What Octomom Should Know About Reality TV

More kids doesn't equal more ratings; plus, ratings for latest Jon & Kate down substantially from premiere but still huge

By Joal Ryan Jun 03, 2009 1:20 AMTags
kate gosselin, Nadya SulemanBrad Barket/Getty Images, Thompsett, Wordley, PacificCoastNews.com

Would a Nadya Suleman reality show be 75 pecent more popular than Jon & Kate Plus 8? In the name of job survival, should the manly men of Ice Road Truckers consider fertility treatments? And do you remember a series called Pushing Daisies?

The answers—and more questions—in this week's TV ratings quiz:

1. Are ratings for supersized family shows proportional to the size of the supersized family? No. Among TLC's three giganto-family shows, for instance, Jon & Kate Plus 8 features the "fewest" children, but scores the most viewers (for reasons, granted, that currently have little to do with the kids). So, even though the reality-aspiring Suleman, who's really a 14-omom rather than a mere octomom, has 75 percent more children than the Gosselins, she cannot count on each kid to draw as many viewers, on average, as each Jon & Kate kid. Just ask the Duggars, who last week averaged 96,667 viewers for each of their 18 Kids and Counting kids, compared to 1.2 million for each Gosselin offspring. The Hayes' Table for 12 had an even lower per-kid average for its May 18 season finale: 62,500.

2. Still, if you don't have at least 100 kids, will anyone really watch your reality show? Yes! The tyke-free third-season premiere of Ice Road Truckers scored a cable-big 3 million viewers, more than any cable reality show in the latest Nielsen rankings, save—guess what?—the fifth-season opener of Jon & Kate (9.8 million), a Jon & Kate premiere-night rerun (3.5 million) and the series debut of the sibling-packed bakery show Cake Boss (3.2 million), which aired after, yes, the Jon & Kate premiere. Other top prime-time cable fare, however, likewise featured zero sets of octoplets, including: the NBA playoffs, the MTV Movie Awards (5.3 million) and In Plain Sight (4 million).

3. So, is there hope that we're moving on from Jon & Kate? No. While last night's back-to-back new episodes were down substantially from the premiere, together they still averaged a cable-huge 5.5 million, TLC said.

4. You remember Pushing Daisies, don't you? Apparently not. The canceled cult series' return to the air (albeit to the dumping ground of Saturday night) averaged just 2.3 million.

5. Since JONAS didn't air a new episode last week, did the Jonas Brothers escape Nielsen scrutiny? Not entirely. The siblings put in an appearance on the little-watched ABC financial primer special, UN-BROKE (3.3 million). Of course, so did Will Smith, Christian Slater and Samuel L. Jackson, who, per his role, was required to yell "I'm broke as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!" over and over again until things just got weird.

6. Who or what scored the comeback of the week? The previously left-for-dead pro hockey. Sunday's Stanley Cup Finals Game 2 scored more adults aged 18-49 than all but six broadcast network shows, including new summertime series such as The Bachelorette and Here Come the Newlyweds. Even among women 18-34, the game placed 15th.

7. Which show did the best American Idol impersonation? So You Think You Can Dance, which on a much, much more modest scale than Idol, ruled the demo rankings, placing first and second. The returning Wipeout finished third. Elsewhere, an NCIS rerun was the week's most-watched show (12.5 million), while a CBS George Strait tribute was the most-watched new show (10.6 million).