What gives with the
"The Tony Danza Show?”
Good question. This week, Buena Vista, which
distributes the show, booted two top producers and Danza's on-air
sidekick, Ereka Vetrini.
Usually such heavy bloodletting says a show's in deep
trouble, with ratings fleeing southward.
But in the case of "Danza," it's quite the
opposite. Ratings are up since the syndicated show debuted in
September, and going into its second season it has already been
cleared in 90 percent of the country. Plus it's getting more
favorable timeslots in several markets.
So why the bloodbath? Buena Vista is not saying, other than to offer
up the usual boiler-plate language that it remains behind "Danza"
and that the show will be definitely be back.
But Danza himself is not happy with the firings. He
reportedly tried to save all three colleagues,
especially former “Apprentice” contestant Vetrini. But Buena
Vista wouldn’t listen.
Going into season two the big issue is how Buena Vista intends to
revamp the show. All it's saying is that it is exploring its
options.
Season to date through the week ending June 19,
“Danza” has averaged a 1.3 household rating, ranking ninth among
15 syndicated talk shows.
That’s up 8 percent over the 1.2 the show averaged in its premiere
week. During May sweeps, “Danza” averaged a 1.6. Those are
certainly respectable ratings for a show that airs at midnight or
later in Los Angeles and Chicago, two of the three biggest TV
markets.
Further, it was the only new talk show renewed for a
second season, surviving when the much-touted "Jane Pauley
show" bombed. That show averaged a 1.5 in far better timeslots.
One rumor floating about Hollywood is that Buena Vista wants to boot
Danza and bring in singer Gloria Estefan as a replacement. Buena Vista denies
it.
On the face of it, the rumor seems ill-founded. Though "Danza's"
ratings are less than spectacular, they are growing, and Danza is a
genuinely winning and natural host. It could be on its way to
following on the success of “Ellen DeGeneres” and take off
in season two. "Ellen" averaged a 1.8 in its first season
and a 2.1 this season.
Meanwhile,
in other daypart ratings for the week ended June 26:
It
was a down week for morning shows with all three seeing week-to-week
declines in total viewers. “Early Show” lost the most, down 8
percent to 2.3 million. “Today” and “Good Morning America”
were both down about 2 percent.
The
downtrend continued with late-night talk shows, with all but two shows posting losses. “Last Call with Carson
Daly” declined the most, down 19 percent to 1.3 million viewers.
For
the week, the top game show was “Wheel of Fortune” and the top
talk show was the “Oprah Winfrey Show.”
CBS
was No. 1 among total viewers, though it was the only network to see
declines week to week. The network was down 4 percent in daytime
dramas and 3 percent in full day. ABC remained No. 1 among women
18-49.
|
SUNDAY
MORNING SHOW RATINGS
Week ending June 26, 2005 |
|
Program |
Network |
Households* |
People 2+ |
Adults 25-54 |
|
Rtg% |
Shr |
Total
viewers (millions) |
Rtg% |
|
Meet the Press |
NBC |
2.7 |
9 |
3.407 |
1.1 |
|
Face the Nation |
CBS |
2.1 |
6 |
2.782 |
0.8 |
|
This Week with George
Stephanopoulos |
ABC |
1.7 |
6 |
2.181 |
0.5 |
|
