GSN ratings May 7-13

[pzimm7778]

Well, thanks. You could set up four hours in the morning: Match Game at 8:00AM, Dawson/Karn Feud at 9:00AM, Donnymid/25K Pyramid at 10:00AM and the Passwords at 11:00AM. Something different every hour. Don't know if the numbers would be spectacular, but GSN doesn't have a lot to lose in the morning. Mix in a couple of (somewhat) more recent shows with the pre-1990 material.

Of course, if GSN could ever get their hands on very recent Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy, they'd have two really powerful shows for daytime. But I'm not holding my breath on that.

4:14am?? How was the bar Casey?! Lol!

[wayne3924]

All this will get scrambled if GSN actually runs with that reality slate they unleashed at the upfront. The reality shows will take a big chunk of the schedule and force more recent game shows toward more peripheral timeslots, like the mornings. We'll see what happens.

This should be bold-printed, italicized, underlined, and whatever else denotes importance to remember. What GSN decides to do with this slate will affect everything on the schedule, and probably not for the better for classics or modern fare.

Of course, that'll also mean more lively "debate" on these forums.

[pzimm7778]

That's an ideological solution which favors pre-1990 shows no matter what the numbers. I'm just looking at the ratings. Karn consistently gets better numbers than Dawson in the morning. In fact, Karn usually helps repair the damage that Dawson does at 9:00AM, when he loses much of the Match Game lead-in. See the latest week's numbers for a particularly glaring example:

8:00am Match Game: 94K
8:30am Match Game: 160K
9:00am Family Feud (Dawson): 112K
9:30am Family Feud (Karn): 152K

In the real world a lot of people really don't like Dawson that much. If anything, I'd drop Dawson Feud from the mornings completely and go with a Karn (or O'Hurley) and Harvey combo in the 9:00AM hour. That should produce a pretty decent lead-in for my proposed Pyramid combo in the 10:00AM hour. But I realize these ideas won't get much traction on this board.

All this will get scrambled if GSN actually runs with that reality slate they unleashed at the upfront. The reality shows will take a big chunk of the schedule and force more recent game shows toward more peripheral timeslots, like the mornings. We'll see what happens. GSN may have been scared off non-traditional stuff by the DWTS crash-and-burn. Right now the schedule is wall-to-wall traditional game shows. And all we're hearing about recently is the Bible quizzer and the new Pyramid, both of them traditional gamers.

Im thinking they are going with the reality stuff. They seem focused elsewhere other than having a schedule making any sense. Maybe that's why.

[pzimm7778]

This should be bold-printed, italicized, underlined, and whatever else denotes importance to remember. What GSN decides to do with this slate will affect everything on the schedule, and probably not for the better for classics or modern fare.

Of course, that'll also mean more lively "debate" on these forums.

That'll be great if it's a debate that resembles discussion. But more likely it'll be hysterics like over DWTS when even those of us who werent about to watch the show wound up defending it somewhat in response to the whining over every little thing they did....including giw they advertised it!

[CaseyAbell]

4:14am?? How was the bar Casey?! Lol!

Actually, it was earlier in my time zone. And no bar, I'm afraid. Just stayed up late Friday night (or early Saturday morning).

This should be bold-printed, italicized, underlined, and whatever else denotes importance to remember. What GSN decides to do with this [reality] slate will affect everything on the schedule, and probably not for the better for classics or modern fare.

No doubt about it. If GSN goes big on reality, these discussions about pre-1990 game shows on weekday mornings will seem quaint. The real question will be whether traditional game shows of any date can get much space on the schedule. (See History for an example of how successful reality experiments pushed a network's traditional shows to much fringier timeslots on the schedule.)

But as I said, I'm not so sure about the non-traditional stuff. The DWTS disaster may have opened some eyes at the network - it sure surprised me, as many have reminded me - even if current GSN personnel are too new to remember the 2004 experiment.

Admittedly, GSN's non-trad stuff hasn't always crashed. In fact, one of the network's best and most successful originals, High Stakes Poker, eventually grew out of the 2004 flirtation with non-traditional programming. And there have been other, more short-lived successes, like the blackjack and dodgeball shows and (for a while) the Amazing Race acquisition. But GSN's record on non-traditional is generally discouraging.

Nothing in the upfront reality slate looks particularly appetizing, either. Even the cooking show.

Crossposted to the blog with a screenshot of GSN's most successful non-trad experiment.

[Lingofan97]

A lot of viewers really don't like Dawson that much. He's a strong, sometimes overbearing personality, compared to the much milder and more likable Karn. If anything, I'd drop Dawson Feud from the mornings completely and go with a Karn (or O'Hurley) and Harvey combo in the 9:00AM hour. That should produce a pretty decent lead-in for my proposed Pyramid combo in the 10:00AM hour and Password combo in the 11:00AM hour. But I realize these ideas won't get much traction on this board.

Maybe Karn/O'Hurley before noon for now, but I think in the future GSN may lease more Card Sharks, Match Game PM, and even a possibility of Tattletales (seeing the succession of TNG) and maybe even Love Connection (with the succession of Baggage). Hopefully only pre-1990's shows will stay before noon. If GSN wants to take both Family Feud's out in the morning, fine by me since the 9am hour is the lowest rated.

[CaseyAbell]

Maybe Karn/O'Hurley before noon for now, but I think in the future GSN may lease more Card Sharks, Match Game PM, and even a possibility of Tattletales (seeing the succession of TNG) and maybe even Love Connection (with the succession of Baggage). Hopefully only pre-1990's shows will stay before noon.

See my comment above about GSN's upfront reality slate. I'm sorry, but this speculation about pre-1990 game shows looks...disconnected from reality (sorry for the pun). But we'll have to wait and see how much of that reality stuff turns up on GSN.

