Sweeps Scorecard—Night 1
By Brian Lambert
I doubt I can sustain this for long, watching every hyperbolic sweeps feature on every local station all month long.
But, inspired by the hype over KARE sticking it to 'CCO with a Paul Douglas interview, Don Shelby pushing a six-month Project Energy/I-Team investigation, and KSTP promising the solution to nationwide cult of homicidal maniacs, I tuned in last night, the opening night of the "all important" May Nielsen ratings period. OK fine, I watched online, after The Daily Show. (I'm out of every station's demographic, so what do they care?)
Anyway, I thought you'd like a ratings check with my "report card" scoring on the quality of the much-hyped features.
KARE—15.4 (rating)/25.9 (share) The Douglas interview, which was originally booked as part of a twenty-fifth anniversary celebration of KARE's "Backyard" had nothing at all to do with any anniversary and everything to do with poking a sharp stick in the eye of rival 'CCO. Classy. (I loved the FX shot of someone counting out cash in the CBS "eye" while the narration reminded viewers of CBS's financial miseries. Offhand, I'd say KARE parent Gannett's finances are now fair game for 'CCO.) What I was hoping for was a shot of Douglas and KARE GM, John Remes, kicking back, laughing, and re-telling old war stories. THAT would have been good TV.
LAMBERT REPORT CARD: C-
WCCO—10.0/16.9 I had no idea one misguided Minnesota legislator had put the kibosh on flush-less urinals. Shelby told me (and 'CCO's viewers in his "In the Know" commentary last night) that this piece was the result of a "six-month" investigation. Don's Project Energy initiative has been a serious and valuable journalistic series—that CBS ought to invest in, group-wide—but six months on flush-less urinals? Moreover, if each flush-less urinal saves 40,000 gallons of water a year, how about some big numbers on what that would mean swapping out every pissoir in the state and the value to the Minnesota economy in terms of manufacture and labor if all the replacements were built here? Come on, Don, hype it.
LAMBERT REPORT CARD: B-
KSTP—6.9/11.7 Like I say, from the pitch of the promos, I was expecting reporter Kristi Piehl to announce the solution to the JFK hit or that Andrew Cunanan wasn't actually dead. (Hey, maybe those two are connected?) This being Part 1 of a two-night blockbuster, there was an awful lot of tantalizing setup. But what, for example, do the day-to-day cops think of this theory that there is an organized "gang" of psycho killers roaming the country kidnapping and murdering able-bodied college men? "A nationwide network of killers" I believe is the phrase KSTP used. Whoa! I might be an addled "conspiracy nut" but organized, roaming killers? With a guiding "hierarchy"? Remembering all too well the organized "satanic cults" lunacy of the eighties, there's a whole lotta convincing yet to be done on this one. Still, in terms of sweeps month "promotability" . . .
LAMBERT REPORT CARD: C
KMSP—9.9/15 (WFTC 6.6/11.2) Veteran reporter Trish Van Pilsum gives a micro picture of what mortgage/refinance fraud is doing to one elderly couple up in the Brainerd lakes area. This is classic appalled and indignant TV investigation stuff. The husband has Alzheimers. The wife has to work full-time at Target to keep up with medical costs made worse by a home equity loan she took out with a career financial shark who supposedly had been banned from the business. (I'm amazed the villain of the piece talked on camera.) For broad relevance, this was the night's winner.
LAMBERT REPORT CARD: B+
© 2008 MSP Communications, Inc. All rights reserved
Thanks for reminding us that you can see all of these on the web. I watched them and I'm sure you have been sitting hitting the refresh button waiting for my reviews.
KMSP - loved how they did the story, agree the villain was an idiot to appear on camera, but only give it a C+. They needed to go more into why people sign for these loans and do not read the documents.
WCCO - Shelby really claimed to have spent 6 months on this? Waterless urinals the lead story in the land of 10,000 lakes? Sorry Don D+
KARE - Enjoyed the poke at WCCO and the inside media angle. Yes, a soft story for sweeps, but a B for entertainment and the cheap shot at WCCO.
KSTP - I'm guessing about 4 people actually saw the story. Probably the hardest of the stories and the most actual investigating (plus excellent web coverage). B+ for actually attempting journalism.
And now we know why Brian is the professional and I am the schmuck commentator.
LAMBERT: A "B" for cheap shots? Dave ... really.
Posted by: Dave on April 25, 2008 at 7:32 PM
A very wise high school English teacher once told me that getting a C- is more humiliating than getting an F.
LAMBERT: I was THRILLED to get a C-. But that's just me.
