Winners

Fox's “The Simple Life 2: Road Trip” 
   Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton returned to Fox this summer with another successful installment of “Simple Life,” this time taking their “I’m too rich to touch that” attitudes on the road. The show finished as the highest-rated new show among viewers 18-49 this summer, with a 4.7 average, which makes bringing the show back a no-brainer, as long as the producers can think of more “never-done-that-myself” situations to put the girls through.
   Judging from the success of first two seasons, that shouldn’t be a problem.

CBS's “Amazing Race 5”
   Long a favorite of reality TV buffs, “Amazing Race” returned this summer and did what it has always done well: accurately depict an on-the-road competition of wits without cluttering the storyline with typical reality gimmicks. 
   The result? The third highest-rated regular series of the summer among 18-49s with a 4.4 average, and a general sense from viewers that another installment next summer would be welcome.

The WB's “Summerland” 
   Thinking it couldn’t go wrong with a summer series called “Summerland”—one starring former “Full House”-er Lori Loughlin no less—the WB added a solid member to its somewhat depleted roster. 
   The show, about an entrepreneur given custody of three kids after her sister and brother-in-law die in a car accident, debuted at No. 1 among female teens with a 3.8 average rating and posted a 2.7 or better among women 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54, prompting the network to pick it up as a mid-season replacement for fall.

Losers

 Fox's “The Jury”
    You win some, you lose some, and sometimes at the same time. “The Jury” won some praise from critics for its unique concept but continuously lost viewers and ends its summer run on Fridays, the night where shows go to die.
  “Jury”was moved after averaging lower than a 1.5 rating among viewers 18-49, unacceptable by Fox standards.
   Though you can’t argue with the show’s poor performance, one has to wonder about its timing. How many 18-49s did Fox think would watch a courtroom drama during the summer time?

NBC's “For Love or Money”
   Although it didn’t do terribly, this summer’s installment of “For Love or Money” slipped enough to make its return doubtful. “For Love or Money 3” averaged a 3.1 rating among 18-49s, with the fourth installment averaging a 2.9. Last summer session two of “For Love” debuted with a 3.6 rating, which was 41 percent lower than season one’s finale. The show's many twists and unlikable characters left viewers even less interested this year.

ABC's “Ultimate Love Test” 
   Kind of a “Bachelor” meets “Temptation Island,” ABC’s “Ultimate Love Test” quickly became, in some viewers’ opinions, an ultimate bore fest. 
   The series debuted with a 1.9 average rating among viewers 18-49 and declined throughout the season. The only thing consistent about the show was a third-place finish in the demo in its Wednesday at 10 p.m. timeslot.

- Diego Vasquez is a staff writer for Media Life.

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