Why people aren’t covering one of the highest-rated shows on TV (Shark Tank)

New York Post ^ | 10/02/2017 | By Maureen Callahan

[SeekAndFind]

Tonight marks the 2-hour season premiere of one of television’s top-rated, most critically acclaimed shows — one that curiously gets little media attention.

For nine seasons, “Shark Tank” — a competitive reality program in which inventors pitch to a panel of multi-millionaires (and one billionaire) — has been a consistent ratings winner despite ABC airing it in a Friday night graveyard slot. It’s won four Emmys for Outstanding Structured Reality Program. Last August, the show retained its audience against NFL pre-season games.

The success of “Shark Tank” has surprised even some sharks. “I thought it was going to be a failure,” Daymond John told CNBC earlier this year. “Nobody wants to listen to five businessmen and women talk! Who wants to watch that?”

Turns out about 10 million people do, eager to learn about margins, franchising, licensing, intellectual property and utility patents, amortization and customer acquisition, all of which somehow make edge-of-your-seat viewing.

Most compelling: “Shark Tank” is the American Dream in your living room week after week, a potent counterweight to our ongoing economic trauma. It’s hard to think of a more resonant-yet-aspirational reality show. So why doesn’t it garner as much media coverage as, say, “The Bachelor,” which equals and sometimes lags behind “Shark Tank” in viewers?

This disconnect seems another example of our two Americas: coastal elites forensically recapping and analyzing esoteric ratings losers (most recently “Twin Peaks”) while the heartland’s tastes go ignored. The scant coverage “Shark Tank” does get isn’t in People or Us Weekly but Forbes and Business Insider.

And that’s ridiculous, because it’s the most populist show on the air.

[SeekAndFind]

THE SHARK TANK PANEL

What is the Shark Tank Cast Net Worth: Mark Cuban?

Shark Tank cast member Mark Cuban has been a longstanding entrepreneur and owner of the Dallas Mavericks. He’s started multiple companies including HDNet, MicroSolutions, and Broadcast.com. In addition, he is the co-owner of the Landmark Theater Chain, Magnolia Pictures and Magnolia Home Video. Mark Cuban also gained fame when he predicted the demise of Yahoo and sold all of his share in the company, right before it plummeted from $163 per share to $8.11 per share. As of summer of this year,  Mark Cuban has invested in 85 deals from Shark Tank entrepreneurs for a total of $19.9 million invested. The last couple of years have been a success for Mark Cuban given that his current net worth comes in around $3.3 billion.

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What is the Shark Tank Cast Net Worth: Robert Herjavec?

Robert Herjavec’s family immigrated from Croatia with reportedly no more than $20 in their pockets. While Herjavec began his career in film, he obtained his first job at Logiquest as a salesman by offering to work the first 6 months for free. He supported himself during this period by waiting tables. After being fired from Logiquest in 1990, he founded his own company, Brak system, an internet security software system, and sold it to AT&T for $30.2 million. Though he took a few years off after the sale, Herjavec went on to found Herjavec Group in 2003, one of Canada’s largest internet security provider companies. As of 2013, the company had 150 employees and has now done $500 million in sales. Unfortunately for Robert Herjavec, he also underwent a divorce. As a result, this Shark Tank cast member’s net worth declined from $200 million to around $100 million.

What is the Shark Tank Cast Net Worth: Lori Greiner?

Lori Greiner is fondly called the “queen of QVC,” and is the president and founder of Chicago-based For Your Ease Only, a product development and marketing company. She has launched more than 400 products and holds 120 US and international patents. One of Lori Greiner’s investments as a member of the Shark Tank cast, Scrub Daddy, has been one of the biggest success stories from the show and has garnered $75 million of sales. Lori Greiner’s net worth is estimated to be around $50 million.

