There are few issues in American culture as charged as race, but as it turns out, fewer still that may be as hard to translate on television.
FX thought it had just the right topic with “Black.White.,” taking a black and a white family and letting them walk more than a mile in the others’ shoes.
But after a big March 8 debut, as one of the top shows on basic cable that week, the show has fallen off drastically. After that first taste, a majority of viewers were apparently turned off or just plain bored. “Black.White.” purports to be thought-provoking, but it's turning out not to be particularly audience-sustaining.
After a series premiere of close to 4 million total viewers three weeks ago, “Black.White.” last week drew just 1.45 million viewers, down 64 percent. Its slide among 18-49s was even more dramatic. Its debut drew 2.76 million viewers in the demo, but by last week it was down to 921,000, a falloff of 67 percent. Among households, the show averaged a 1.0 rating, down 63 percent from its premiere.
Part of the reason for the show’s massive dropoff could simply be the nature of the topic.
“Maybe it’s a little too thought-provoking for the kind of audience that go to reality TV,” says Robert Thompson, director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University.
“The show has a certain PBS feeling,” he says of the show, describing it as more of a documentary. “And as far as ratings go, a certain PBS feeling is not such a good thing.”
But viewers might also have been put off by how the series approaches race. Though a reality show purporting to capture the reality of race and identity in America, the series has been edited to capture the full effect, and perhaps too heavily to that end.
"The show is a fraud," writes one viewer on AOL’s message boards. "It turns out that show producers orchestrated certain situations and manipulated them to turn out a certain way -- a racist way. Since the racism was largely nonexistent, producers made it happen."
Meanwhile, in other cable ratings for the week ended March 26:
Top five networks in primetime (18-49s): USA, TBS, Comedy Central, TNT, FX
Top five networks in primetime (total viewers): USA, TNT, TBS, Cartoon Network, Fox News
Top movie (18-49s): USA’s “American Wedding (Sunday, 8 p.m.) 1.6 million
Top sporting event (total viewers): USA’s WWE Entertainment (Monday, 10 p.m.) 5.47 million
Shows making the top 10 among 18-34s, 18-49s and 25-54s: USA’s WWE Entertainment (Monday, 9 & 10 p.m.); Comedy Central’s “Ron White: You Can’t Fix Stupid” (Sunday, 9 p.m.); Comedy Central’s “South Park” (Wednesday, 10 p.m.);
Show on the rise: “Ron White: You Can’t Fix Stupid,” Comedy Central, Sunday 9 p.m. The new one-hour comedy special premiered with 4.5 million total viewers Sunday, the third-largest audience in network history, following last year’s “The Comedy Central Roast of Jeff Foxworthy” and “Blue Collar Comedy Tour Rides Again.” The show took first place among basic cable programs in primetime for the night in households and 18-49s, with a 3.3 and a 2.5 rating, respectively.
Show on the decline: "Real World/Road Rules: The Gauntlet II," MTV, Monday 10 p.m. It was still the No. 1 show among adults 18-34, but "Gauntlet II" lost 167,000 viewers in that demo week to week, a drop of 8 percent.
|
TOP 25 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS
Ranked on Household Rating
Week Ending March 26 |
|
Rank |
Primetime |
Total Day |
|
Net |
(000) |
Net |
(000) |
|
1 |
USA |
1948 |
NICK |
1713 |
|
2 |
TNT |
1620 |
NAN* |
1194 |
|
3 |
TBSC |
1435 |
TNT |
1020 |
|
4 |
TOON |
1271 |
TOON |
984 |
|
5 |
NAN |
1177 |
USA |
982 |
|
6 |
FOXN |
1171 |
ADSM* |
909 |
|
7 |
SPK |
1143 |
TBSC |
850 |
|
8 |
LIF |
1119 |
LIF |
751 |
|
9 |
ESPN |
1093 |
FOXN |
693 |
|
10 |
CMDY |
1086 |
ESPN |
678 |
|
11 |
FX |
995 |
HALL |
596 |
|
12 |
HIST |
967 |
FX |
592 |
|
13 |
HALL |
948 |
MTV |
588 |
|
14 |
FAM |
921 |
FAM |
571 |
|
15 |
AEN |
850 |
SPK |
567 |
|
16 |
MTV |
836 |
HIST |
555 |
|
17 |
TVLD |
821 |
CMDY |
548 |
|
18 |
HGTV |
801 |
DISC |
545 |
|
19 |
DISC |
798 |
TVLD |
538 |
|
20 |
SCIF |
744 |
HGTV |
509 |
|
21 |
CORT |
705 |
AEN |
506 |
|
22 |
AMC |
647 |
FOOD |
498 |
|
23 |
FOOD |
629 |
CORT |
426 |
|
24 |
ESP2 |
569 |
AMC |
416 |
|
25 |
TLC |
566 |
SCIF |
399 |
|
* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day.
Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen Media Research. |
|
TOP 25 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE PROGRAMS
Ranked on Households
Week Ending March 26 |
|
Rank |
Program |
Net |
(000) |
|
1 |
WWE Entertainment |
USA |
3948 |
|
2 |
WWE Entertainment |
USA |
3695 |
|
3 |
Spongebob |
NICK |
3339 |
|
4 |
Fairly Odd Parents |
NICK |
3100 |
|
5 |
Spongebob |
NICK |
2961 |
|
6 |
Ron White: You Can't Fix Stupid |
CMDY |
2932 |
|
7 |
Fairly Odd Parents |
NICK |
2888 |
|
8 |
Spongebob |
NICK |
2860 |
|
9 |
Spongebob |
NICK |
2823 |
|
10 |
Drake & Josh |
NICK |
2741 |
|
11 |
Spongebob |
NICK |
2672 |
|
12 |
Fairly Odd Parents |
NICK |
2628 |
|
13 |
Law & Order |
TNT |
2605 |
|
14 |
Law & Order |
TNT |
2586 |
|
15 |
Spongebob |
NICK |
2535 |
|
16 |
Spongebob |
NICK |
2515 |
|
17 |
Fairly Odd Parents |
NICK |
2494 |
|
18 |
Law & Order |
TNT |
2490 |
|
19 |
South Park |
CMDY |
2487 |
|
20 |
Drake & Josh |
NICK |
2473 |
|
21 |
Monk |
USA |
2459 |
|
22 |
Real World XVll |
MTV |
2449 |
|
23 |
Fairly Odd Parents |
NICK |
2424 |
|
24 |
Drake & Josh |
NICK |
2415 |
|
25 |
Law & Order: SVU |
USA |
2410 |
|
Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen Media Research. |
|
TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS
Adults 18-34
Week Ending March 26 |
|
Rank |
PRIME TIME |
TOTAL DAY |
|
Net |
(000) |
Net |
(000) |
|
1 |
TBSC |
541 |
NAN* |
388 |
|
2 |
USA |
539 |
ADSM* |
377 |
|
3 |
CMDY |
461 |
NICK |
335 |
|
4 |
MTV |
434 |
TBSC |
332 |
|
5 |
FX |
369 |
USA |
272 |
|
6 |
TNT |
333 |
MTV |
271 |
|
7 |
SPK |
296 |
TNT |
235 |
|
8 |
NAN |
283 |
CMDY |
227 |
|
9 |
AEN |
257 |
FX |
214 |
|
10 |
FAM |
257 |
ESPN |
197 |
|
* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day.
Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen Media Research. |
|
TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE SHOWS
Adults 18-34
Week Ending March 26 |
|
Rank |
PROGRAM |
NET |
(000) |
|
1 |
RW/RR The Gauntlet Il |
MTV |
1850 |
|
2 |
Real World XVll |
MTV |
1797 |
|
3 |
South Park |
CMDY |
1589 |
|
4 |
WWE Entertainment |
USA |
1460 |
|
5 |
WWE Entertainment |
USA |
1305 |
|
6 |
8Th & Ocean |
MTV |
1187 |
|
7 |
Ron White: You Can't Fix |
CMDY |
1152 |
|
8 |
American Wedding |
USA |
1118 |
|
9 |
Family Guy |
ADSM |
1041 |
|
10 |
American Pie Il |
USA |
987 |
|
Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen Media Research. |
|
TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS
Adults 18-49
Week Ending March 26 |
|
Rank |
PRIME TIME |
TOTAL DAY |
|
Net |
(000) |
Net |
(000) |
|
1 |
USA |
1170 |
NAN* |
670 |
|
2 |
TBSC |
1036 |
TBSC |
624 |
|
3 |
CMDY |
858 |
USA |
582 |
|
4 |
TNT |
803 |
TNT |
580 |
|
5 |
FX |
780 |
NICK |
559 |
|
6 |
SPK |
721 |
ADSM* |
488 |
|
7 |
DISC |
573 |
FX |
435 |
|
8 |
AEN |
565 |
LIF |
407 |
|
9 |
FAM |
561 |
CMDY |
400 |
|
10 |
LIF |
559 |
SPK |
382 |
|
* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day.
Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen Media Research. |
|
TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE SHOWS
Adults 18-49
Week Ending March 26 |
|
Rank |
PROGRAM |
NET |
(000) |
|
1 |
WWE Entertainment |
USA |
2877 |
|
2 |
Ron White: You Can't Fix |
CMDY |
2594 |
|
3 |
WWE Entertainment |
USA |
2560 |
|
4 |
South Park |
CMDY |
2329 |
|
5 |
RW/RR The Gauntlet Il |
MTV |
2283 |
|
6 |
The Shield |
FX |
2015 |
|
7 |
Real World XVll |
MTV |
2000 |
|
8 |
Friends Sunday Special |
TBSC |
1713 |
|
9 |
Dog The Bounty Hunter |
AEN |
1690 |
|
10 |
Law & Order: SVU |
USA |
1604 |
|
Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen Media Research. |
|
TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS
Adults 25-54
Week Ending March 26 |
|
|
PRIME TIME |
TOTAL DAY |
|
Rank |
Net |
(000) |
Net |
(000) |
|
1 |
USA |
1202 |
TNT |
621 |
|
2 |
TBSC |
941 |
USA |
574 |
|
3 |
TNT |
891 |
TBSC |
550 |
|
4 |
CMDY |
777 |
NAN* |
545 |
|
5 |
SPK |
765 |
NICK |
449 |
|
6 |
FX |
756 |
LIF |
415 |
|
7 |
DISC |
596 |
FX |
402 |
|
8 |
HIST |
580 |
SPK |
383 |
|
9 |
LIF |
580 |
DISC |
380 |
|
10 |
AEN |
572 |
ESPN |
349 |
|
* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day.
Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen Media Research. |
|
TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE SHOWS
Adults 25-54
Week Ending March 26 |
|
Rank |
PROGRAM |
NET |
(000) |
|
1 |
WWE Entertainment |
USA |
2659 |
|
2 |
Ron White: You Can't Fix |
CMDY |
2571 |
|
3 |
WWE Entertainment |
USA |
2389 |
|
4 |
The Shield |
FX |
2119 |
|
5 |
Dog The Bounty Hunter |
AEN |
1682 |
|
6 |
Monk |
USA |
1671 |
|
7 |
South Park |
CMDY |
1661 |
|
8 |
Law & Order: Criminal Intent |
USA |
1530 |
|
9 |
Friends Sunday Special |
TBSC |
1527 |
|
10 |
Mr. Deeds |
TBSC |
1499 |
|
Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen Media Research. |
