So much for the Muppet special being "successful"

[murgatoad]

Here's the scoop from USA Today:

"It's hard to say, but this much is clear: The CBS movie starring Rob Lowe was the only new holiday program this year to make a mark among TV viewers.

Aside from Shoes and a few reliable chestnuts such as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman and A Charlie Brown Christmas, other specials turned out to be lumps of coal.

Though Shoes averaged 16.6 million viewers, tops among holiday programming, newer specials such as ABC's Dear Santa and CBS' Home for the Holidays drew much smaller audiences. Holidays, which aired Friday, averaged a meager 4.7 million viewers, while Sunday's NBC special America's Greatest Holiday Decorations mustered 5.2 million.

Yet time-tested specials such as Rudolph, Frosty and NBC's Christmas in Rockefeller Center easily won their time periods, Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas did well for WB and TBS, and NBC scored with its 20th airing of It's a Wonderful Life.

"It's hard to create perennials these days," says Kelly Kahl, CBS' scheduling and program planning chief. "Most of those (specials) came from 20-plus years ago and were established at a time when there were three networks and they commanded huge numbers, so the exposure was great. Those are shows that are really cross-generational, and I don't know that that's the case for some of the newer shows. Parents don't remember them."

Shopping, vacations, feature films and repeats depress TV viewing levels in late December. That makes it hard for newer specials to find an audience.

Yet networks like them, anyway. They provide something of a festive halo around other programming, and they are family-friendly shows that gift-selling advertisers love to sponsor.

"One thing holiday specials do that repeats don't is bring in viewers who ordinarily might not watch the network," says Magna Global USA analyst Steve Sternberg.

Although Nickelodeon does well with kid-targeted animated specials, the bigger networks have shied away from ambitious new fare. Fox struck out two years ago with Olive, the Other Reindeer. And not all nostalgia is golden. NBC dropped plans to revive Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol, TV's first animated holiday special. It premiered 40 years ago this month. "

 

[beaker]

Yeah, so where does the article specifically mention the NBC Muppet special...or is this more selective anti Muppet agenda propaganda?

 

[Luke]

The Muppets did 11 million and won the best demograph did it not ? If you were to go by this article, the Muppet movie haven't done that far less than the top rating specials they mention. Seriously, that movie did generally ok - it wasn't a blockbuster, but it was more than acceptable for both Henson and NBC, they've both done a heck of a lot worse. You need to lay off it a bit.

If the Muppets had turned out that much of a stinker, maybe the author would have mentioned the movie by name ? Huh ?

 

[murgatoad]

Originally posted by Luke
The Muppets did 11 million and won the best demograph did it not ? If you were to go by this article, the Muppet movie haven't done that far less than the top rating specials they mention. Seriously, that movie did generally ok - it wasn't a blockbuster, but it was more than acceptable for both Henson and NBC, they've both done a heck of a lot worse. You need to lay off it a bit.

If the Muppets had turned out that much of a stinker, maybe the author would have mentioned the movie by name ? Huh ?

In the actual newspaper article there's a graph of Xmas specials listed in order of number of viewers. The Muppet special is there, but the caption under the graph states that except for "The Christmas Shoes", new Xmas specials sparked only moderate viewer interest. My argument all along has been that the special underperformed. This article proves my point.

 

[beaker]

Originally posted by murgatoad
My argument all along has been that the special underperformed. This article proves my point.

Right, right...so it didnt grab Survivor or American Idol season finale Nielsens...Um...so what are you *happy* about JHC/Muppet wise these days?

 

[sarah_yzma]

hating NBC

i don't know why, but i think other stations would have done better....i still mean the main antenna stations (as we call them in our family) i truly think small stations,such as UPN, could have done a better job! heres why


1. Some people say the advertised it enough...i say not they advertised in chunks. one show would have 5 previews, while the next four would not have any.

2. In my opinion more adults watch NBC than ABC and CBS. until recently NBC did not even have children shows on. their saturdays were just news. so children could not have got as many chances to know it was on.

3. The advertised at AWFUL times...i saw advertisements during Jay Leno SEVERAL nights, and did not see any on the Saturday morning lineup, when kids are whatching. The only show i saw that they advertised during that kids might be watching was the parade on thanksgiving, and it was cut short! i didn't see the promotions during the parade, but from what i heard it's better i didn't.

All these reasons all relate to the same theme, sort of...i have never liked NBC i think other stations would have shown enough dedication to get the viewers....i said UPN above and they might have been able to...they could run commercials to death on their main show, Enterprise, and i think if it was on CBS it would have been WAY more advertised, i usually complain about how much CBS advertises their own shows, but that's what it needed. and ABC is disney and don't get me started on that.....i could go on forever....Sarah

 

[Arekuru]

You know, it may be that the Muppet Christmas Movie wasn't mentioned because it ran during the Thanksgiving holiday, not the Christmas one. Even though the story was about Christmas, it was aired in November, and not in the running for this article, which mostly mentioned specials aired the week or so surrounding Christmas.

Why are you all always so quick to decide that the Muppet's aren't being appreciated? Mention the "comeback" to anyone who doesn't follow these boards, and you generally get a blank stare and a "When did they go away?" They've always been appreciated, just not always commercially, which is where boardies tend to focus, being so worried about things like who owns the company.

::Steps off soap box::

 

[frogboy4]

Dead horse.

 

[FellowWLover]

Re: hating NBC

Originally posted by sarah_yzma

3. The advertised at AWFUL times...i saw advertisements during Jay Leno SEVERAL nights, and did not see any on the Saturday morning lineup, when kids are whatching. The only show i saw that they advertised during that kids might be watching was the parade on thanksgiving, and it was cut short! i didn't see the promotions during the parade, but from what i heard it's better i didn't.

Now this interest me, since it sort of confirms my thoughts that they knew VMMCM is not really a film for kids. I just wish the rating had been appropriate.

 

[murgatoad]

Originally posted by Arekuru
You know, it may be that the Muppet Christmas Movie wasn't mentioned because it ran during the Thanksgiving holiday, not the Christmas one. Even though the story was about Christmas, it was aired in November, and not in the running for this article, which mostly mentioned specials aired the week or so surrounding Christmas.

Why are you all always so quick to decide that the Muppet's aren't being appreciated? Mention the "comeback" to anyone who doesn't follow these boards, and you generally get a blank stare and a "When did they go away?" They've always been appreciated, just not always commercially, which is where boardies tend to focus, being so worried about things like who owns the company.

::Steps off soap box::

Well, the article did mention the Muppet special in a graph that listed the top Xmas specials according to viewership. So it was included in the article.