Brav ... oh.

Bravo put out a press release crowing that the "Project Runway" finale garnered 3.4 million viewers, "smashing" the old record "to become the most viewed telecast in network history."

Wow, what an achievement!

And to think, it came within 600,000 viewers of the first episode of "Black. White," which got 4 million people for its broadcast, also last night, also on a cable channel, but without anywhere near the kind of marketing hype that "Runway" has accumulated this season.

Maybe that's because one isn't a knockoff of a UPN show but an original idea. You remember original ideas, don't you?

SEASON FINALE OF BRAVO'S 'PROJECT RUNWAY' SMASHES RECORD TO BECOME MOST VIEWED TELECAST IN NETWORK HISTORY


       3.4 MILLION TOTAL VIEWERS TUNE-IN TO SEE DESIGNER CHLOE DAO NAMED THE WINNER OF THE SECOND SEASON OF THE EMMY-NOMINATED SERIES


        SERIES PREMIERE OF 'TOP CHEF' GARNERS A SIZZLING 1.3 MILLION VIEWERS BREAKING TIME-PERIOD RECORDS IN ALL KEY DEMOS


       NEW YORK - March 9, 2006 - 3.4 million total viewers tuned in to last night's finale of the second season of Bravo's hit series "Project Runway," as Chloe Dao was named the winner by host, Heidi Klum, making it the most viewed single telecast in the 20-year history of the network.  Following the finale, the premiere of Bravo's newest series, "Top Chef," launched to an incredible 1.3 million total viewers.

"The record-breaking conclusion to 'Project Runway' provided a fantastic hand-off to our newest series, 'Top Chef'," said Lauren Zalaznick, President of Bravo.  "Viewers on air and on-line said goodbye to an incredibly talented group of characters and were immediately introduced to another crop of skilled, emotional personalities."

The finale of "Project Runway" garnered 2.5 million viewers 18-49, 2 million viewers 25-54 and a 3.10 HH coverage rating.  The episode also set records for the highest delivery of women 18-34 (1.1 million) and 18-49 (1.7 million) as well as delivering more women 25-54 (1.4 million) than any other show on cable last night.  The finale also broke the Bravo all-time record for Households, averaging 2.5 million for the hour. The finale also averaged a 5.0 HH rating or better in eight major markets, including a 9.1 rating in Seattle-Tacoma.

NOTHING GRAY ABOUT RATINGS FOR NEW FX SERIES "BLACK. WHITE."

Premiere Draws 4.0 Million Total Viewers and 2.8 Million Adults 18-49

Cable's #1 Program Wednesday Night in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49

and the #1 Cable Series Premiere for 2005-06 Season in Delivery of Adults 18-49

Ties The Osbournes as Basic Cable's

#1 Unscripted Series Premiere Ever in Delivery of Adults 18-49

LOS ANGELES, March 9, 2006 - There's nothing gray about the ratings for FX's new series Black. White. (TV-MA): Wednesday night's series premiere (10-11:08 p.m.) was cable television's #1 program with 4.0 million total viewers and 2.8 million Adults 18-49. Black. White. topped the strong season finale of Bravo's Project Runway, which delivered 3.4 million total viewers and 2.4 million Adults 18-49.

Last night's delivery of 2.8 million Adults 18-49 ranks Black. White. as the #1 series premiere (new or returning) on cable TV for the 2005-2006 season, and places it in a tie with The Osbournes for the highest delivery ever in Adults 18-49 for the premiere episode of an unscripted series on ad-supported cable.

The Black. White. series premiere (10-11:08PM) and its encore (11:09PM-12:17AM) combined to deliver a two-telecast gross audience of 5.7 million total viewers and 3.9 million Adults 18-49.

FX airs all new installments of Black. White. every Wednesday at 10 p.m. e/p through April 12. FX will televise repeat airings of the series' first hour at midnight on Saturday (3/11) and at 11 p.m. e/p on Sunday (3/12).

Black. White. examines race with an extraordinary approach by putting new faces on the Sparks family, an African-American family, and the Wurgel family, a Caucasian family. Through the transformative power of make-up, the Wurgel family (Carmen Wurgel, her daughter Rose Bloomfield, and Carmen's longtime boyfriend Bruno Marcotulli) become black, and the Sparks family (Brian, Renee and Nick) become white. The two families shared a home in Tarzana, California for the duration of the six-week production, which wrapped last summer.  Cameras followed each family member as they went about their daily routines throughout Southern California.

 
Black. White. was developed by R.J. Cutler who serves as Executive Producer along with Ice Cube and Matt Alvarez. The show is produced by FX Networks, Actual Reality Pictures and Cube-Vision.

Comments

[Brendan]

Black. White.? An original idea? I guess you've never read/heard of "Black Like Me" or saw fellow FX series "30 Days" last summer.

(I'm not sure what "30 Days" has in common with "Black. White." other than the fact R.J. Cutler is producing both ... which means he stole his own idea?? Anyway, of course I've heard of "Black Like Me." But there is a statute of limitations to idea larceny. And that book came out when I was teething.)

[Keith]

You're usually a sensible guy, Aaron, so not sure I understand this vitriol about Project Runway. It's ratings were spectacular for Bravo, so it's no surprise that the network issued a press release; it's standard network procedure these days and the press release was certainly not any more ridiculous than any of the spin-tastic crap that is spewed out by the broadcast networks on a daily basis. So why single out Runway?

(Because it's fun!--AB)

Then this business about Runway being a "knockoff of a UPN show" and contrasting it to another show that you've chosen to label "original". I'm not dissing Black. White., but I would hardly call any show based on a "switching places" premise to be original -- there are dozens of such shows on the air right now, all more alike than not. And if you really think that Project Runway is a copy of America's Next Top Model, it only tells me that you've watched very little of either.

Point that criticism to where it's more deserved. Maybe you didn't know, but apparently there is another installment of The Bachelor running. And somewhere right now, girls in string bikinis are eating raw goat testes while suspended over snake pits.

[Mark Jeffries]

Actually, "The Bachelor"'s done for this year and perhaps forever.

And far be it for me to speak for the Chief, but I have the feeling that Aaron's understandably unhappy that Bravo's not the oasis of culture it was when Cablevision owned it or the second coming of Trio, as I think we were all hoping when Lauren Zazalnick was given the channel and Trio fell into benign neglect. Instead, Lauren's gone for a slightly classier take of what her former channel VH1's become. You can't begrudge the fact that it's attracting an audience (and it's undeniable that the audience that would be most attracted to cultural television is the audience that is the most hostile to cable and satellite), but it's still a shame.

[Brendan]

Permission to comment on a comment?
The Bachelor's finale ratings were actually quite good (getting almost double the ratings of its premiere) so The Bachelor probably (and depressingly) isn't dead yet.