Posted by: Tom O on April 25, 2008 at 8:38 PM
I liked KARE's piece on Paul Douglas, but agree with Lambert's assessment. I don't blame KARE for "poking a sharp stick in the eye of rival 'CCO", however. Channel 4 has done its share of similar "classy" taunting. It's part of the competitive nature of the business.
Have WCCO's overall ratings been hurt since Paul Douglas left?
LAMBERT: Yes they have. More later.
Posted by: Kyle on April 26, 2008 at 12:25 AM
What?!? No commentary on Shelby's Commentary ? The M.C. Escher-like story with Don pissing on Paul for pissing on his pissing investigation by pissing on 'CCO during KARE's "let's piss on 'CCO" story ?
That was the best weird so-bad-it-was-good TV of the night.
Certainly I thought you would...er...piss all over it.
LAMBERT: I think of my role as a constructive criticizer.
Posted by: Jed Leyland on April 26, 2008 at 10:44 AM
But what, for example, do the day-to-day cops think of this theory that there is an organized "gang" of psycho-killers roaming the country kidnapping and murdering able-bodied college men
I would give KSTP an A+
I missed all the news shows I was not home but when i heard about the story on KSTP I went right to the web site and told others about it.
of all the main stories the odd killings of college students caught everyones interest.
I did not hear one person talke about what WCCO was doing and a few mention the Paul Douglas being on KARE....I had ho interest in that since the wee girl ch 9 displayed did a study on all the weather reports and said ch 9 the best ch 5 and 11 next best ---the worst ch 4. The ony one at ch 4 I will miss is John Reager who was treated worst then the millionaire Paul who looks to be making another million in the future.
I hope he finds a place for John Reager....
LAMBERT: Check back soon for a post on KSTP's "Psycho Killers" story.
Posted by: Patrice on April 27, 2008 at 9:43 PM
looks like you couldn't sustain it for long. good decision.
LAMBERT: Don't count me out yet.
Posted by: hoppy on April 28, 2008 at 3:54 PM
Did you catch the spasm of wild-eyed ravings on MNSpeak.com relative to the KSTP's alleged story about the organized cult of serial killers drowning college-age men along I-94? Talk about a welter of inarticulate hysteria. Wooo-eeeee! And check out Bud Jr./Bertram Jr's posting among them. What th...?
If you're grading on inspiring spittle-flecked vituperation, yeah, the KS' piece gets an A+. But I'd heard all this before. I think City Pages had something on this theory. Struck me as ludicrous on its face and relying on fumes for evidence. I'll await your constructive critcism.
Meanwhile, I bet Shelby has a piece on composting toilets ready to blow sweeps wide open, so to speak.
LAMBERT: Brucato and Mason pushing the "psycho killers" story pretty hard at 6.
Posted by: Jim Leinfelder on April 28, 2008 at 4:39 PM
You have to love sweeps. It’s amazing how in a non-sweeps period the news is bland and relatively boring, yet as soon as the magical sweeps period begins huge nail biting stories are reported upon and terribly fascinating news is promoted to death. “If you don’t watch this story, you may very well die. This story will change the course of humanity… so tune in tomorrow night (the first day of sweeps)!”
Yeah, yeah, I understand that the horrible reality is that like the rest of the shows on television, news is, quite frankly, a business. There’s really not much more to it. Sure there are a few idealistic fools in the industry intent on providing a public service, but the bottom line is money which of course is set by sweeps.
One could argue that if a story truly is newsworthy it would be shown the second all of the facts are gathered… not edited repeatedly to the point of perfection in anticipation of airing it 3 weeks in the future when the ratings will dictate how much money the station’s going to make from viewership. Just once I’d love to see a special investigative report that informs the public that the news is manipulated to fall directly within a sweeps period. I bet that would get good ratings!
Then again apparently sometimes it takes 6 months just to make something newsworthy. Perhaps the urinal story was not actually tailored specifically for sweeps… it just took that long to make it watchable.
P.S. Have you heard the breaking news that tanning beds aren't healthy? Now there's a story that's been reported countless times on countless stations over the years. Haven't seen it lately though. Perhaps next sweeps period.
LAMBERT: I hope you haven't forgot the black light/luminol "investigation" of soiled hotel bedding.
Posted by: Dan on April 29, 2008 at 1:33 PM
Let's not forget the hard-hitting pieces about house cleaners stealing spare change from the tops of their clients'dressers! The horror...the horror!
Posted by: Jim Leinfelder on April 29, 2008 at 9:26 PM