We received a lot of positive comments regarding the old NBC reality show, The Contender, last season. Somehow the news of the show being picked up by ESPN for a second season slipped through the cracks! ESPN aired a boxing event last Saturday night, which featured former contestants from the show and receiving the highest viewer ratings for a boxing event for ESPN in eight years. Fans of the show are no doubt thrilled to see the series return.The Contender returns
We received a lot of positive comments regarding the old NBC reality show, The Contender, last season. Somehow the news of the show being picked up by ESPN for a second season slipped through the cracks! ESPN aired a boxing event last Saturday night, which featured former contestants from the show and receiving the highest viewer ratings for a boxing event for ESPN in eight years. Fans of the show are no doubt thrilled to see the series return.The Contender: The Final Fight
I'll be honest, I haven't been watching this series for two reasons. First, it's on during other shows I watch and secondly, it's already not renewed for a second season. I did catch part of the final fight, which seemed decent though a bit anti-climactic (i.e., no knock out). I felt horrible for one of the fighter's daughter in the audience, who was crying hysterically as she was forced to watch her father get pummeled. Dear lord, woman, why didn't you have someone take her out of there?!Continue reading The Contender: The Final Fight
The Upfronts: NBC
Out: Law and Order: Trial By
Jury, American Dreams, Medical Investigation, Committed, The Contender, Third Watch.- New: The Apprentice: Martha Stuart, Three Wishes, E-Ring, Fathom, Inconceivable, My Name Is Earl, Thick and Thin, Four Kings.
- Returning: Scrubs, Fear Factor, Las Vegas, The Biggest Loser, Law & Order: Special Victims
Unit, Law & Order, Joey, Will
& Grace, The Apprentice, ER, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Crossing Jordan, Medium.
- Moving: The West Wing (Sundays, 8-9 p.m. EST), The Office (Tuesdays, 9:30-10 p.m. EST), Dateline NBC (Fridays 9-10 p.m. EST).
Read on for show descriptions.
Continue reading The Upfronts: NBC
ABC still dominates Sunday night ratings
In a story we're tired of writing, ABC again has topped the other networks in Sunday night ratings despite a “best of” version of Desperate Housewives. That special drew 23.7 million viewers and gave Grey's Anatomy a lead-in for another record showing of 18 million viewers. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition also won its timeslot with 16.7 million viewers. The surprise of the night was the CBS original movie Locusts starring Lucy Lawless, Xena herself, ringing up 12.7 million viewers. That's not too shabby for such a pitiful looking vehicle. The American Top 40 Awards drew a measly 4 million viewers while The Contender managed to land 5.5 million and 6.4 million viewers for its two episodes that aired back-to-back.
Sunday ratings stay with ABC
Desperate Housewives and Grey's
Anatomy destroyed the competition Sunday night as the rest of the
networks came up lame with reruns and theatrical films. Housewives
clocked in a mindblowing 25 million viewers while Grey's had
its best ratings so far with 19 million. Fox came in a distant second
with new episodes of The Simpsons and the season finale of
Arrested Development. AD only managed 5.9 million viewers.
That's sad. The Contender didn't outrate anyone as Law &
Order: Criminal Intent's repeat led NBC's line-up with 9.7
million viewers.The Contender: The Final Eight
Does anyone feel this show is dragging
on? Every reality show I watch seems to just go a few episodes long
these days. The Contender is no exception. This week there were only
two fighters left, so there was no need for a challenge to see who
would fight. Jimmy and Joey seemed like a boring fight and for the
most part it was. But the knockdown at the end that signaled Jimmy's
inability to capitalize on his opponents injury
and the wild shots Joey could unload.Continue reading The Contender: The Final Eight
Yahoo investigating real Web TV
Internet giant Yahoo is looking to
expand their multimedia empire with more TV programming. Not giving
you the daily grid, no Yahoo wants to broadcast shows over the
Internet. They experimented with it earlier this year by showing the
debut of Showtime's Fat Actress and are looking to expand
content. I also noticed the two expanded websites for The
Apprentice and The Contender are on Yahoo, not NBC's
website. It seems the big Y knows what we do, TV junkies are
important folks.
The Contender: Round Five
This is the point in most reality shows
where I lose interest. The characters get dull, the premise gets dull
and the format starts to grate on you. For some reason I'm still
enjoying The Contender, and my only reasoning for it is that at the
end there's a real battle as opposed to a boardroom showdown. This
week was actually interesting for fight fans as there was the return
of Peter Manfredo Jr. to the ring. Throughout the episode, everyone
was saying how out of it he looked. Yet, like the real Vargas-Joval
fight Saturday, even though Miguel threw a lot more punches, it
seemed Manfredo had the power. Vargas looked lackluster compared to
his pre-injury days, but for a comeback fight he did enough to make a
statement Saturday. So did Manfredo tonight. However, after watching
the Vargas fight, I really would like NBC to show the five rounds
unedited. It would take the same amount of time as the edited version
it seems to me (15 minutes for the three-minute rounds, five minutes
for the corner action). That would be much improved and show
“reality!” And I'm very glad someone from the East team finally
won.Continue reading The Contender: Round Five
Sunday Ratings: All about the brackets
The Duke-Mississippi State game running
into primetime gave CBS the nightly ratings with the game's 16.4
million viewers. That crowd stuck around for “60 Minutes” drawing
16.3 million viewers and “Cold Case” with 16.5 million. Even
“Spring Break Shark Attack” drew 11.5 million idiots...I mean
viewers. Over at ABC a rerun of “Desperate Housewives” attracted
13.2 million slowpokes and “Boston Legal” finished with 11.4
million. Wait a second, a new “Boston Legal” had less viewers
than “Spring Break Shark Attack?” Travesty. “The Contender”
is slowly improving to 7.8 million viewers. But that's still not good
considering “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” drew 12.3 million
and “Crossing Jordan” drew 11.2 million. “The Simpsons” are
flat these days with only 8.6 million viewers and “Arrested
Development” is doing poorly as well with 5.9 million.The Contender: Round 4
I'm catching up on my watching here.
Last night's Contender was tough to watch. Knowing that Najai
committed suicide last month meant it was going to be painful to
follow this week's action. It also meant we knew the outcome of the
fight between Najai and Sergio. I'm just glad Najai had that amazing second round and wasn't completely outboxed. The show did a good job of addressing
what really happened but left the episode itself full of painful
Najai material. We hear from Najai about how devastated
he was that he lost. And we also see him playing with his baby
daughter. That is real human tragedy and makes me unsettled as a
voyeur into this family's pain. Folks can donate money to Najai's
daughter through the show's website. The website is actually on Yahoo.com for
some reason and it is much more updated than NBC's site.
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