Posted on 09/30/2014 7:26:39 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Madam Secretary, CBS’ 100 million dollar Hillary infomercial, wasn’t doing too well with younger viewers to begin with.
You would think that 60 Minutes with its senescent cast of droners would have less younger viewers than Madam Secretary, but don’t count out the Hillary magic.
The current ratings show that Madam Secretary lost 4 million 60 Minutes viewers and lost half of its younger 18-49 viewers. That’s the demo prized by advertisers and Madam Secretary is going to have trouble staying on the air if it can’t get them to tune in.
Younger voters are also an obvious target for the Hillary 2016 campaign which is what Madam Secretary is really an ad for. That’s why CBS’s version of Hillary Clinton is being played by a woman twenty years younger than her.
When your demographics are older than 60 Minutes, you know your TV show and your campaign are in big trouble.
Now it’s doing even worse with the handful of younger viewers it still hadn’t alienated.
The latest ratings show that Madam Secretary’s 2nd episode is down to a 1.4 rating among the demo, viewers 18-49, down from 2.0.
Up against the premiere of the Simpsons and Once Upon a Time, which had demo ratings of 3.9 and 3.4, Madam Secretary performed as miserably as Hillary did as Secretary of State.
The overall series has lost 2 million viewers with its 2nd episode. That doesn’t look very promising. Its overall ratings aren’t catastrophic yet, but CBS is obsessive about retaining younger viewers. It already does well with older viewers.
Madam Secretary can’t afford to keep losing viewers 18-45 or it’s toast. It’s already drawn down to Good Wife and CSI level ratings in the demo. If it keeps falling beyond that, it hits Blue Bloods territory. Any further and it’s gone.
By way of comparison, Scorpion, CBS’ new drama, pulled in a 3.20 demo. NCIS New Orleans debuted with a 2.50 in the demo.
Robin Williams’ Crazy Ones got the ax after a season finale that pulled in a 1.30 in the demo. Hostages was canceled after dropping below 1.00 in the demo. Intelligence was canceled after a 1.20 in the demo.
Madam Secretary is performing with younger viewers like a show that’s been on the air for five years. At best. And that’s not a good thing.
The question is how much money is CBS willing to lose to promote Hillary Clinton?
Bonus: Diplomad’s review of Madam Secretary
Just the promos where Tea Leoni breathlessly says “my priority is the protection of our employees at our embassy” made me wanna puke my guts out.
I hope you're correct. By waiting as long as possible to make her decision, it's stopping any potential competition from emerging. And as an age-compatible woman, I'll state this observation: she seems to be showing serious signs of aging, and we could end up with a president with dementia. (I know, MEOW)
I watched the pilot episode when it re-ran, since nothing else was on. It was okay. I have ep2 on DVR and will see what it is like.
Scorpion. I didn’t want to like it, but the pilot and ep2 were okay. Similar with the pilot for How To Get Away with Murder.
When the West Wing was on the air, government was still more or less competent. The US still had respect in the world, and we could cripple a country economically if we wanted, and things happening in the world stayed pretty much within the ‘sandbox’ of the middle east.
Any show about COMPETENT government, wherein there is leadership demonstrated and respect shown for it is like pouring salt on a bone-deep wound. Why they thought something like this would go down well is beyond me.
Everyone running the place is white, with plenty of experience and well educated.
Hollywood, NYC, and DC are so disconnected from things, when they speak, otherwise intelligent enough people look at them and go, “Huh?”
There’s a piece about this sort of comms disconnect in last weekend’s WSJ. It’s upstairs, or I’d refer to it.
The second episode was just OK. The Anti-Hillary character in the second episode moved heaven and earth to get the Ambassador of Yemen extra security. The stab at Republicans was that she went to chat with the Chairman of Means and Ways and asked for more funding and he said refused The funny part it was on the golf course. The Anti-Hillary then hired Mercs who in the end came out as Heros.
I watched the NCIS spin-off episode for NO. I don’t care much for it. I don’t care to watch Scott Backula anyway, and his trying to fake a southern drawl is awful.
Network television! How quaint and outmoded....
You don't perform as miserably as Hilary Clinton. You character then becomes the Anti-Hilary.
I said Madam Secretary pilot was surprisingly okay. It was better than I thought it would be.
I have ep2 on DVR, but have not watched it yet.
I don’t own a television machine. But what’s with all the TV series about presidents, congressmen, cabinet secretaries, and newsreaders? It’s sick.
Actually since it is CBS, they will bend over forward.
CBS discovers a cure for Insomnia
Flat but she has them.
Like I said before it aired, it won’t last the season...........
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.