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10/19: Kitchen Nightmares hot in the ATL
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gordon Ramsay’s reality show “Kitchen Nightmares” has held up surprisingly well against very tough competition on Wednesdays. In fact, it outdelivered “Criminal Minds” on CBS, the stumbling “Bionic Woman” on NBC, the CW’s “Gossip Girl” and ABC’s touted “Private Practice” in Atlanta and was the highest ranked show of the week among the new series.
Better yet, Fox has given the show a green light for a second season already. I think it’s the first show of the year to get that honor.
Nationally, the show has seen growth four consecutive weeks and hit its series high in its fifth episode last night with nearly 7 million viewers. It’s not quite pulling in the numbers of his summer series “Hell’s Kitchen” but the competition is far more fierce.
In other TV news, CW’s “Online Nation” show (which featured YouTube-style clips) was the first official cancelled show of the year after pitiful ratings in its first three outings averaging about 700,000 viewers.
Jon Stewart extended his contract with Comedy Central for two more years through 2010. It coincides with the end of David Letterman’s latest contract. Rumors are that he is positioning himself to take over for Letterman.
And Jimmy Kimmel may not necessarily be banned from “Monday Night Football” after a NYT story reported he had upset the MNF producer by joking about Joe Theismann’s departure as a host during a moribund Falcons/Giants game. (“I’d also like to welcome Joe Theismann, watching from his living room with steam coming from his ears.”). This from sportsillustrated.com:
He said ESPN’s executive vice president for content John Skipper reached out to him in a phone call on Wednesday in an attempt to smooth things over. “I got a call from John Skipper who I like a lot,” said Kimmel. “He was apologetic. The unfortunate thing for people who did not see the broadcast is now it looks like I exposed myself on national television. Really, I wasn’t even making fun of Joe. I just thought it was a funny and inappropriate but harmless thing to bring up in the booth.”
Finally, if you like “Damages,” which ends its first season Tuesday, renewal is still up in the air after mediocre ratings, according to the LA Times.
Here are the top 10 shows of the week in Atlanta:
Show Date Network Viewers Natl. rank
“House” Oct. 9 Fox 531,000 5
“Dancing With the Stars” Oct. 8 ABC 435,000 2
“Grey’s Anatomy” Oct. 11 ABC 346,000 3
“CSI” Oct. 11 CBS 323,000 1
“60 Minutes” Oct. 14 CBS 319,000 6
“Dancing With the Stars” (results) Oct. 9 ABC 313,000 7
“Desperate Housewives” Oct. 14 ABC 301,000 4
“Bones” Oct. 9 Fox 292,000 42
“MNF Cowboys/Bills” Oct. 8 ESPN 282,000 N/A
“Heroes” Oct. 8 NBC 270,000 24
Source: Nielsen Media Research
And here are a few winners and losers so far for the past week or so:
WINNERS
ABC’s “Samantha Who?” — The debut of this Christina Applegate sitcom (which I hated) managed to hold nearly all the “Dancing With the Stars” audience, a promising sign. Now we’ll see how it does in week two. A drop of more than 25% would be considered alarming. Less than 10 percent? ABC will be breaking open the bubbly.
Several CBS veteran shows — “Two & a Half Men,” “CSI: Miami,” “NCIS,” “The Unit,” “Criminal Minds” and “CSI: NY” this week all hit season highs in their fourth outings. That shows these show fans, after sampling the competitors, have returned to the familiar. (For many of these shows, a similar pattern happened a year ago.)
USA’s “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” -Â The original airing of this show on October 4 brought in a solid 3.8 million viewers, followed by 3.4 million last week. That’s way down from its 10 to 12 million viewers a year ago on NBC. But if you consolidate the four airings of “CI” over the week, USA’s audiences is fairly close. And that’s certainly good news for Dick Wolf & Co.
The CW’s “Smallville” — A new Supergirl has surprisingly given this aging scifi show new life and it has actually gone up slightly in ratings from a year ago (averaging about 4.8 million viewers). That’s heady stuff for the seventh year of any show and a rare bright light for this struggling network.
LOSERS
VH1’s “I Love New York 2” —Â Good news for folks who can’t believe how popular this show and its predecessors have been: while opening at a solid 3 million this past Sunday, this is actually way down from 4.4 million earlier this year for the original “I Love New York.”
NBC’s “Bionic Woman” —Â As noted earlier, this remake of the ’70s hit is doing poorly, losing audience three weeks in a row and pulling in less than two-thirds of its opening numbers. This past Wednesday, it drew just 8.5 million viewers compared to nearly 14 million in its debut.
CBS’s “Cane” —Â Similarly to “Bionic Woman,” this Jimmy Smits drama continues to shed vieweres in its fourth week Tuesday, bringing in 8.5 million viewers compared to 11.2 million its debut. That’s not as sharp a dropoff but its 18 to 49 numbers are very low for CBS.
Comments
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By Bud
October 19, 2007 8:58 AM | Link to this
Ah yes…Chef Ramsey…another person that is as fun to watch on TV as getting a root canal. Why watch this guy? Is it that his fans just don’t have enough stress in their lives, or is it a wish-fulfillment fantasy for people who would love to abuse their co-workers and employees in this manner, but aren’t allowed to do so.
By Jim
October 19, 2007 11:02 AM | Link to this
I hate reality shows in the first place and don’t watch them (I basically think they are stupid….how the heck does being followed around by a camera all the time have anything to do with reality?). But anyway, after accidentally catching a few minutes of “Kitchen Nightmares” (I was on the phone when it came on and couldn’t get to the remote to change the channel), I think that chef guy needs his a$$ kicked big time (I would like to volunteer). What an obnoxious little British prick! Who enjoys watching crap like that? I don’t get it.