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Matt? Savannah? GMA? NBC Execs? You won’t believe who did what in this summer network mystery special!
When high crimes are committed against network news careers you can be sure of one thing: finger prints are never left behind. Given the challenge, this kind of unsolved mystery needs a top television sleuth, someone willing to follow the trail while the blood is still fresh and revisionist publicists have yet to spin the story into infinity.
Preferably, the best choice to solve the high-profile case of the sudden disappearance of Ann Curry should have experience in the crime beat of morning news. So, for the greater good (of the blogosphere at least) I must volunteer myself, a long-time morning show executive and, just like NBC’s Detective Olivia Benson, a crime fighter whose skills have been sharpened by once having suffered a personal assault as well.
THE TALE OF THE TAPE
Curry Cringe w/Matt v. Teddy Bear Hug w/Al
And so we begin, first examining the suspects who were last seen with the victim, sitting on that couch as she tearfully said goodbye to her beloved audience. Natalie? No, she’s not All About Eve. Al? No, he doesn’t even qualify as a red herring although he likes to eat them. Matt? Now we might want to put Matt in a line up at least and not because he’s just re-signed a ridiculous new contract, one we can fairly assume was designed to make all his dreams come true. No, we just need to look at the victim’s body language and Matt’s not off the hook quite yet. Read the rest of this entry »
HEY CHRIS, YOUR EIGHTH GRADE MATH TEACHER IS CALLING, HE WANTS TO OFFER A FREE REMEDIAL ARITHMETIC REFRESHER
Another week, another by-line, another puzzlingly inaccurate report from TV Newser on the morning show ratings, something I’ve followed for years.
The full article follows, but I’ve excerpted the bad math that appears in the second paragraph:
“Year-over-year “Today” was down while CBS and ABC were up, which can be attributed to NBC’s boost during coverage of the Vancouver Olympics last February.”
WRONG: All three were down in the demo ( A25-54) and Early and Today were down in total viewers. GMA was up in total viewers. How do I know this? I clicked on your own Year-over-year link and found this:
The averages for the week of Feb. 15 2010:Total Viewers: NBC: 6.38M / ABC: 4.49M / CBS: 2.85M
A25-54: NBC: 2.86M / ABC: 1.85M / CBS: 1.24M
Then I compared last years numbers to the averages you published today for the week of Feb. 14 2011:Total Viewers: NBC: 5.45M / ABC: 4.73M / CBS: 2.72M
A25-54 viewers: NBC: 2.43M / ABC: 1.79M / CBS: 1.20M
Here are my calculations:
Total Viewers : NBC: -930,000/ ABC +24,000/ CBS -130,000
A25-54 Viewers: NBC: -430,000/ABC -60,000 /CBS -40,000
It’s really not that hard to do: Step one: Write down the NBC total number from the week of Feb. 15, 2010, then subtract the number you see next to NBC total viewer for the week of Feb. 14, 2011. You get 930,000 which is the decline in the audience year to year. Repeat the same process with ABC and CBS, then all three networks for the A25-54 viewers.
Now try that math exercise for last week’s post on the morning show audience and, whoops, you’ll see why your math teacher is trying to reach you.
(In fact, I think you might want to re-check all of your numbers…. and then we’ll move on to some other suggestions.)
By Chris Ariens on February 25, 2011 4:38 PM
Last week saw another decline for the morning network news programs, compared to the week before. The combined average for NBC’s “Today,” ABC’s “Good Morning America” and CBS’ “The Early Show” was 12.9 million, down -6% week-over-week. “Today” remained #1 with a 720K total viewer lead over “GMA.”
Year-over-year “Today” was down while CBS and ABC were up, which can be attributed to NBC’s boost during coverage of the Vancouver Olympics last February.
The averages for the week of Feb. 14:
- Total Viewers: NBC: 5.45M / ABC: 4.73M / CBS: 2.72M
- A25-54 viewers: NBC: 2.43M / ABC: 1.79M / CBS: 1.20M
HOW LONG BEFORE PIERS MORGAN GOES LIVE, ADDS MULTIPLE GUESTS? START THE OFFICE POOL NOW
KING REPLACEMENT STILL LIKES HIS INTERVIEWS PRE-TAPED — NOT SHAKEN OR STIRRED
Whew, what a relief that Piers Morgan’s first week is over. We can both relax now. I don’t really know how he felt, but I certainly was full of anxiety watching. Imagine getting hired to replace an icon like Larry King. The set, the suspenders, open heart surgery (or as he awkwardly called it with Bill Clinton: the “zipper club.”) And all the wives we loved and lost.
Replacing a broadcast original, even if he’d acted like your embarrassing uncle some nights, is a daunting challenge. I just couldn’t wait for those first interviews to be over so we can all dig into reality.
YOU MIGHT AS WELL BURN THE FIRST WEEK…
No matter how strategic one tries to be, you might as well burn the first week anytime you’re stepping into big shoes, especially comfortable old ones. And you’ve got to know the size of the shoes into which you step — the American size, not the English size, which is smaller. (A man’s size 12 in the US is an 11 in the UK.)
Speaking of smaller, the total audience for Morgan’s show began to shrink throughout the first week, losing nearly a million viewers across all ages.
Among adults 25-54, the audience was nearly halved by Wednesday. But then again, anyone here could have warned in advance that Condoleeza Rice, while one of the most interesting women in the world, is not fascinating as an interviewee. Ricky Gervais, on the other hand, is — especially right after his Golden Globe controversy. But “right after,” in our world of 24/7 news, would have been Monday, not Thursday. Read the rest of this entry »
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