Cable
For Bravo's 'Top Chef,' the steam rises
By Toni Fitzgerald
Jun 1, 2006, 01:05

It’s relatively common for a show to launch big, with huge premiere numbers and lots of buzz, then fade fast. It’s happened on cable to FX’s “Black/White,” FX's “Over There” and Bravo’s “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” whose audiences eroded significantly through their runs.

What’s more rare is a show that builds steadily into a hit, going from barely watched to winning its timeslot. After perhaps learning a lesson from “Queer Eye’s” quick fade, Bravo has mastered that slow build with “Project Runway,” “Real Housewives of Orange County” and now “Top Chef.”

The first-season finale of “Chef” produced the show’s best-ever numbers last week, the week ended May 28, averaging 1.5 million total viewers, 1.02 million adults 18-49 and 1.06 million 25-54s.

It won its timeslot among basic cable shows in the latter two demographics Wednesday at 10 p.m. and nearly doubled its audience among total viewers and 18-49s compared with its timeslot debut in March. Among 25-54s, it jumped 142 percent from its second outing (the first was artificially inflated by airing out of the "Runway" finale) to its last.

“Runway” and “Housewives” also experienced similar growth.  

“Chef’s” concept isn’t much different from “Runway.” Twelve wannabe chefs compete for a $100,000 prize. The twist is that while they’re judged by professionals, including “Queer Eye” cook Ted Allen and Food & Wine writer Gail Simmons, they’re also judged by restaurant customers who sample their food.

Bravo used several methods to grow the show, including a couple that worked for “Runway.” One was to let fans vote for the winner of the show via text message, online or, for Time Warner Cable customers, through their set-top boxes.

Another was to target foodies in their environment. Bravo handed out “Chef”-branded recipe cards in New York City at the annual Taste of the Nation charity cookoff last month, similar to “Runway's” presence during Fashion Week. The show also partnered with Sears to display “Chef” ads in stores next to Kenmore kitchen appliances.

“Chef” received exposure on NBC Universal’s MSNBC.com, where booted contestants posted recipes after they’d been kicked off. Endless reruns, a strategy that helped "Housewives," also boosted "Chef." And the show was available for download via iTunes, which similarly helped NBC’s “The Office” build its audience.

But perhaps the biggest factor in “Chef” and “Runway’s” success has been the active messageboards for the shows. Both shows featured at least some contestants of the sort fans love to hate, and those contestants generated pages and pages of rants from the shows' fans.

In fact, the “Chef” forums on TelevisionWithoutPity.com, a popular TV site, have more posts than any other reality show besides “American Idol” or “Big Brother.” Traffic to other fan sites like TVgasm, the AOL boards and Bravo’s own forums became particularly heavy in the days before and after the finale.

“The producers did a phenomenal job choosing very vocal people who drive each other (and us) crazy,” says one blogger on Seattle site Seattlest.

Meanwhile, in other cable ratings for the week ended May 28:
 
Top five networks in primetime (18-49s): TNT, ESPN, USA, FX, TBS
 
Top five networks in primetime (total viewers): TNT, ESPN, USA, FX, Nick at Nite
 
Top movie (18-49s): FX’s “X2: X-Men United” (Sunday, 8 p.m.) 1.7 million
 
Top sporting event (total viewers): TNT’s NBA Playoff: Mavericks v. Spurs (Monday, 8 p.m.) 7 million
 
Shows making the top 10 among 18-34s, 18-49s and 25-54s: TNT’s NBA Playoff: Mavericks v. Spurs (Monday 8 p.m.); TNT’s NBA Playoff: Clippers v. Suns (Monday 11:10 p.m.); ESPN’s NBA Playoff: Heats v. Pistons (Thursday 8 p.m.); ESPN’s NBA Playoff: Heats v. Pistons (Tuesday 8 p.m.); TNT’s NBA Playoff: Suns v. Mavericks (Friday 8:48 p.m.); TNT’s NBA Playoff: Mavericks v. Suns (Sunday 8:33 p.m.); USA’s WWE Entertainment (Monday 9 & 10 p.m.); TNT’s NBA Playoff: Suns v. Mavericks (Wednesday 8:48 p.m.)   
 
Show on the rise: “Jamie Kennedy’s Blowin Up,” MTV, Tuesday 10:30 p.m. Jamie Kennedy and his buddy Stu Stone dream of becoming rappers. This show follows their journey to making that dream a reality. It averaged 790,000 viewers 18-34 last week, up 4 percent from the previous week’s premiere, a slight but impressive uptick for a show that’s basically a redo of the 2003 flop “Malibu’s Most Wanted.”
 
Show on the decline: “Real World: Key West,” MTV, Tuesday 10 p.m. Meanwhile, all the drama of running a Mystic Tan salon is doing little to drum up viewership for this show, down 7 percent this week to 1.5 million viewers 18-34.