Although NBC used Sunday Night Football and NFL wild card playoffs to heavily promote the season premiere of Chuck, don't look for much promotion during the Olympics.
In an interview by Alan Sepinwall with Chuck producers and co-creators Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak in response to some fan (an only by some fans) outrage, Sepinwall asked about ratings and whether they thought that the small hit in the ratings Chuck took on Monday night was as a result of a Super Bowl bump for CBS. Schwartz had a very realistic (at least from my perspective) outlook:
"I don't attribute it to any one thing," said Schwartz. "Barring this week, it's been a pretty consistent number," Schwartz noted.
"Certainly, CBS had a lot of NFL momentum, people are still sampling, we're against "Bachelor" and "House." A lot of tough shows," he added.
Sepinwall then asked specifically about whether there was any concern ratings-wise with being off the air for a couple of weeks during the Olympics.
Well, you're going to be off the air for a few weeks. Any concern about the numbers dropping when you come back?
JS: Sure. Every time you go off for a couple of weeks, you've gotta self-start again when you come back. We always knew coming back in January would be great for us, but it also meant other things would be premiering. NBC's been incredibly supportive of the show in getting us launched, but I would not expect to see a lot of promotion for us during the Olympics. (emphasis mine)
Read the full interview on "What's Alan Watching."
See also: Some ruminating on Chuck's ratings from Tuesday afternoon.
This is really disappointing. Chuck usually does well after breaks when it is heavily promoted. This is going to be a missed opportunity for NBC.
And let’s face it, it’s not like they have much left to advertise anyway.
NBC put many millions into promoting season three. No one should be surprised they will not spend more to promote a show that is unlikely to ever pull more than 2.5.
Jeffster! needs to be playing in the Olympic village! How much promo do you really need beyond that?
L&O:SVU will probably get promotion, now that it’s moving back to 10pm.
Biggest Loser, Office are already hits, so they’ll get some.
Parenthood, Thursday comedies, not much too promote.
+ The Marriage Ref + Celebrity Apprentice + Jay Leno back on the Tonight Show
Interesting interview/article and to Chuck fans, if you haven’t read it, you should — it’s almost required reading, especially with the reaction to the show on Feb 8. The comments posted along with that article are… enlightening as well (not required reading, but nonetheless… enlightening). The NPR lady is mentioned there as well (and I can only wonder what her email box looks like right now given some of the comments in her article about the Chuck and the fans of the show). Read the article… seriously… and decide for yourself about some of the issues with Chuck and how the folks who make the show feel about things. One thing I will say, though… there were a few remarks that reminded me of the Fan Excuse Bingo cards in the article (I’ll let the article readers figure out what those were).
I’m not really surprised that the show-runners are not expecting a lot of support in advertising over the Olympics, and given the fact NBC had a difficult time getting the ads sold in the first place (and the anticipated red ink, real or imagined), NBC may wait until the last 7 days before advertising Chuck again, maybe with a heavier emphasis within 2 – 3 days of the closing ceremonies (an ad with the Chuck crew and something with the Olympic torch could be amusing). I doubt they would do NO advertising for Chuck during the entire run.
I really dont get the reason behind the outrage for last mondays episode.. FOR CHRIST SAKE!!! Sarah and Chuck are the core important player in the show, Shaw and Hannah are someone who comes and goes. Seriously, for a fans who works their asses off to Save Chuck from being cancelled, just decided to boycott things just for an episode they didn’t like?! That’s stupid!! People have to realize that there are several episodes in a season if Chuck and Sarah would have hooked up at the start of the season, where would Chuck’s character go? If this is the case wouldn’t you be upset as well when they would broke things off before the season ends, because I am positive it will happen specially that they’re on a road block. Fans needs to let the writers do their job, let them tell Chuck’s story. I’m pretty sure after being absent from the fall line up, don’t you think that they have thought this plot through?! Chuck fans needs to relax. At this point boycotting Chuck would only lead to cancellation and upon hearing that Chuck’s plots are going fans way through the end of the season it would be too late.
hopefully they will at least air some kind of teaser for Persons Unknown and premiere it in May in season
The show had soo much promotion during football. What would be the point of doing even more promoting and only pulling a 2.2? Sad, very sad.
Well i Absolutly love chuck, and i just hope the ratings pick up! i want another season! this is really good, and deserves more attention then its getting….. but its still prolly one of the highest rated shows on NBC, next to the office, and thats not saying much for NBC
I’m sure Chuck will get some promotion during the Olympics, but NBC really does need to focus on promoting their new shows and all the schedule changes.
One can only hope this is the nail in the Chuck coffin.
Nightstar –
If NBC has a ton of advertising space they were going to use for outside sources, but now can’t, how could that possibly have an inverse effect on Chuck advertising? If anything, it should increase internal ads across the board – including for Chuck.
I thought the Chuck fanatics on this site do not consider House a threat to their shows ratings. They seem to insist that House has no bearing since their is “no audience overlap” (with House).
Of course, the Chuck fanatics always have 2 or 3 excuses and rationalizations on why Chuck isn’t a monster hit.
They shouldn’t worry though. Chuck will get renewed. it is a hit on NBC
@ Acey
Why do you say that? Obviously, you don’t like the show. Which is fine. But to be pulling for a show to fail? Why?
There are shows, many in fact, that I either don’t like or are not interested in. But, I still do not want to see them fail.
Why do Chuck fanatics keep insisting on advertising for this show? It’s in its 3rd season now. If anyone has watched any TV in the last 3 years, they’ll know about the show. The consistently lackluster ratings clearly points to viewer disinterest, not lack of awareness. No amount of advertising by NBC will change this.
NBC should be focusing on other shows that have the potential to become hits, because Chuck never will.
@Tony,
That’s not completely fair. L&O is in its 20th season, and it still needs some advertising. House is a major hit, but it still has promos running throughout the week. Existing shows don’t need the high profile push of a new show, but they do need regular promotion.
last time i checked, the #1 non-reality show is NCIS. wasn’t NCIS floundering in the ratings until recently? i think if a show is decent and in the right time slot, people will watch. i think chuck will be similar to NCIS and start pulling in more viewers.
I’m not talking about those regular promos that draw viewers to what the week’s plot will be, I’m talking about expectations by Chuck fan that NBC will spend millions on huge promotions like this one during the Olympics. Look at it from NBC’s POV – why spend all this money on a bubble show that hasn’t paid off in the past when they can give other shows a shot?
When will the low advertising = low ratings excuse end?
I think the NBC Promotions department’s #1 priority after the Olympics will be rebuilding 10PM after the Leno debacle. That’s just the reality. Priorities change. I just don’t understand why NBC didn’t at least put a promo for the next Chuck episodes after last Monday’s episode.