oprahs-next-chapter

WINNERS

OPRAH’S NEXT CHAPTER: Finally some good news for OWN!

Yep, the beleaguered Oprah Winfrey Network might finally have another hit on their hands – and all it took was Oprah herself.
Sunday night’s premiere of Oprah’s Next Chapter, featuring Winfrey interviewing Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler, gave a big boost to OWN, pulling in 1.1 million viewers to rate as the network’s biggest show in a year (OWN’s other hit? Season 25 – the series that went behind the scenes of Oprah. Hmm, do I detect a pattern here?)

Personally I thought Next Chapter was very entertaining and proved once again why Oprah is such a strong interviewer – she certainly didn’t duck the tough questions. But I do think 2 hours is too long for the show – even I had to reach for the fast forward button by the halfway mark!

The big question now becomes-  how will Oprah’s Next Chapter hold up in the weeks to come, especially when the show doesn’t feature big name celebrities? Still for now at least it’s Mission Accomplished!  It sure beats The Rosie Show…

GREY’S ANATOMY: Wow, what happened to ABC’s veteran medical drama this week?

After a season of slumping ratings Grey’s shot back up this week after it’s Xmas hiatus, pulling in a season high 12.1 million viewers and a strong 4.5 18-49 rating. For a show in its 8th season these are great figures – especially when contrasted to the fading fast Desperate Housewives, which can barely crack the 9 million mark these days.

Sure Grey’s faced limited competition this week (CBS, Fox and NBC were all in repeats) but even so this is a clear sign that there’s still substantial life in the aging medical series. But how much longer will the original cast decide to stick around – and what impact will their departure have on the show? Paging Patrick Dempsey…

Grey’s Anatomy

LOSERS

WORK IT: Gosh – who saw this one coming?

After attracting some of the most toxic reviews in recent memory – including here at Remote Patrolled – ABC finally premiered their cross dressing workplace comedy. And guess what? Audiences didn’t tune in. Shocker!

Work It wasn’t a total disaster along the lines of Sons Of Tucson or Free Agents, likely due to its Last Man Standing lead in (Standing viewers would actually have to figure out how to use the remote first in order to change channel!) But even so – 6.16 million viewers and a 2.0 18-49 share isn’t a great result for a show in its first week, especially since we all know it will drop in week 2.

Still it’s good news for all you Cougar Town fans out there. Looks like your favorite wine soaked comedy will be back sooner rather than later!

RETURNING REALITY: Not a great week for several veteran reality shows this week as audiences erosion continued to hit several premiering January shows.

The Biggest Loser slumped a staggering 30% year on year, pulling in just 6.59 million viewers and a 2.4 18-49 share. NBC is relying too heavily on the veteran weight loss format which only just crowned its 2011 winner. I think the only thing that will save the show now is the return of Jillian Michaels. Get dialing NBC!

Then there’s The Bachelor over on ABC, which premiered on Monday night with 7.78 million viewers and also a 2.4 youth share. Sounds good on paper – until you realize that’s down almost 20% year on year and is the franchise’s lowest premiere numbers to date.

And finally over to Howie Mandel who debuted another installment of his tiresome flash mob special, Mobbed. Unfortunately for Howie, audiences seem pretty bored of the concept now, and without an Idol or X Factor lead in, Mobbed could only scrape together 3.06 million viewers and a pitiful 1.2 18-49 share. To add insult to injury it was up against repeats on NBC and CBS and was thrashed earlier in the evening by CBS’s own returning reality special, I Get That A Lot, which hit 8.32 million and a 2.3 youth share.

Oh well Howie – there’s always more America’s Got Talent this summer…

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