After ABC executives recover from the stunning Nielsen ratings that crossed their transom Tuesday, some of them ought to call up producer Michael Davies and tell him: Thanks a million.
Riding the momentum of Davies' prime-time quiz show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," ABC scored its biggest ratings triumph of the year and had the five of the six most-watched programs of the week - all of them "Millionaire" broadcasts. "It's unbelievable," Davies said Tuesday.
"I now have framed in my office the original ABC research memo with the ratings estimates on this program that I hope someday will go down in television lore." That memo had wished hopefully for "Millionaire" to draw a 10 "share" (percentage of people watching TV). At the time Davies thought that sounded about right. Instead, the program routinely scored a 20 share and won its time period every single night it aired. The show's sparkling two-week premiere exceeded all expectations and ensured it a place in ABC's regular-season plans this fall.
It also fueled interest throughout the TV business in game shows, especially the big-money concepts that had been off network TV since the quiz show scandals of the 1950s. Davies said "Millionaire" will return in November. While the schedule is not firm, Davies said he was "planning on a similar number of shows over a similar number of nights."
From its debut Aug. 16, and continuing with 13 broadcasts over 14 nights, "Millionaire" built its audience steadily through word of mouth, much as "The $ 64,000 Question," the show on which "Millionaire" patterned itself, did 44 summers ago on CBS. Starting at just under 10 million viewers, "Millionaire" grew to 15.8 million viewers per night by the end of its first week. Six of the top 25 shows in television for the week of Aug. 16 were "Millionaire" broadcasts. Millions more joined in during the show's second week.
Last Thursday, opposite reruns of "Frasier" and "Friends," "Millionaire" peaked at 16.8 million viewers, or 2 1/2 times the audience ABC had in that same time period last season.
Despite a mediocre batch of contestants - like the youth pastor who used up all three of his "lifelines," or requests for help, on a seemingly easy question about coins - viewers continued to tune in. Only one contestant answered as many as 14 of the 15 questions, stopping after the $ 1 million question stumped him.
On Sunday, the concluding night of "Millionaire," 22.4 million viewers tuned in. That's comparable to the viewership for a typical regular-season episode of "Frasier," last season's No. 3-rated program. ABC scored an even more crucial victory among the age group cherished by advertisers: For the third week in a row it was the most-watched network among viewers ages 18-49.
According to ABC, that hadn't happened in four years. Now the $ 64 question: Can the summer success of "Millionaire" - achieved against the straw competition of reruns and newsmagazines - carry over into the regular season?
The example of ABC's surprise hit of last summer, "Whose Line Is It Anyway? " suggests it can. "Whose Line," another game show with a familiar host (Drew Carey), averaged 12 million viewers in the rerun-laden summer. During the regular season, however, "Whose Line" actually picked up about a million viewers and was the 28th highest-rated show of the season. - To reach Aaron Barnhart, television writer for The Star, phone (816) 234-4790 or visit the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com
