Anyone else suprised Suvivor finished behind Friends in the ratings?

The ClubHouse: Archives: -- GENERAL ARCHIVES --: August - October: Anyone else suprised Suvivor finished behind Friends in the ratings?

Avrey

Friday, October 12, 2001 - 09:01 pm Click here to edit this post
I have to say I am very surprised. I thought Friends jumped the shark a few years ago. Although my teenaged daughter informed me all of her friends watch it.
According to zap2it.com, Friends had a 17 share and Survivor III had a 13 share. I often wonder about those Nielsen ratings.
OOPS! spelled surprised wrong in the title of my post..butterfingers! Again!

Hippyt

Friday, October 12, 2001 - 09:15 pm Click here to edit this post
Avery,Not really surprised. I watched Friends and taped Survivor. I will watch the show,but wasn't impressed,watching thirsty people in a hungry nation.Not the best entertainment at this time.
I think reality tv has been dealt a blow,by reality

Realtvfan

Saturday, October 13, 2001 - 04:01 am Click here to edit this post
Survivor faces their own biggest problem. Predictability and copy cat shows that flood the market.

I remember when a $5,000,000.00 lottery jackpot was big news for 3 days on the local TV stations. Now the local state lottery does not generate any news coverge until $50,000,000.00 at up for grabs.

What works the first few times to grab the general population's interest isn't a never ending deep well.

Johnny Carson used to say there was a 3 joke limit on any subject for a given night. Every time he went to the 4th joke, (even when he thought it was funny,) the joke would usually fall flat with the audience.

The same rule of the "law of diminishing returns" appears to apply to reality shows.

There are very few subject matters that are not subjected to the "laws of diminishing returns" and reality TV is not on that list.

Ocean_Islands

Saturday, October 13, 2001 - 06:00 am Click here to edit this post
Survivor seems quite unimaginative, mean, and dire.

Spunky

Saturday, October 13, 2001 - 08:50 am Click here to edit this post
Oh shoot! I missed Friends again! I only have one VCR... drat...

Mahrajah

Saturday, October 13, 2001 - 09:49 am Click here to edit this post
there giving away free vcr's at www.sillyfox.com, go check it out

Roe325

Saturday, October 13, 2001 - 11:20 am Click here to edit this post
yes, I am surprised. I taped it. I still enjoy friends, but that's about it until ER comes on. Now how does the rating system know who is taping a show to watch at a later time? always confused me. and then some lucky lucky people have TIVO. the friends episode was the last of 3, about rachels baby so that could be a reason. Ratings may change up next week.

Also Survivor may attract the older viewer who is watching CNN at this time. and friends has a large loyal young pre teen-teen fan base, who are not changing their TV habits.

Thebisexualview

Saturday, October 13, 2001 - 01:24 pm Click here to edit this post
According to hollywoodreporter.com they were virtually tied. Because of the Pres's speech, S3 went against Friends/Will and Grace instead of Friends/Inside Schwartz. Once S3 goes against IS, people will start switching over and getting hooked like they did last year.

Plus, S3 wasn't really promoted until this past week anyways.

And if you want to talk played out look no further than Friends: a main character getting pregnant is the kiss of death for any show (Roseanne, Murphy Brown, Mad about You)

Resortgirl

Saturday, October 13, 2001 - 05:10 pm Click here to edit this post
I have to agree with realtv...
too many copycat shows and too many sad things in real life right now to want to watch people starving and thirsty.Personally, I watch survivor now and friends in reruns, but that's just me.

Syrabrian

Saturday, October 13, 2001 - 05:34 pm Click here to edit this post
Friends is really milking the pregnancy bit, which is usually the death knell for a series. Combine that with the usual assortment of silly "special guest stars" that they'll drag out of the woodwork, and Survivor will eventually return to dominance.

Evidently, Friends and all the other NBC sitcoms are going to take place in an alternate reality New York, where the attacks never happened, and where people of color don't live.

Only five episodes until Rachel has a funny and adorably upbeat "crisis" in her pregnancy.

Roe325

Sunday, October 14, 2001 - 06:32 am Click here to edit this post
Syrabrian, that was beautiful! I can just see ross acting like a fumbling idiot now.

http://www.jumptheshark.com/

Syrabrian

Monday, October 15, 2001 - 09:25 am Click here to edit this post
The thing that's going to hurt Survivor during the next two Thursdays are the baseball playoffs and NFL football.

Survivor has a much more balanced viwership than Friends, which tends to skew to young females, so any increase in testosterone driven sports programming will hurt Survivor more than Friends.

Once the playoffs and football clears out, Survivor will get an extra million or two viewers.

Lilliegirl

Monday, October 15, 2001 - 06:13 pm Click here to edit this post
Hey ROE I am a older viewer and I have not missed not one Survivor show and then again I have never watched Friends either and just how old is older viewers? I watched all of BB to does that count.Heres a hint I have grandchildren.

Mahrajah

Monday, October 15, 2001 - 10:55 pm Click here to edit this post
i havent watched it yet but im already givin it 2 thumbs down.. the first one was the best

Carigsby

Tuesday, October 16, 2001 - 07:16 am Click here to edit this post
Syr - this is the last season for Friends so I think they are trying to pull it all together and the show will end with all 6 of the individuals in pairs (Monica/Chandler, Ross/Rachel, Phoebe/Joey). The steady audience all knows it is the last season, so from what I hear, everyone is very accepting of this direction to tie the show together.

Crazydog

Tuesday, October 16, 2001 - 08:14 am Click here to edit this post
Syra - well said about the pregnancy. Friends has been growing stale as the actors and characters age, and a baby is the last thing a sitcom needs. The same thing happened with Mad About You and the predictable baby jokes. Now we'll have the predicatble pregnancy jokes, which was already done once with Lisa Kudrow's real-life pregnancy. The fact that it's Ross makes me all the less interested - I was so hoping for Joey. Ross has always been the ugliest and least appealing friend to me; he's like the hanger-on in your group of friends that doesn't really fit in but is there only because he is someone's brother. Ross's whiny/effeminate schtick will only be even more showcased now and is all the more reason to stop watching.

Carigsby, are we so sure this is the final season? I thought I heard discussion that they were open to a ninth season after this one. If it is the final season, presumably it will end with the birth of Rachel's child and unfortunately, I agree, the marriage of Ross and Rachel. Maybe it's for the better it ends because the ninth season would undoubtedly focus on the baby, which as I said is tiresome for a sitcom.

Carigsby

Tuesday, October 16, 2001 - 09:19 am Click here to edit this post
I'm pretty sure that this is the last season. Before the season premiere, a lot of the promotional talk mentioned "the last season of Friends". I wouldn't imagine that the network would be saying it is the end if it wasn't - but that is putting a whole lotta credit into their hands!! :) I am a huge fan of Friends as it reminds me a lot of my own group of Friends... and I am all for it ending this season. I think it would be pushing it to have another season.

Mindyrama

Tuesday, October 16, 2001 - 09:54 am Click here to edit this post
I still love Friends as much now as I did 8 years ago, I am very loyal to it. Last week I chose to tape it and watch Survivor. For me personally Friends is not at all played out and is just as funny and quirky as ever. And yes, they kinda ruined Ross (he became an even bigger dork after the last R/R break up)but I still am happy about a R/R reunion only because I'm still trapped in the early 90's where flannel was cool and Ross and Rachel were the 'IN' couple. I still love seeing that first kiss (I'm such a sap!)!

Anyway, I know the show has to end someday and would like to see it end while it's still good, so I sorta hope this is the last season. Then perhaps I can watch S4 in peace!