'The Bachelor' bumps 'Samantha Who?' off ABC
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Thanks to a certain single dad, you won't be seeing a certain single woman on ABC for a while longer.
The network has decided to keep airing two-hour episodes of The Bachelor for the rest of its run this winter, thanks to fairly decent ratings for this cycle. That means that Samantha Who?, which had been scheduled to return to ABC's Monday lineup next week, is for the moment homeless. The network says an announcement about the show's future -- which despite this development seems fairly solid -- will come in the next few days.
ABC's decision is a ratings-driven one, thanks to some gravity-defying numbers for current Bachelor Jason Mesnick. ABC has touted the appeal of the single dad, who was the final rejectee on The Bachelorette last summer, and it appears the network is right.
The audience for the show has grown in each of the past three weeks, starting with 8.7 million viewers for the Jan. 5 premiere, improving to 9.06 million the following week and hitting 9.9 million on Monday (Jan. 19) while winning all the key female demographics. Monday's improvement is all the more impressive considering the stiffer competition the show faced this week, with FOX's new House-24 lineup and new episodes of CBS' comedies.
By comparison, the most recent edition of The Bachelor, starring Londoner Matt Grant, and The Bachelorette both averaged 7.9 million viewers over their runs.
Samantha Who? had been doing reasonably well this year, averaging a little under 10 million viewers this week. But those numbers were mostly the result of airing after Dancing with the Stars; when it didn't have the reality hit as a lead-in, its audience dropped below 7 million viewers.
I have long since checked out of The Bachelor, but I understand ABC's decision from a business standpoint. Mondays from 8 to 10 p.m. may be the most competitive two hours in all of primetime now, so if I were running the network I wouldn't want to mess with a show that's growing week to week.
And if I were running the network, I think I'd have a way to get Samantha Who? back on the schedule sooner rather than later. It seems simple, and it's something I and more than a few of you have brought up in previous posts: Pair it with Scrubs on Tuesday nights.
The two shows have similar sensibilities and styles, and teaming them up would allow ABC to extend Scrubs' season further into the spring. If the network keeps running back-to-back episodes (as is currently the plan), the show's season will be over by March.
So why not, ABC? Putting these two shows on Tuesdays would create a pretty decent hour-long comedy block on the night, and could provide anchors for your new shows -- Better Off Ted, In the Motherhood and The Goode Family -- later this season. We look forward to your announcement (even if you don't take our advice).
I always thought Scrubs and Samantha Who should be paired up. My dream ABC line-up consisted of Pushing Daisies, Scrubs/Samantha Who, and Eli Stone, but I guess it's a little too late for this to happen.
Oh come on..bring back Samantha Who? now! Its a good show, and ABC will only screw it up by not letting people see it, than bring it back without letting people know about it
As ususal a crap reality show takes the place of a much better show with real actors, not the wannabes on all the crap reality shows.
It's now official. ABC is the worst network ever. They cancelled Eli Stone and Pushing Daisies earlier. And, now Samantha Who? is gone. There is nothing on ABC worth watching... Yes, for me, that includes Lost.
I'm so over these reality shows being two hours long. Since when is there a need to stretch people standing on scales and handing out roses to 40+ min?
You guys think it's bad at ABC? Take a look at NBC where they're just desperate for a hit and they're filling their schedules with Nothing But Crap all the time and the reason why they're sinking quicker than the Titanic did.
nbc should air the following shows on weeknights before Jay Leno: Boston Legal, Dirty Sexy Money, Eli Stone, Pushing Daisies, Samantha Who/Miss Guided. abc picked up that loser scrubs from nbc, why wouldn't nbc pick up popular shows abc foolishly didn't want?
The breath of crap that exits on ABC, NBC and CBS -or what I call the three horsemen of the apocalypse - is further evidence that RATINGS is all they care about and pandering to stupid people who think reality and games shows are fun. They all are in need of some treatment.
I refuse to watch any of these shows and after praising the networks for some excellent programs, I will now be turning off my TV -despite, even, some better shows on the cable channels.
TV is just boring.
Thats a very good idea. Put Samantha Who? after Scrubs by February so Scrubs can last a little longer and Who? can air all of its episodes and create a nice comedy block. ABC also has Jim, Better Off Ted, The Goode Family & In the Motherhood in terms of comedies.
Word on the street is Sam will be returning on Thursday nights in the Spring paired with In the Motherhood, so it will return just not soon enough for fans, hopefully people don't forget about it!