Thursday, January 13, 2011
TCA Winter 2011 Press Tour: NBC; The Game's Season Premiere Sets Series Highs on BET
IF there is anything noteworthy from NBC's panels this afternoon, we will let you know, so stay with us!
BET's scripted night of programming broke ratings records as millions tuned in on Tuesday, January 11 to watch the hour long cable debut of sitcom The Game at 10:00 p.m. and the series premiere of Let's Stay Together at 11:00 p.m. The Game was the #1 ad-supported sitcom telecast in cable TV history, garnering 7.7 million total viewers and 4.87 coverage rating according to the Nielsen Company and was the #1 The Game telecast on broadcast and cable ever (beating its airings on The CW by miles). The premiere also ranks as the #2 telecast in BET history among viewers (behind BET Awards '09).
Let's Stay Together, a brand new scripted series on the network, ranked among the top 5 ad-supported sitcom premieres in cable TV history ever and was the #2 series telecast in BET history behind The Game, debuting to 4.4 million viewers among 2.7 million households with a 3.0 coverage rating on Tuesday, January 11 at 11:00 p.m.
Following BET Networks' successful syndicate acquisition in February 2009, the BET premiere of The Game picked up where things left off at the end of season three (over two years ago) with the show's main cast -- Coby Bell, Hosea Chanchez, Brittany Daniel, Pooch Hall, Tia Mowry and Wendy Raquel Robinson.
In addition to its incredible on-air performance, The Game had the highest amount of social media buzz of all other prime time television shows, according to Trendrr's Prime Time Television Activity Chart for Tuesday, January 11. At one point, commenting on The Game Facebook page averaged 893 likes per minute, and 750 comments per minute, after the question "What did you think about tonight's episode?" within the first 28 minutes after the post. The Game related topics dominated Twitter with 9 out of the top 10 trending topics 30 minutes into the program.
So why did The Game get such big ratings? The CW aired the series only in primetime once a week, while BET has been airing the series since February in all day parts with a lot of marathons, gaining new fans and airing it with similar style sitcoms. With the amount of networks available today, it is very hard to find an audience for a series airing just once a week. Comedies tend to repeat well and are perfect for marathon viewing. The previous high for The Game on The CW was 3 million viewers for the season two premiere, which was more than doubled in the BET premiere. Maybe more network sitcoms need to have their sitcoms air for marathons or daily afternoon airings to get a bigger audience in primetime. Original dramas on cable also are doing well with the marathon blocks and extra encores, such as ABC Family's Pretty Little Liars, which recently saw series highs for the return.
Both series will regularly air every Tuesday on BET at 10pm & 10:30pm, respectively.
Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows
Tuesday, March 3
none scheduled
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of March 2)
Tuesday, March 3
- Ike Barinholtz (The Studio/The Afterparty/Bless the Harts/The Mindy Project/Eastbound & Down) - Catch Ike on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
- Michael Strahan (Brothers) - Michael is a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
- Maria Bamford (Lady Dynamite/Benched) - Maria appears on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
- Robby Hoffman (Hacks) - Robby is a guest on Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
- Christina Applegate (Dead to Me/Up All Night/Samantha Who?/Jesse/Married... with Children) - ABC's Good Morning America and GMA 3: What You Need to Know has Part 2 of Robin Roberts’ interview with Christina discussing her new memoir You with the Sad Eyes sometime between 7-9am and at 1pm.
- Zach Braff (Scrubs/Alex, Inc.) - Zach chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
- Christa Miller (Shrinking/Cougar Town/Scrubs/The Drew Carey Show) - Christa talks about Shrinking on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
- Brian Austin Green (Anger Management/Wedding Band/Freddie) - Brian talks about his film Golden on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
- Blair Underwood (Fatherhood/The New Adventures of Old Christine) - Blair and Ashton James talk about their film Youngblood on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
- Dorian Missick (Zoe Ever After) - Dorian talks about Prime's 56 Days on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
- Eric Roberts (Less Than Perfect) - Eric talks about his new memoir Runaway Train: Or, The Story of My Life So Far on Sherri, so check your local listings.
- Hilary Duff (How I Met Your Father/Younger/Lizzie McGuire) - Drew chats with Hilary all about growing up in the spotlight, motherhood and her return to pop music with her latest album and tour on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
New on DVD and Blu-ray
07/22 - Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)
08/26 - The Huckleberry Hound Show - The Complete Original Series (Blu-ray)
09/30 - Touché Turtle and Dum Dum - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
10/07 - Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage - The Complete First Season (DVD)
10/14 - Curb Your Enthusiasm - The Complete Series (Blu-ray) (DVD)
10/28 - St. Denis Medical - Season One (Blu-ray) (DVD)
11/04 - Happy's Place - Season One (Blu-ray) (DVD)
11/11 - Rick and Morty - Season 8 (Blu-ray) (DVD)
11/11 - SpongeBob SquarePants - The Complete Fifteenth Season (DVD)
11/11 - Two and a Half Men - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
12/02 - Tom and Jerry - The Golden Era Anthology (1940-1958) (Blu-ray) (DVD)
12/16 - Lippy the Lion and Hardy Har Har - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
12/16 - Wally Gator - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
01/20 - The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Golden Age Collection (Blu-ray)
01/27 - The New Fred and Barney Show - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
02/11 - Tom and Jerry - The Complete CinemaScope Collection (Blu-ray)
03/24 - Looney Tunes Collector's Vault - Volume 2 (Blu-ray)
More Recent and Upcoming TV DVD and Blu-ray Releases / TV Shows on DVD, Blu-ray and Prime Video / DVD Reviews Archive
Recent SitcomsOnline.com News Blog Posts









Contact Us