(Why Was This) Seen on TV - Viva Laughlin (CBS)
Showing posts with label (why was this) seen on TV. Show all posts
Showing posts with label (why was this) seen on TV. Show all posts
(Why Was This) Seen on TV? - The Beautiful Life: TBL
The show starred Mischa Barton, Elle Macpherson, Sara Paxton, and Corbin Bleu (who we all know as Chad Danforth in the High School Musical movie franchise). The premise was basically revolving around a group of coed models living together at a New York City apartment [1]. At first glance, it sounded like a reality show to me, as it is produced by Ashton Kutcher of That 70s Show and Punk'd fame. But then I realized it is a teen drama.
On September 16, 2009, the show premiered to a 0.6/2 in the key A18-49 demographic, a 1.1/3 in the women 18-34 demo (back then, the CW's target demographic), and 1.38 million viewers. The viewership got worse in week 2, and the CW canceled the show after two episodes, pulling it from the schedule and shutting down production immediately [2]. Consequently, this show became the first broadcast show to be canceled for the 2009-10 television season. The two episodes as well as three other episodes were then put on TBL's official YouTube, where they remain. As of today, the numbers average between 800,000 to 1.1 million [3].
The sad part is, the show was heavily promoted and did poorly from the get go. Critical reception was mostly negative to mixed, with a Metacritic score of 40 [4], and a score of 25% from Rotten Tomatoes [5]. For one thing, this ends up as the biggest flop in the history of the CW.
And that does it for (Why Was This) Seen on TV?. Sound off in the comments below!
Sources:
1. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1400580/
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beautiful_Life:_TBL
3. https://www.youtube.com/user/TBL
4. https://www.metacritic.com/tv/the-beautiful-life
5. https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the-beautiful-life/
(Why Was This) Seen on TV? - Anchorwoman
The series featured former WWE Diva, The Price is Right model, and pageant winner Lauren Jones. The former "Barker Beauty" aspired to become an anchorwoman at KYTX in Tyler, Texas [1]. Ironically, this was a CBS affiliate and all mentions of CBS in the editing room was temporarily removed until conclusion of filming [3].
The show premiered in the 8pm timeslot on Wednesday, August 22, 2007 with two back-to-back episodes. This show drew just 2.72 million viewers and a 1.0/3 in the key adults 18-49 demographic, which resulted in FOX tying for fourth place with the CW in the 8pm time period [2]. The following morning, FOX canceled the show after the two episodes aired and replaced it with repeats of sitcom 'Til Death.
The six remaining episodes were available through Fox on Demand until September 27, 2007 when the network removed the show's site. As of today, these episodes have not seen the light of day [1]. Unless you can search on YouTube.
In 2020, a 1.0 is considered a solid performance. But back then, a 1.0 was horrific on any broadcast network except the CW.
That does it for today's installment. Sound off in the comments below!
Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchorwoman_(TV_series)
2. https://adage.com/article/media/a-tale-anchorwomen/120068
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KYTX
(Why Was This) Seen on TV? - Cavemen
Welcome to a new series on the TV Ratings Guide titled, (Why Was This) Seen on TV?. Each installment, we highlight one of the biggest flops of television history. A little background: I highlighted flops in TV Flops Worse Than… a few seasons ago. This is just a revamped version, except that this highlights one show. In this installment, I’ll discuss the ABC series Cavemen which aired in the fall 2007 season. I actually saw the premiere of Cavemen and remembered my entire family going: "These are not the real Geico Cavemen!"
But in all seriousness, remember the Geico commercials with the tag, “So easy, even a caveman can do it.”? The show is basically based on the Geico commercials written by Joe Lawson [1]. Except for Jeff Daniel Phillips, none of the original actors from the Cavemen commercials appeared on the show, which also starred Bill English, Nick Kroll, Sam Huntington, and Kaitlin Doubleday.
The show premiered on October 2, 2007, and it actually started out okay, with a 3.3 in the key adults 18-49 demographic and around nine million viewers, but the show slipped further and further each week as it left a bad taste in the mouths of viewers. It got as low as a 1.6 in the demo before ABC decided to pull the show from the schedule after six episodes. It was also critically panned, with the Chicago Tribune calling it one of the top 25 worst TV shows ever. This important quote from the paper says it all: “We'll take this insurance commercial, see, only we'll make it 30 times as long! No, not the one with the lizard.” [2].
As Cavemen illustrated, if you want to make a show based on another medium, don’t make it based on a commercial. And that does it for this installment of (Why Was This) Seen on TV?.
What do you think about this installment? Sound off in the comments below!
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