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Winners and Losers From The Last 7 Days

WINNERS:

Regular Remote Patrolled readers will know I’m not a huge Gordon Ramsay fan, but there’s no arguing with the numbers. During the summer months, Ramsay is a valuable asset to Fox, scoring relatively strong numbers against the limited network competition.

On Monday night, Ramsay ruled screens with the return of Hell’s Kitchen managing a decent 5.84 million and a 2.5 18-49 share and Masterchef following closely behind with 5.62 million and a 2.4. Sure the total viewers aren’t earth shattering, but bear in mind that Hell’s Kitchen is now in its ninth season. And then compare the numbers with NBC’s still new Marriage Ref – which on Sunday night scored just over 3 million viewers and a measly 1.0 18-49 share (and that was UP on last week). Who’s the donkey now?

Breaking Bad: Some good news for AMC, still reeling from the mass audience revolt against that controversial Killing season finale! Returning drama Breaking Bad hit a ratings high on Sunday night at 10pm, with 2.56 million viewers and a 1.1 18-49 share. That’s up by 32% on the season 3 premiere and the show’s highest ratings ever. Also bear in mind that Breaking Bad averaged just 1.2 million viewers across its first season.

These numbers even came close to beating Mad Men, arguably the jewel in the AMC crown, whose record to date is 2.92 million (also for the season 4 premiere ironically!) And with smash hit The Walking Dead back in a few weeks, I guess AMC aren’t just the Don Draper network anymore!

Shark Tank: Hmm, now this is interesting…

Ever since its launch back in 2009 my favorite business reality show has been on the bubble – with a year long gap between season 1 and 2 – and a reduced second season order (those 8 episodes whizzed by!)

Now Shark Tank is airing re-runs over the summer months and an interesting fact has become apparent! Shark Tank repeats score almost as well as original episodes.

Last Friday, a Shark Tank re-run hit 4.23 million viewers and a 1.2 18-49 share, beating the series finale of Friday Night Lights and out-rating repeats of costly dramas like House and Bones. No wonder ABC are rushing season 3 onto our screens later this year with an extended run.

shark-tank ABC

LOSERS

101 Ways To Leave A Game Show: I had a feeling from the start that 101 Ways would be a network under-performer – it just reminded me too much of the similarly wacky (and largely unwatched) I Survived A Japanese Game Show.

And sure enough the latest ABC extreme game show isn’t taking off with viewers either, this week dropping to a series low 4.76 million and a 1.5 18-49 share. That means that Game Show has lost viewers every week since its launch (with one exception). And with just one episode remaining the chances of an additional pick up are looking slim to none in my opinion…

But 101 Ways isn’t the only newbie that’s struggling. NBC’s romantic adventure, Love In The Wild, also hit a series low this week with just 4.54 million viewers and a 1.5 youth demo on Wednesday night, losing almost half its America’s Got Talent lead in. And ABC’s Amazing Race Expedition Impossible also struggled on Thursday – managing just 4.68 million and a 1.3 18-49 share. Once again it’s turning into a tough summer season for the broadcast networks…

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Roseanne’s Nuts: How the mighty have fallen!

Despite hitting the interview circuit – including a plum spot on the final season of Oprah – Roseanne Bar’s new reality series on Lifetime isn’t exactly setting the TV world ablaze.

Wednesday night’s second episode was down from last week’s premiere to just 977,000 viewers and a 0.4 18-49 share. To put that into perspective, Roseanne was beaten by TV Land’s Happily Divorced (1.72 million) and Hot In Cleveland (2.43 million), TLC’s Toddlers and Tiaras (1.56 million) and even Income Property on HGTV – a show I’ve never heard off!

Hmm, maybe it’s because Roseanne’s Nuts is based on an incredibly weak premise that can’t sustain a series? What do you think?