What ever happened to summer reruns? When you could count on watching the episodes of shows that you missed during the regular season? Now summer is filled with reality programming, that is anything but realistic. Those who want to watch good scripted shows must then go to cable, and the numbers are proving that many do. Why can’t broadcast networks give summer the respect it deserves?
USA Network's premiere of Burn Notice last set the network on fire as it delivered 2.2 million adult viewers aged 25-54 and 2 million viewers aged 18-49, making it the top-ranking show of the night with both of these demos. It’s lead in was The Starter Wife, starring Debra Messing, which has proven to be a huge hit for USA. The two hour premiere of that show pulled in 5. 4 million viewers and has led to rumors that the show may be bought back as a regular series for the cable net.
The premiere of TNT’s The Closer broke its own ratings record, and made cable history as the most watched series ever telecast on ad-supported cable. Pulling in 8.8 million viewers, (Starring Kyra Sedgwick, the show premiered in 2005 and is currently in its 3rd season.)
Even ABC Family is joining the party. The cabler’s second season premiere of Kyle XY brought in 400,000 viewers in the networks target demographic of 18-34 year olds.That is a 22% increase over the season #1 average.
One of the biggest success stories for ad-supported cable is FX with its hit shows Rescue Me and The Shield. Although FX hasn't had its best year - after a first quarter that saw a 3% in total primetime viewers, May saw a plummet of 25%. The Shield lost about 20% of its viewers in its sixth season, (next season will be this shows last) and The Riches finale garnered a modest 1.8 million viewers.
Nevertheless, the numbers still speak for themselves. Ten years ago it would have been unheard of to suggest that cable television could bring in the numbers that it does. Perhaps this is where broadcast networks can learn from cable. These nets are ad supported, so unlike HBO and Showtime, they do have to answer to advertisers. And yet they churn out smart, entertaining fare that viewers clearly want to watch.
Still, one can’t ask why the broadcast networks don’t learn from cable, because the answer would most likely be that they don’t care. Reality shows bring in higher ratings than these cable shows, so they’re here to stay. Perhaps the real question is twofold: If shows like The Closer and The Shield aired on broadcast networks, would the ratings be about the same? If the answer is yes, those shows would be booted right off the airwaves because those ratings numbers aren't high enough to compete on broadcast television. Which means that perhaps the real question is: Why do we like watching reality shows more than smart, scripted dramas?
The answer to that question lies with the same network executive who decided to stop showing reruns during the summer. That network executive who decided to fling The Singing Bee at us instead. That network executive who clearly believes people become stupid in the summer. Of course, he may be right, because the numbers speak for themselves.
Karen Woodward - Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, I've lived in Los Angeles since 1994. A communications major at University of Colorado, ...