News Sunday |
Fox |
1.1 |
3 |
1.269 |
0.4 |
|
* Each rating point is
equivalent to 1.096 million homes
Source: NTI |
|
MORNING
SHOW RATINGS
Week Ending June 26, 2005
Five-day averages |
|
Program |
Network |
Households |
People 2+ |
|
Rtg% |
Shr |
Total
viewers (millions) |
|
Today |
NBC |
4.5 |
17 |
5.5 |
|
Good Morning America |
ABC |
3.8 |
14 |
4.8 |
|
Early Show |
CBS |
1.9 |
7 |
2.3 |
|
* Each rating point is
equivalent to 1.096 million homes
Source: NTI |
|
LATE-NIGHT
RATINGS
Week Ending June 26, 2005
Five-day averages |
|
Program |
Network |
People 2+ |
Adults 18-49 |
|
Total
viewers (millions) |
Rtg% |
|
Tonight Show with Jay
Leno |
NBC |
5.4 |
1.8 |
|
Late Show with David
Letterman |
CBS |
4.1 |
1.4 |
|
Nightline |
ABC |
2.9 |
1.0 |
|
Late Night with Conan O’Brien |
NBC |
2.4 |
1.1 |
|
The Late Late Show with
Craig Ferguson |
CBS |
1.7 |
0.6 |
|
Jimmy Kimmel Live |
ABC |
1.4 |
0.6 |
|
Last Call with Carson
Daly |
NBC |
1.3 |
0.6 |
|
Source:
NTI |
|
DAYTIME
RATINGS
Week Ending June 26, 2005
Five-day averages |
|
Daytime dramas |
Total
viewers (millions) |
Women
18-49 |
|
|
Network |
(millions) |
Rtg% |
Shr |
|
CBS |
3.82 |
1.5 |
10 |
|
ABC |
3.23 |
1.8 |
11 |
|
NBC |
2.77 |
1.6 |
10 |
|
Full daytime |
Total
viewers (millions) |
Women
18-49 |
|
Network |
(millions) |
Rtg% |
Shr |
|
CBS |
4.18 |
1.5 |
10 |
|
ABC |
3.17 |
1.7 |
11 |
|
NBC |
2.77 |
1.6 |
10 |
|
Source: NTI |
|
EVENING
NETWORK NEWS RATINGS
Week Ending July 3, 2005
Five-day averages |
|
Program |
Network |
Households* |
People 2+ |
|
Rtg% |
Shr |
Total
viewers (millions) |
|
NBC Nightly News with
Brian Williams |
NBC |
5.7 |
12 |
8.099 |
|
ABC World News Tonight
with Peter Jennings |
ABC |
5.5 |
12 |
7.665 |
|
CBS Evening News with
Bob Schieffer |
CBS |
4.7 |
10 |
6.621 |
|
* Each rating point is
equivalent to 1.084 million homes
Source: NTI |
|
SYNDICATION
Ranked on Households
Week Ending June 26, 2005 |
|
# |
PROGRAMS |
Syndicator |
Households |
|
US Rtg% |
(000) |
|
1 |
WHEEL OF FORTUNE |
KIN |
6.9 |
7585 |
|
2 |
JEOPARDY |
KIN |
6.0 |
6565 |
|
3 |
OPRAH WINFREY SHOW (AT) |
KIN |
5.7 |
6205 |
|
4 |
EVRY LVS RAYMOND-SYN
(AT) |
KIN |
5.4 |
5928 |
|
5 |
SEINFELD (AT) |
SPT |
5.2 |
5645 |
|
6 |
SEINFELD-WKND (AT) |
SPT |
5.0 |
5438 |
|
7 |
DR. PHIL SHOW |
KIN |
4.6 |
5036 |
|
8 |
JUDGE JUDY (AT) |
PRM |
4.5 |
4984 |
|
8 |
CSI-SYN (AT) |
KIN |
4.5 |
4980 |
|
8 |
FRIENDS (AT) |
WB |
4.5 |
4961 |
|
11 |
ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT(AT) |
PRM |
4.2 |
4563 |
|
12 |
EVBDY LVS RAYMOND-WKD-SYN |
KIN |
3.6 |
3914 |
|
13 |
WHEEL OF FORTUNE WKND |
KIN |
3.4 |
3740 |
|
14 |
LIVE WITH REGIS AND
KELLY |
BV |
3.3 |
3588 |
|
15 |
INSIDE EDITION |
KIN |
3.1 |
3396 |
|
15 |
JUDGE JOE BROWN (AT) |
PRM |
3.1 |
3368 |
|
17 |
MILLIONAIRE (AT) |
BV |
3.0 |
3314 |
|
18 |
ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT
WKD |
PRM |
2.9 |
3196 |
|
18 |
MAURY (AT) |
NBU |
2.9 |
3179 |
|
20 |
MALCOLM IN-MIDDLE SYN(AT) |
2/T |
2.8 |
3101 |
|
20 |
KING OF THE HILL-SYN(AT) |
2/T |
2.8 |
3083 |
|
22 |
COPS-SYN (AT) |
2/T |
2.7 |
2981 |
|
22 |
THAT 70S SHOW-MF-SYN
(AT) |
2/T |
2.7 |
2949 |
|
24 |
WARNER BROS. VOL 37 |
WB |
2.6 |
2825 |
|
24 |
PEOPLE'S COURT (AT) |
WB |
2.6 |
2810 |
|
Source: Nielsen Media
Research |
|
