too badly against strong competition. It still bettered most anything ABC tries at 10:00.
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and it also hurt NBC, as Average Joe went down from a 7.8 last week to a 6.8, despite the fact it was the second part of a 90-minute episode.
Tonight and Friday night are going to be key indicators of it's staying power....Thursday night is probably going to be a washout because of the competition (ER and Without a Trace will probably swamp it), but Tuesday night they at least might be competitive, if they repeat that 7.9 Friday, it would probably win the timeslot (last week, a 7.8 won the slot). Also, Tuesday and Friday night are probably ABC's strongest nights lead in wise with their comedies.
SM actually increased their lead in by quite a bit (Fast and the Furious only averaged a 5.0), so I think ABC is happy with the numbers so far.
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[quote name=\'Terry K\' date=\'Feb 23 2004, 04:14 PM\'] a couple big winners a month (assuming it went back to a weekly run) would definately kill the prize budget.
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I see it as event-only for ABC from here on in. Millionaire die-hards who can't get enough always have Meredith's version to fall back on.
A weekly edition would, as Tom Kennedy put it so perfectly on the Today show two years ago, contribute to trampling it too much.
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[quote name=\'CaseyAbell\' date=\'Feb 24 2004, 01:11 PM\'] Millionaire didn't do too badly against strong competition. It still bettered most anything ABC tries at 10:00.
Tonight Millionaire goes against L&O: SVU (how many flipping L&O's are there?) which pulled a 9.1 last week. Millionaire could brush up against that number.
If the numbers keep going down, though, it's bad news for Regis and company. At least I won my bet last night, if only by 0.9. [/quote]
I honestly don't think numbers will go down. Tonight will be Millionaire's weakest lead in...so we'll see.....I could actually see it beating ER if the interest level stays high (although I think the middle tier difficulty level needs to go up a lot, not that that has anything to do with ratings).
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[quote name=\'tommycharles\' date=\'Feb 24 2004, 11:53 AM\'] [quote name=\'CaseyAbell\' date=\'Feb 23 2004, 04:45 PM\'] If Regis does double-digits (hm, sounds a little kinky) tonight, ABC is really on to something. That might be a tough ask against real competition. But I'd bet on better than a seven. We'll see soon enough. [/quote]
Not much better....fast nationals from Zap2it.com:
CBS' "CSI: Miami," 13.1/20, easily won the 10 p.m. hour and was the night's most-watched show. "Super Millionaire," 7.9/12, was off from its premiere Sunday but still put ABC in second. "Average Joe" finished up with a 6.8/11 for NBC. [/quote]
How did "Fast and the Furious" (ABC movie of the week) do? Did the ratings actually increase after the movie?
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[quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Feb 24 2004, 02:40 PM\']How did "Fast and the Furious" (ABC movie of the week) do? Did the ratings actually increase after the movie?[/quote]
Vin & Co. pulled an average 5.4/8 (2.8/7 in 18-49 demos). So yes, "Super Millionaire" did improve on its lead-in in a very competitive time period. Don't count it out yet.
And there are three "L&O" series (not counting the summer series "Crime and Punishment," a documentary series from Dick Wolf), so Reeg is up against two of them this week, getting the reprieve Wednesday night against "L&O/Original Recipe."
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Okay. What we need is L&O Extra Crispy.
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[quote name=\'CaseyAbell\' date=\'Feb 24 2004, 04:16 PM\'] Okay. What we need is L&O Extra Crispy. [/quote]
I'm holding out for Law and Order: Tender Roast and CSI: Honey BBQ.
ObGameShow: Jerry Orbach from L&O won a Celebrity J! tournament some time back.
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[quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'Feb 24 2004, 04:05 PM\'] [quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Feb 24 2004, 02:40 PM\']How did "Fast and the Furious" (ABC movie of the week) do? Did the ratings actually increase after the movie?[/quote]
Vin & Co. pulled an average 5.4/8 (2.8/7 in 18-49 demos). So yes, "Super Millionaire" did improve on its lead-in in a very competitive time period. Don't count it out yet. [/quote]
Does this really mean that a vastly higher percentage of the senior set watched The Fast and the Furious? If so, what does that say about
a) whether programmers should be programming to the senior set or the 18-49s,
or
b) the interests of the senior set?
