I’m sure you’ve heard it before, and it really is one of my television pet-peeves. “Cable is so much better than the networks.” It bothers me, because cable is actually no different than the networks. The ratings last week show that to be evident as plainly as can be.
Often near the top of the list when that conversation starts, you’ll find Mad Men. Critics just love to go on and on about how great the show is, and blah… blah… blah…. So, it’s become something of a touchstone to show how far elevated cable programming is above the lowly networks, where shameless things like Idol, Survivor, or Dancing With The Stars continue to live on.
So, we turn to the cable numbers from last week. Mad Men (2.92m/.9) premiered a new season, and the ratings were up over the previous year. Not too shabby, right? Until… the new season of Jersey Shore (5.25m/2.6) premiered. Holy smokes, Snookie is nearly tripling the Draper demo. So, yes… there really are some good shows on cable, but there’s a whole boatload of schlock. Just like the networks. I’d even go so far as to suggest that, on the whole, cable is still well behind the networks on the cringe inducing schlock programming, but that’s probably another argument.
To those particular numbers, it will be interesting to keep an eye on where Mad Men goes from here. Historically, there’s been a pretty sharp drop over the course of the season, despite how great we’re told it is. Other cable numbers of note this week:
Basic:
Premium:
NBC - Last Comic Standing (4.46m/1.7) led off the week in what has become its typical fashion. Tuesday brought changes, in the form of Breakthrough With Tony Robbins (3.12m/.8). Unfortunately, those numbers are even lower than what the struggling Losing It With Jillian was managing in the spot. America’s Got Talent was off just a bit, but still solid on Tuesday (9.68m/2.6) and Wednesday (9.76m/2.6). Elsewhere, Minute To Win It (6.05m/1.9) and Friday Night Lights (3.54m/1) held steady, while Persons Unknown (1.6m/.4) continued to slip.
FOX - Sons Of Tuscon (1.49m/.6) seems to have found its level. Much like Lie To Me (5.6m/1.6) and The Good Guys (3.47m/1). The difference in that though, is that Sons isn’t supposed to be part of the network’s fall plans, and Good Guys is. Hell’s Kitchen (6.4m/2.9) remained strong, prompting the network to give Gordy yet another show, Master Chef (5.75m/2.7). I suppose if people keep watching them… So You Think You Can Dance (5.43m/2 – 5.88m/2) wrapped the week up on a slightly down note.
ABC – A light week kicked off with Scoundrels (3.08m/.6) and The Gates (2.91m/.9) continuing to struggle. Similar to AGT, The Bachelorette (8.87m/2.9) was also slightly off the pace, but remained strong. The rest of the week was rounded out by Rookie Blue (6.71m/1.8) and Boston Med (4.67m/1.2).
CBS - It was again a week consisting of Big Brother on Sunday (7.19m/2.5), Wednesday (6.71m/2.3), and Thursday (6.52m/2.2), followed by Flashpoint (5.71m/1.1) on Friday. On the whole, Big Brother is trending up, which could be a good sign that viewers are liking the current cast.
CW - New programming on CW! Who knew? Apparently, not many people. Plain Jane (.99m/.4) barely registered with viewers.
Clacked by Brett Love 
on Aug 02, 2010 @ 09:02 EST5EDT
Apparently demographic matters. I saw an interesting article (forget where) that said half of the (nielson) viewers of Mad Men have household incomes over 100,000. Luxury companies like BMW are chomping at the bit, allegedly, to get advertising time on AMC now.
Did the article also mention 30 Rock because I think I read the same thing? It basically confirmed I have upscale taste. Now if only that transferred into my wallet.
I don’t recall, but I have heard the same thing about 30 Rock.
You know over here everything’s a little bit different. I remember four years ago I wrote an article in a sci-fi newsletter about what the system in the US is like and was amazed what TV is like in the US compared to how we over here got TV. I still remember as if it was yesterday when the first privately owned company (compared to the three government run channels) was introduced in 1986. Back then the program started at 2pm and ran until maybe 12:30am and suddenly there were two new channels and they started airing morning program from 6 to 9. That was a mere 24 years ago.
Anyway, what I’m getting at is that over here it’s pretty much the same everywhere. The stuff they produce sucks on all channels and on pay-tv, you get US imports and Sports. That’s it.
So consider yourselves lucky for the amount of original programming you get in the US. The sheer amount is astonishing and mond-boggling to me considering the amount of daily soap and reality garbage we over here get for both the mandatory 25$ equivalent a month on the government run channels as well as the ad funded private channels.
(I use “channels” because 95% of a program you got back in the day from the multiple broadcast towers in germany was the same, with a couple of regional news sprinkled in so over here there never was that station/network system, it was always a channel. Like the BBC.)
Thanks for reading my dribble ^^;
. . . . .
… where shameless things like Idol, Survivor, or Dancing With The Stars continue to live on.
*sputter … stumble … collapse*