[Lingofan97]

As long as pre-1990's shows stay before noon, and if anything expands past noon. GSN will do better with Match Game and Card Sharks anyday than "I Do, Now I Don't" and "Crowning Glory"

What schedule changes GSN should make right now

Looking at how the ratings have been going for the months of March, April, and these two weeks in May, I would recommend making the following schedule changes, even though GSN may not.

The 9am hour has been performing to be one of the weakest hours all day. Family Feud with Richard Dawson used to perform well, but lately it hasn't with rerun abuse. Then, Karn doesn't really belong at 9:30am. I would say at some point in the future GSN should just dump Family Feud in the mornings, and concentrate on other classics that have done well for them.

Early afternoons used to be a hit, but they've been taking a big hit lately. Leaving Deal or No Deal to prime time and weekend slots where they do best, and then moving Pyramid (Osmond) to afternoons will help out the 12-2pm slots. A Pyramid hour at noon, and Lingo (Woolery) at 1 and 1:30pm is what I'm thinking.

Lingo with Bill Engvall has to go, even though GSN isn't thinking of renewing it OR removing it. The numbers are falling for the 40-episode series. Enough is enough. Replace the 2:30pm slot with Catch 21, and the 1:30am slot with The Newlywed Game (Shepherd)

Jeopardy! at 9am has had the lowest numbers every week mainly. Lingo (Woolery) at 9am on weekends would do best. I think J! is too much of a quizzer that early. Although Jeopardy! at 2am isn't doing too poorly.

[jhshifris]

I thought that [Richard]Karn always did well at 4:00pm.

[starwheel]

I thought that [Richard]Karn always did well at 4:00pm.

And he does lousy at 9:30 in the morning, because he is too much too early. He is more afternoon/evening fare. They need to for sure dump Karn in the morning (isn't he on enough already???) and put Card Sharks in that slot. That would be a fantastic lead-in for Password Plus, which already has steady numbers, and handily beats Karn's Feud in daytime on a routine basis, thank you very much. Just sayin'...

[phimat37]

Is it just me, or is Karn not pulling that strong of numbers at 4pm and 4:30pm? I mean, I saw a couple of 300K's and then I see some 200K's. Don't tell me I missed a 400K number for Karn in the 4pm hour.

GSN used to have Feud on at 5pm and 5:30pm ET with Dawson/Combs years ago. I'm assuming it did well for them to keep it there at the time.

People who say we're the "older is better" crowd don't get why most of us like those old shows. They liven up the schedule for one. Just saying.

[CaseyAbell]

Is it just me, or is Karn not pulling that strong of numbers at 4pm and 4:30pm?

In the latest week Karn averaged 305K in the 4:00PM hour. Better than anything in daytime except Harvey.

And [Karn] does lousy at 9:30 in the morning, because he is too much too early.

Well, he does better than Dawson. In fact, he helps fix the hole that Dawson regularly makes in the morning numbers, after Match Game delivers a pretty decent lead-out into the 9:00AM hour. I know, Karn gets little respect around here. (Even though the date of production keeps receding further and further into the past. Kind of hard to believe, but Karn is now two versions behind the latest Feud incarnation.) But the Nielsen Company doesn't mind him, and they're a lot more important.

That said, I might try O'Hurley and Harvey in the 9:00AM hour, just to see if the network could generate a better lead-in to the rest of daytime. O'Hurley does fine in Saturday prime time. Harvey would get overused, but GSN could drop the 11:00PM hour, which doesn't seem to be working that well, anyway. Might get more bang for the buck from Steve in the morning than in late night. (Don't know if there are strings on the Harvey lease about time of day.)

If the Legion of Decency objects to Harvey so early in the day, I'd remind them of the Match Game and O'Hurley lead-ins. It's not like Steve would be following Howdy-Doody. In fact, he'd be following two other TV-PG rated shows.

But again, all this schedule shuffleboard gives me an uncomfortable arranging-deck-chairs-on-the-Titanic feeling. That reality upfront hangs over the schedule like a grinning skull.

[pzimm7778]

I don't know that I totally buy its Dawson for why the ratings fall. You're telling me the people who like MG at 8:30 hate Dawson then come back at 9:30? I think a lot of it could just have to do with the hour. It's possible that with that being drive time to work for a lot of people some leave around the time Dawson's show starts. Don't take this as a Dawson defense. If other shows at 9am have done better then I'll gladly admit I'm wrong. But to see 8am - bad which we all accept as the hour of the day, 8:30 - good , 9am - pretty good size drop, 9:30 - ratings are back makes me wonder if it's not just Dawson causing it to happen.

[Lingofan97]

I thought that [Richard]Karn always did well at 4:00pm.

He does very well in the 4pm hour. You notice every day the 3-6pm block (Whammy, Chain Reaction, Family Feud) tops off ratings everyday, and Harvey is setting daytime records at 5 and 5:30pm. Karn and Dawson just need to go in the 9am hour

[wayne3924]

But again, all this schedule shuffleboard gives me an uncomfortable arranging-deck-chairs-on-the-Titanic feeling. That reality upfront hangs over the schedule like a grinning skull.

It's hard to impress upon the board's schedule-makers that those shows haven't been officially abandoned.

It's important, though, to remember that fact and tread cautiously with all of these "GSN should air/re-air (insert show)" comments, since in the blink of an eye, they could green-light those highly entertaining ideas for reality (sarcasm) and completely torpedo the schedule. I sure hope Dancing With the Stars did teach them a (very painful and expensive) lesson, but as we've seen, GSN is slow to learn.