What is the Shark Tank Cast Net Worth: Kevin O’Leary

Kevin O’Leary is noted to be one of the more abrasive judges on the Shark Tank cast. So just how successful is he? Well, Kevin O’Leary reportedly began his first business with a $10,000 investment from his mother. SoftKey Software Companies, Kevin O’Leary’s first company, was founded in his home’s basement after Kevin graduated from college. O’Leary sold The Learning Company to Mattel in 1997 for $3 billion. As of 2016, O’Leary’s net worth was $300 million. Clearly O’Leary made his ruthlessness work for him!

What is the Shark Tank Cast Net Worth: Daymond John?

Daymond John is the founder of FUBU and made his fortune by building a fashion empire. Daymond John was raised by a single mom in New York City. She had to work more than one job to make ends meet. To make himself the clothes he wanted to wear but weren’t available anywhere else, Daymond John asked his mother for a sewing machine and got his start selling what he made. When his hats began to sell well, Daymond John convinced his mother to take out a second mortgage on their home and used the money to found FUBU. FUBU truly rose to fame after Daymond John’s childhood friend, LL Cool J, promoted the clothing. As a result of the success of FUBU,  Shark Tank cast member Daymond John is worth $250 million.

What is the Shark Tank Cast Net Worth: Barbara Corcoran?

Barbara Corcoran is considered the real estate expert among the sharks given that she first started out in business by founding the Corcoran Group in 1973, a real estate business. She went on to escalate her brand by publishing the Corcoran Report, an analysis of real estate data trends in New York City in the mid-1970s. She notes that what the report really accomplished for here was to get her name out. She is a real estate contributor to multiple shows and also acts as a business consultant via her consulting and television production company, Barbara Corcoran Inc. Barbara Corcoran has been a clear winner in the last few years since her net worth has gone up to around $80 million.

What is the Shark Tank Cast Net Worth: Ashton Kutcher?

Ashton Kutcher is not just your average Hollywood pretty boy. In fact, he’s become a savvy investor, founding his venture capital firm, A-Grade Investments. The combined valuation of A-Grade Investments has been estimated to be as much as $150 million, with investments in household names such as Airbnb, Shazam, Path, Flipboard, Foursquare, Uber, Spotify, Fab.com, Soundcloud, Pinterest, Washio, Nextoor, Houzz, and more. Of course, that side gig, acting, doesn’t hurt him either. Ashton Kutcher is said to have earned $750,000 per episode of the hit comedy series Two and a Half Men, which means his paycheck per season has been a cool $18 million. All of that — including his earnings as a Shark Tank cast member — tallies up to a $140 million estimated net worth.

What is the Shark Tank Cast Net Worth: Chris Sacca?

Chris Sacca is one of the more interesting Shark Tank cast members, primarily because his success hasn’t been a simple ascent from rags to riches as seems to have been the case for so many others. Chris Sacca started out as a lawyer, gambling his student loans during law school on the stock market, and turning $20,000 into $12 million. However, his success gave way to failure when the market crashed and Sacca found himself as much as $3 million in debt. Sacca didn’t give up and got a job at a law firm as an associate, but was then let got after a little more than a year. He then supported himself by independent contracting gigs as a lawyer that he secured on Craigslist and Elance and eventually landed a job at Google as a general counsel. He worked there until his shares vested and left in 2007 to found his own venture capital firm, Lowercase Capital. Now, this is where things get interesting. Sacca funded companies such as Twitter, Uber, Instagram, Twilio and Kickstarter. Chris Sacca’s net worth is estimated to be $1.2 billion.

What is the Shark Tank Cast Net Worth: Bethenny Frankel?

Bethenny Frankel is one of the latest entrepreneurs to join the cast of Shark Tank and even though she might not have a fortune that compares to Mark Cuban, she’s certainly been one of the more successful reality stars.

