Schedule chitchat

Lots of chatter continues about GSN's new schedule on April 11. I'm doing my best to defend the aspersed Richard Karn on the GSN Internet boards, where he's public enemy number one. Some more back-and-forth...

Other poster: I think that Karn at 9:30 is odd scheduling, too...either more Dawson or a Combs ep might fit better there, if it's meant to be a FF block. Dawson really should be on at noon, and with MG in the 11:00 hour, I think it would be a perfect pairing that would bring the ratings.

Like I said, Karn's never going to get any credit on these boards. But he's doing exactly what GSN wants, building the audience up in the morning. That's why he's still at 9:30 AM.

As for expanding the pre-1990 shows...well, I've already had my say. A glance at how GSN's schedule has developed over the years is the best answer to that question. Pre-1990 shows will be lucky to hang onto what they've got.

Other poster: I haven't dug into the ratings lists (I've been very busy with my day job this past week!), but is there any word on the 8:00 MG ratings???

No. But if I had to guess, I'd say they're real small. Four hours of infomercials ain't the best lead-in.

Other poster: If a comedy block emerges from this, I would expect to see it on Saturday nights.

Anything's possible, but weekends are the one place where Drew is not, so far. Any comedy block would probably get weeknight exposure, just as Drew is getting. But it all depends on how Improv-a-Ganza performs. If it hits big, more comedy shows will follow. If it flops, GSN might actually do some game shows. Or at least some competition shows.

Other poster: I have also not seen Karn's demos but does he really attract that many young people? Somehow I doubt that.

Nothing on GSN skews very young, though the audience has gotten slightly less grey compared to the old days of a 65+ median age for a mostly pre-1990 daytime block. But Karn Feud is one of the very few shows on GSN - Baggage is another - that sometimes got better than a 0.1 rating in the 18-49 or 25-54 demos when Douglas was publishing the info on Mediaweek.

Karn and O'Hurley got such large audiences overall in prime time that the ratings in the younger demos sometimes crept above 0.1. That's why GSN is keeping them in prime time even after Drew arrives...to hedge the bet.

And now that you mention demos, they're the reason GSN is trying a comedy show in the first place.