Broadcasting and Cable article, free of any insider jargon!

Syn-Deal: 1.5
TP:AP: 0.8

D/ND remains the top rookie, and TP:AP pulled a rating similar to Crosswords's average. Given the lack of promotion, a 0.8 in this case seems a little high, so maybe there's hope of the show picking up some sort of steam.

We're to a time where WoF is only pulling 6.4s and its good for a show to have a 1.5?

I swear that just a few years ago, Wheel was pulling 9s and your show was canned if it got a 1.5. Has cable really pulled that many viewers away?

Cable and DVRs. Nowadays, a 6.7 gets you in the Top 20 primetime (Worst Week) while the #1 show (Dancing With the Stars) "only" pulled a 13.7 (SOURCE).

I'm sure even the 13 would put a show on the bubble back in the 80s...

Whatever year we did Chuck Woolery's talk show - late 80s, I would guess - we debuted the same season as Jenny Jones - we were cancelled with about a 2.0 Today 1.0 is a freakin' HIT. With a 2.0 today, we'd still be in that studio instead of Hannah Montana who is the present inhabitant. (And the studio is as messy as a teenage girl's room, I may add!)

Randy
tvrandywest.com

Mike and Juliet and Steve the Bouncer were both doing under 1.0 last season and both got renewed--M&J I kinda understand, considering the inter-News Corp. connections, but Wilkos I'm still amazed that he hasn't gone back to Springer.

I'm still convinced, though, that M&J will be replaced on the Fox-owned stations in January by Wendy Williams, when her show returns and goes national--even if Debmar Mercury's syndicating her show and not 20th.

I guess Springer might need the help...notice that he's only at 0.9 to Wilkos's 1.0? :)

Also to keep in mind about the Syndie Ratings posted- Deal or No Deal is the Nationwide average for Week 2 while TP:AP is just the overnight metered market average for Week 1 of their show. Remember how DorND was a 1.1 in the overnight metered market and then jumped to a 1.6 when the full nationals came out? It will be interesting to see if a similar affect occurs for TP:AP occurs when the final full national numbers come out next week.

In answer to the question about "Is cable really pulling that many people away?", the answer is yes. Why? So many choices. It has made the market so fragmented because there are so many channels. However, let us not forget that there have been some positives to come from the cable game show world. Who knows whether we would have had the pleasure of Win Ben Stein's Money, Lingo, Debt, Supermarket Sweep, Shop 'Til You Drop, Hollywood Showdown, the 80s versions of Jackpot and Chain Reaction, and many other cable game shows that we came to know and love? Just my two cents...