Congrats to New England and Fox
February 4th, 2002
SU sends its congratulations to the New England Patriots for their win over the St. Louis Rams last night. And we send our congrats, too, to Fox, who scored huge ratings with the down-to-the-last-minute game.
Prelim numbers say the game, which ended about ten oclock, scored a 61 share.
The postgame show averaged a 41. And then people completely ran away and went to sleep, because the hour-long MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE that came on afterwards scored only a 24 (or a 14.1 household rating). In other words, the people who watch MALCOLM every Sunday stood around to catch this lengthened episode. Considering the gargantuan numbers FRIENDS and SURVIVOR (not to mention THE SIMPSONS) have gotten in this position, it has to be a big disappointment to the MALCOLM crew. Getting the post-Super Bowl gig is a sign your station thinks youre the best they have and want you to grow. But I dont think this will move MALCOLM one way or the other. Personally, I think they should have put UNDECLARED on. And if not that, then BOSTON PUBLIC.
The MALCOLM episode was pretty good -- Francis heroic goal, where his equipment is falling off as he charges, was a highlight -- but it felt overextended and could certainly have been a half-hour (how many times were they going to cut to Dewey chomping at the bit?). The other problem was that it ended at midnight. The time added with the sluggish pace, and you have people tuning out, going home, and getting into bed.
The heavily-hyped FEAR FACTOR with Playboy playmates was a bust. They stole only four percent of the Super Bowls halftime audience. Heres why: it was boring as hell! The U2 show was pretty hot. And the idea of having the scroll with the names of the victims of 9/11 was touching.
But --
Playmates. On FEAR FACTOR. Eating gross stuff!
The problem was that their halftime show just showed a couple of sub-playmates (anyone else disappointed with the looks?) walking a tightrope. Wow. Beautiful.
Then after the game we see the rest of this breathlessly exciting event. What at first looked cool -- the playmates munching on flies -- turned out to be lame. All the playmates ate all the strawberries (they were in a square piece of Plexiglas with flies buzzing around their heads). And the finale: a trapped-under-ice bit. That...heres a surprise!...didnt work. Only two of the playmates bothered to get into the freezing water. And the one who did win only had to dive in and jump out.
As low and sleazy as FEAR FACTOR may be, this was the first time they were out-and-out tedious.
This may be the first year that the game was the best thing on! Those ballyhooed commercials? Didnt see one that stood out. Britney Spears in a BEACH BINGO-type sand-hop? Does she think this is what her kiddy fans want? Wrong! Get into low-cut pants and show us the top of your thong. And Danny DeVito running around throwing green goo at fat-man Al Roker? There has to be better work out there for him.
All I can say is -- story St. Louis fans -- the Rams defense couldnt do a simple thing when it meant the game and they lost. So thats that.
-- Darwin Mayflower (darwinmayflower@yahoo.com)
Prelim numbers say the game, which ended about ten oclock, scored a 61 share.
The postgame show averaged a 41. And then people completely ran away and went to sleep, because the hour-long MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE that came on afterwards scored only a 24 (or a 14.1 household rating). In other words, the people who watch MALCOLM every Sunday stood around to catch this lengthened episode. Considering the gargantuan numbers FRIENDS and SURVIVOR (not to mention THE SIMPSONS) have gotten in this position, it has to be a big disappointment to the MALCOLM crew. Getting the post-Super Bowl gig is a sign your station thinks youre the best they have and want you to grow. But I dont think this will move MALCOLM one way or the other. Personally, I think they should have put UNDECLARED on. And if not that, then BOSTON PUBLIC.
The MALCOLM episode was pretty good -- Francis heroic goal, where his equipment is falling off as he charges, was a highlight -- but it felt overextended and could certainly have been a half-hour (how many times were they going to cut to Dewey chomping at the bit?). The other problem was that it ended at midnight. The time added with the sluggish pace, and you have people tuning out, going home, and getting into bed.
The heavily-hyped FEAR FACTOR with Playboy playmates was a bust. They stole only four percent of the Super Bowls halftime audience. Heres why: it was boring as hell! The U2 show was pretty hot. And the idea of having the scroll with the names of the victims of 9/11 was touching.
But --
Playmates. On FEAR FACTOR. Eating gross stuff!
The problem was that their halftime show just showed a couple of sub-playmates (anyone else disappointed with the looks?) walking a tightrope. Wow. Beautiful.
Then after the game we see the rest of this breathlessly exciting event. What at first looked cool -- the playmates munching on flies -- turned out to be lame. All the playmates ate all the strawberries (they were in a square piece of Plexiglas with flies buzzing around their heads). And the finale: a trapped-under-ice bit. That...heres a surprise!...didnt work. Only two of the playmates bothered to get into the freezing water. And the one who did win only had to dive in and jump out.
As low and sleazy as FEAR FACTOR may be, this was the first time they were out-and-out tedious.
This may be the first year that the game was the best thing on! Those ballyhooed commercials? Didnt see one that stood out. Britney Spears in a BEACH BINGO-type sand-hop? Does she think this is what her kiddy fans want? Wrong! Get into low-cut pants and show us the top of your thong. And Danny DeVito running around throwing green goo at fat-man Al Roker? There has to be better work out there for him.
All I can say is -- story St. Louis fans -- the Rams defense couldnt do a simple thing when it meant the game and they lost. So thats that.
-- Darwin Mayflower (darwinmayflower@yahoo.com)
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