October 08, 2002

MSNBC's Lack of Ratings, or the Phil Effect

The LA times is reporting that MSNBC is thinking about how to restructure its lineup. Given how awful there ratings are, I'm not surprised. I do have to chuckle at this paragraph in the article:

"As for Phil Donahue, whose widely heralded return to television hasn't lifted the channel as much as had been hoped, he is expected to spend much more time in front of a studio audience, as he did in his long-running daytime talk show, starting later in the month."

I thought Donahue's ratings were so lousy, the ratings hadn't lifted at all, they'd sunk. And I suppose the studio audience is just a way to dilute Phil (which is the problem with the show), but what they need to put him in front of is a TV in his living room, and not in front of a camera in a studio, audience or no audience. Heck, you or I could get better ratings than Phil's getting, and I don't even know who you are.

Posted by Kevin Murphy at October 8, 2002 04:47 PM | Media Criticism
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