Bethenny Frankel started out creating a healthy cookie company. That company landed her on the reality show “Martha Stewart: Apprentice.” However, her first big venture didn’t pan out too well for Bethenny. Still, she didn’t give up and was soon featured on “The Real Housewifes: New York.” After actually getting married, Bethenny started her own line of low-calorie margarita mixes. This company was a big hit for Bethenny and according to reports, she sold the company for $100 million in 2011. However, Bethenny also recently underwent a very expensive divorce. All told, Bethenny’s current net worth is estimated to be $25 million,

All together, the Shark Tank cast’s net worth tops out at $5.75 billion!

[Mr. Jeeves]

Our Communist elites would naturally loathe a show like Shark Tank - which teaches the damned proles that they can be self-sufficient. They might even vote wrong after watching it! :)

[TangledUpInBlue]

I like it. Have gotten two nice products from watching the show. It can be funny, interesting and mindless white noise all at once.

Oddly, I never watch on Fridays but typically see syndicated re-runs of past seasons.

[Berlin_Freeper]

Coke Music: Festival der Einheit Livestream

[robroys woman]

This is weird. I don’t have TV but saw about a half of an episode of this at a friends house a few months ago.

Did not enjoy. It’s why I only saw about half an episode.

[Conserv]

Who can stand to watch Mark Cuban?

[Bullish]

I normally like watching shark tank. Thought it would be good to watch the 2 hour season premiere. Last night I just couldn’t stand watching anymore than about a half hour of that atheist Richard Branson. That guy just rubs me the wrong way, I guess.

I switched it to something else.

[Ted Grant]

It’s the kind of show that plays well in our country. It appeals to the idea that the average person can build a better mousetrap and get a shot at success (that is, wealth).

People love that basic story and it never gets old.

The other thing that appeals to our country is the occasional severe dressing down of guests on the show. Americans love a success story, and they love to see someone fail, too. It’s a strange duality.

[cyclotic]

Last night featured a snowflakish kid who just graduated college two weeks before. He had a phone app telling where airport restaurants were located.

He got turned down, started to walk away then turned around and began to lambaste the sharks telling them how special he was and that he not only played basketball, but he also coded whenever he could.

Real resume enhancer there kid. I sure hope he got a good job sometime between taping and broadcast.

Richard Branson and Mark Cuban threw glasses of water at each other. I’m not sure if they were screwing around or seriously PO’d.

Cuban held the center chair in Kevin O’Leary’s absence and was way too bombastic and in your face. He didn’t handle the pressure well.

[KneelBeforeZod]

I remember them fawning over some little girl who “invented” a back massager that had been in every chinese grocery store for 15 years. In fact they were even at Daiso.

They threw a bunch of money at her. I know they can’t possibly know every item on earth, but they must have a lot more BS segments that are more about personality than actua inventions

[Reno89519]

Why not watching? (1) Don’t care about it, not interested, (2) Don’t watch these kinds of problems, (3) Don’t watch regular TV anyway.

[Trod Upon]

Bingo. I can’t even look at that bloated freak without feeling slightly queasy.

[Beowulf9]

My husband never misses it. I’ve watched it and it is pretty interesting a show.

[b4me]

some of the products they choose are stupid - sure they may sell but ridiculous one use items and likely go unused in the long run.
just greed of making sales/money is what I saw on the few times I watched.

[cyclotic]

Last night had a couple interesting ones. One was a hammock system. The sellers really blew it. The system was nothing new but it had two distinct features.

My system from Eno has a hammock, bug screen and rain fly. So did there’s.

They also had a place to hang a small pack under the hammock and off the ground and an insulated under blanket.

I don’t have the blanket and below about60 degrees, I prefer my tent.

They barely mentioned the gear stowage and didn’t mention the insulator at all. Bad presentation.

[Louis Foxwell]

I guess if anyone deserves to be a pompous ass it is Mark Cuban.

[beergarden]

because we couldn’t stand anti Trump hater mark cuban? Just a thought...

[posterchild]

I’ve never seen the show as i watch maybe 3 hours of tv per month. However, if i understand what the show is, you might find something comparable in a town near you on wednesday mornings.

http://www.1millioncups.com

[Pride in the USA]

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