Despite ratings, reality shows abound
By Rosemary Jean-Louis
CNN Headline News
(CNN) -- If television executives flooded the airwaves with more reality programs, would viewers tune in?
Not too many of them appeared to answer in the affirmative during the fall TV season of 2004. Freshman shows like "The Rebel Billionaire," which starred Virgin mogul Sir Richard Branson searching for a protégé through daring stunts, tanked with audiences, finishing in 95th place among viewers.
Ditto to the other new rich guy-seeking-lackey show, "The Benefactor." The series, which featured Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, was condensed from eight episodes to six because of lack of viewership.
Fox's highly touted boxing reality program "The Next Great Champ," starring boxing champ Oscar de la Hoya, was knocked off the schedule a mere two weeks after its premiere. Its final days were seen on Bravo for people who were interested.
Some industry critics blame the lack of interest in these shows on television executives. "TV programmers of reality shows just ran out of imagination," notes In Touch Weekly senior editor Tom O'Neil. "Instead [they] plotted and schemed on how to rip off each other's ideas that probably weren't great ideas in the first place."
Resurrecting the serialized drama seems to have been the success story of the fall. "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost" were in Nielsen's top 10. The "CSI " spin-off, "CSI: New York" ended in a respectable 14th place.
Isoul Harris, entertainment editor for Upscale magazine attributes these gains to audience nostalgia. "We were missing shows [like] the '80s hits like 'Knots Landing' and 'Dallas' and 'Dynasty,' and 'Desperate Housewives' was able to tap into that."
Programmers haven't quite learned their lesson, it would seem. A new crop of reality shows is debuting in midseason. One of them has already proved to be a ratings flop. "Who's Your Daddy?", the adoption reality special that debuted on Fox last Monday, only attracted 6.3 million viewers.
Other new offerings involve a quest for the next "something." Look for the search for the next Sports Illustrated swimsuit model, the next horse racing mogul in "American Dream Derby" and the next domestic doyenne in the show "Wickedly Perfect." Perhaps the next big hit will be among them.
