The answer: old game shows never go off the air, they just go to cable. The ratings come from Wipeout repeats on truTV, the Time Warner outlet formerly known as Court TV. Back in the old days, Wipeout wouldn't have fit in with the network's courtroom proceedings and true crime sagas.
But nowadays truTV has gone mostly reality in the endless hunt for younger demos. So the big-balls project seems right at home. The repeats are also generating quite respectable ratings, thank you. For the latest Friday, December 30, Wipeout got 1.53 million viewers and a 0.6 18-49 rating. Both are just fine by cable standards, especially for a retread.
On the GSN board I once wondered why our little game show network didn't seem interested in acquiring Wipeout. I dunno, maybe GSN tried and got outbid by Time Warner's deep pockets. Or maybe the network didn't like the show as part of its "adult female" targeting. But a million and half viewers look really, really good compared to GSN's usual paltry numbers.
No comments:
Post a Comment