MTV's Ratings Surge: The Chris McCarthy Era
The Thursday night lineup of Wild 'n Out and SafeWord officially took the ratings storm last night on MTV. SafeWord premiered with a 0.38 in the A18-49 demo, while Wild 'n Out went up six tenths to a 0.45. The Lil Yachty episode was the second highest rated show on cable. It is hard to believe that the Nick Cannon hosted freestyle comedy show would bring this much potency to beat Queen of the South, but it has. Last season, Wild 'n Out hung mostly in the 0.2 range on Thursday night, and this season is up over 50% year to year.
This is one of the major success stories of the Chris McCarthy takeover of MTV this season. In June, ratings in the key A18-34 demographic were up 3% vs last year, and this year to year ratings growth is a first for the network since 2011. This growth started from Fear Factor, and it is continuing with the Thursday night lineup. SafeWord becomes another success with its solid premiere ratings.
In addition, the ratings are even more impressive considering that both Wild 'n Out and SafeWord are airing at the lesser viewed 11pm hour. And that, my friends, is really something that MTV can boast.
Nashville's Continued Decline in Quality
And Nashville's ratings from last night are in. The show hit a 0.14 in the A18-49 demographic. I can not say this enough, and I will say this again for the people in the back. Wild 'n Out's 0.45 is even beating Nashville's combined 0.32 A18-49 rating with Nick at Nite added in. When Nick Cannon is beating a CMT show that relies on Nick at Nite for the combined ratings, and on a different timeslot, that means the writers need to get a different profession stat.
Is there anything more that needs to be said about the writers other than that Supernatural's writers treat their fans better than Nashville's writers? Laughing at the "20 internet fans" is uncalled for and I don't understand why CMT is not even stepping in. I don't understand why neither Lionsgate nor Viacom is stepping in either. This mess would not be happening if it is still on ABC's lineup. This mess would not be happening if Lionsgate would not be so greedy and allow the show to provide closure in the event of a cancelation. I've not watched Nashville in any of its four seasons on ABC, but after watching last night's episode, I felt like I was watching an urban version of Gossip Girl, and Gossip Girl is miles better than what is being shown on Nashville. I'm going to concur with our reviewer about this debacle. Because clearly, if my favorite show is dealt with a decline in quality as Nashville has, it would be canceled in a heartbeat and Supernatural's slight decline in quality is not as drastic as this.
This concludes this installment of Jess's Take. What do you think? Let me know in the comments below!
