It has always bothered me that the shows I watch get cancelled because no one else watches them. Then, when said shows gets cancelled there is much angst and gnashing of teeth by the media and an outcry of injustice by more people than the statistics say ever tuned in. Then, the shows that are renewed (I’m looking at you According to Jim) seem to have no support.
So, I was a little jazzed when my wife recently fielded a call from the Nielsen Ratings organization, the group that accumulates the “ratings” that networks use in making programming decisions, requesting that we participate in their metered survey. For those of you who are curious, here is how it works. The Nielsen organization sends a technician who places a meter on your television/cable box/TiVo that tracks what shows are being viewed when your television is on. Using this information, the organization extrapolates our viewing habits as representing something like a million other TV watchers. (I’m not sure about that number because I haven’t really read the material they gave me.)
Despite protests from Steve Hunt who told me that it was a conspiracy by the government to steal my thoughts and sell them to big oil companies for use in covering up the contributions of Garret Morgan, we decided to participate. So, if future quality programs like Chuck, Scrubs, Friday Night Lights, and Pushing Daisies suddenly become highly rated hit shows while any reality-based crap starts tanking, you can thank me.
In addition to saving the shows I actually enjoy watching, I thought it might be fun to toy with the box and make it think I watch some local shows that probably have a viewer base of the hosts of the show and their immediate family. After the jump, I’ll tell you what they are.
5. Sports Night
Honestly, I have actually tuned in to this show by accident. I saw it playing on Cox Channel 7 with my TiVo guide and thought, “Wow, what a great syndicated re-run for a miniscule little cable station to pick up. Aaron Sorkin’s critically acclaimed precursor to The West Wing should be replayed.” Then, I changed the channel and saw Curtis Fitzpatrick talking about local sports stories. That was definitely a downgrade from Peter Krause, Josh Charles, and Felicity Huffman exchanging fast paced, witty banter.
4. The Locker Room
Mainly because Cardboard Jim asked me nicely.
3. The Village’s local broadcasting channel
It is little more than a Powerpoint showing the “Yards of the Month” set to a soundtrack lifted from KOMA, but I’ll be damned if it doesn’t suck you in.
2. Flashpoint
The local version of Crossfire for some reason plays at a time when anyone who might consider watching it is at church. However, for my dad, who records it every week, I will get it registered for the ratings company. Besides, I like the idea of the ratings going up after the show loses Burns Hargis.
1. Fox 25 Morning News
For obvious reasons.
You mention shows and church and stuff and does anyone remember the stop-motion animation show “Davy and Goliath” that played on Sunday morning? Davy was a normal kid with a talking dog that sounded like what God would sound like if he were a talking dog. Davy would get into some minor mischief and Goliath would give him an ethics lecture that would set him straight.
What channel is the Village yard of the month on?
I used to love the Village channel, the only bad thing about it is on Friday their computer had a tendency to crash leaving you staring a windows error all weekend.
I never watched Davy and Goliath, but I do remember Jay mentioning it in Dogma.
Good for you. Do you think you can somehow parlay this into getting Arrested Developement back on the air?
what about “Generally Speaking with Dave Bialis?” and remember that tweaker home shopping network that used to come on? they would sell what looked like pawn shop-level merchandise using a home-video camera that was zoomed as tight as they could get it. and the audio sounded like they were speaking through a sonic drive-in speaker… that was riveting television.
The pitch session for Sports Night Oklahoma: “Take the two least telegenic guys we can find, back them up with minimal production value, and have them report on impossibly uninteresting local sports stories. Gold!”
DVR/The Pirate Bay > Nielsen
Oh yes, I remember Cable Auction fondly. It was on circa late 90’s and housed out of a warehouse on South 44th and I-35. Talk about getting sucked in, it (perhaps with the help of other things) had my entire fraternity house mesmerized at 2 in the morning.
Oh c’mon guys!!! Theres no tin foil hat on my head…only interested in facts and history, but keep up the stellar work! Sidenote: recall that Rod Lott and I did a “underground newspaper” quite similar to The Lost Ogle in high school together, I think he felt sorry for you grown ups thus the cover piece in The Gazette. Sad stuff.
Also, glad that you can get so excited over your wife getting a phone call from Nielsons. Says a lot about your life.
I don’t know that I’ve ever come across someone with less sense of humor than Mr. Hunt unless it’s me when someone takes shots at my wife.
Congrats on standing up for one thing that is quite possibly worth standing up for. You are a real man.
If you want to come after someone, come after me. I’m a man. I’m 30.
So more people now watch the Village’s yard of the month powerpoint than listen to steve hunt on the radio now…well dnoe.
Cold aaaassss iiiiiiccccccceeee. cold as ice.
Cold aaaassss iiiiiiccccccceeee. cold as ice.
Theme song for Village powerpoint show in the winter.
Steve, it’s nice to know you troll thelostogle.com looking for any mention of you. I know it must make your day. Shouldn’t you be calling Clear Channel and Citadel to try and obtain an interview? GO SONICS!
Had a co-worker sign up to get a Nielson box.
They were going to move up in the world with
an extra 30 bucks in the monthly budget.
The installation tech fell through the ceiling
into the living room.
Took a couple months to get that back.
I’m getting $30/month? I thought it was just a one time thing for the installation.
In addition to being an embarrassment to OKC and himself, Steve Hunt is a bucket of worthlessness. Hunt has posted MySpace bulletins before attacking an acquaintance’s wife because she wrote a book about PR or Marketing or some other career field he believes feeds evil corporate propaganda B.S. There’s nothing quite like the ramblings of a paranoid with a misogyny streak and access to the internets…
What pisses me off most about TV executives is that they are usually inept, clueless morons (i.e. typical management) who seemingly delight in systematically cancelling all shows I tend to like. Personally, I think crack addicted monkies with ADHD would have a better handle on keeping the shows most people like to watch rather than the endless, annoying, aggravating mind numbingly dumb reality shows the TV execs spew now. Someone needs to find the execs, drag them into the streets, and beat them with reality TV show hosts until they bleed from their eyes.
That’s what I was told.
Income and all you have to do is watch T.V.
I never checked into it.
I just walked away shaking my head.
The cable auction was an awesome show when you are drunk on a friday night and living in norman. In fact, the knife I carry in my car I bought off the cable auction. Its got spikes on it and everything……
I just looked at Steve Hunt’s website. The guy reminds me of Jack Thompson (Florida attorney being disbarred for professional misconduct, known in the video game industry for his infamous lawsuits against RockStar/Take 2, the maker of Grand Theft Auto games). Jack is an all around troll who likes to stick his nose in and then be a media attention getting ham.
Look up Jack Thompson and you’ll see the similarities. Maybe Steve is Jack’s Oklahoma alter ego?
But anyway, you should know that I was just kidding! You know the game…say something you mean then add the 4 cowardly words “I was just kidding!”. Look, I have no prob with saying stuff about me, I deserve it. My problem is what you guys said about Wanda Jo and then were all like “ohhh tee hee, we were just kidding” about it all.
Grow a pair guys…
Steve Hunt & Wanda Jo = Harold & Maude. Think about it.
Bravo Tony!
Steve Hunt & Bill Simonson = Cheech and Chong
Who in the hell is Steve Hunt?
I miss the Cable Auction. It put me to sleep on many nights.
Jim Traber + Steve Hunt= Ralph Kramden & Ed Norton
Is this some kinda Roy D Mercer skit? With the comments above? lol. How big ah boy are ya?