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[quote name=\'Fedya\' date=\'Feb 24 2004, 11:27 PM\'] [quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'Feb 24 2004, 04:05 PM\']Vin & Co. pulled an average 5.4/8 (2.8/7 in 18-49 demos). So yes, "Super Millionaire" did improve on its lead-in in a very competitive time period. Don't count it out yet. [/quote]
Does this really mean that a vastly higher percentage of the senior set watched The Fast and the Furious? ... [/quote]
Actually, this looks about normal. Whenever Nielsen will show us both household and adult-18-to-49 ratings, the latter will usually be about half the former. Exceptions include most CBS shows and Fox's The O.C. (possibly the youngest-skewing prime time show on all four nets). If the two measures are ever equal, the viewership is perfectly balanced in terms of ages, but A18-49 is always lower because very few A18-49 even watch TV anymore (2.8 rating ÷ 7 share = 40% had their sets turned on at all).
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From mediaweek.com:
At 10 p.m., although ABC's Super Millionaire leveled off to a third place 9.4/14 in night three (with an expected second place finish among adults 18-49), the game show was up 59 percent from lead-in Less Than Perfect with a 24 percent advantage over the regularly scheduled NYPD Blue last Tuesday (7.6/11 on Feb. 17).
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Thanks Casey! The above were the OVERNIGHTS. But now...
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From tv.zap2it.com, NEILSEN FAST NATIONALS...
NBC won at 10 p.m. with the 9.9/16 for "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit."
ABC's "Super Millionaire" grabbed second with an 8.7/14.
CBS wasn't far off with "Judging Amy."
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Comment: Well at least we went up from yesterday's slight slide. And we did well against the typical Tuesday 10 p.m. heavyweights.
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Two Caseys on the same thread. Hasn't happened to me many times before. Anyhoo, MediaLifeMagazine reports that Tuesday Millionaire finished with a 4.4 in their sainted 18-49 demo. That's downright giddy by ABC standards. Once again, Millionaire was ABC's highest-rated show by a mile Tuesday night, no matter how you slice the numbers. And the show gave L&O: SVU a good run.
Regis must look like pure gold to ABC execs. I'm sure we'll see another run in May.
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USA Today has the complete weekly ratings that included the Sunday show, and SM ended up in 14th place overall for the week, and was ABC's top show for the week ending 2/22 (the only other show ABC had in the top 20 was the Primetime special with the Mel Gibson Interview- no regularly scheduled ABC shows were in the top 20). The Sunday show also was 20th in the crucial 18-49 demo for the week, and it along with Primetime were the only shows in the top 20 for ABC in that demo.
With the uptick the show got Tuesday, I suspect we'll see the show in May again for a week or so....maybe a Sunday-Sunday run, since Sunday was the best night for them so far.
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Regis must look like pure gold to ABC execs. I'm sure we'll see another run in May.
According to Steve Beverly, you will -- it will have another limited run during the May sweeps. Regis made the announcement to the audience following the taping of tonight's (2/27) show -- the last one until May.
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Regis made the announcement to the audience following the taping of tonight's (2/27) show -- the last one until May
Good to hear. The show hasn't been a runaway hit, but it's certainly improved ABC's usual numbers.
EDIT: By the way, Millionaire scored a 7.8/12 in the fast nationals Thursday night. A respectable finish behind two of last week's top-ten shows, and far better than ABC usually does on Thursday. Millionaire got no help from the network's feeble lead-ins, of course.
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TV Barn has posted the ABC press release (http://\"http://www.tvbarn.com/ticker/archives/019338.html#019338\") announcing "Super Millionaire"'s return in May.
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*Marv Albert voice...*
YES!!!!