THERE IS SOMETHING GOING ON IN THE TV WORLD RIGHT NOW, AND THAT'S THE TRUMP EFFECT. OUR WORLD IS POLARIZED AND SO IS TELEVISION AND, APPARENTLY THE SUCCESS OF YOUR PROGRAM.
First up is Stephen Colbert.
His show opened strong, and then tanked. It was in serious trouble and up for cancellation. The viewers didn't like it because he wasn't really being the Colbert guy from his cable show. He was too safe and, honestly, quite boring. Then along came the campaign, the conventions, and the election race. An opportunity presented itself. I don't know whether it was CBS or Colbert, but someone made the decision to bash Trump every night. His ratings rose, and now he's No. 1. The bashing worked. Fallon fell.
Then there's the story of "The View." We know it has been a roller coaster for years as Barbara Walters got older and her performance was odd; co-hosts constantly changed; and the network kept changing their minds on what kind of show they wanted to do. Through it all, the amazing Whoopi kept it going. Sometimes the show would work in a certain configuration or style, and then it would go off-track again.
On CBS, the copycat show, "The Talk," kept doing better and better. They rarely changed co-hosts, and became a comfortable show to watch. It still is. In 2015, "The Talk" actually beat "The View." It deserved to do so, because "The View" was a mess.
Last year, at some point, "The View" solidified into a steady panel of Whoopi, Joy (brilliant to bring her back. She shouldn't have been fired anyway), Sunny Hostin, Sarah Haines, and Jedeiah Bila. I loved this panel. They, too, got involved in campaign discussions. Before there was an actual election result, their discussions were heated, but they still had humor. There were some really heated moments, mostly provided by Joy, but it was still watchable.
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| Joy Behar |
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| Jedediah Bila |
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| Sara Haines |
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| Sunny Hostin |
However, after the election, and they didn't get the result they wanted, everybody started to scream. "The View" right now is almost non-stop ugly venom, and I don't know how much longer I can watch. It's not about issues for me, it's about my desire to enjoy a fun morning visit with "my friends" on "The View." I miss it. I don't want to be dropped into a bucket of anger every day. I need relief. This is very sad to me, because, again I want to say, I really like these women. I WANT to watch them. I can't tell you how many times I have deleted "The View" from my "Series Manager," missed it, added it, watched it again, and then deleted it again. I'm sorry to say that Joy, who I think it very witty and talented, is now so filled with anger that she pounces on everything, even before people finish a sentence if it's a political discussion. Her venom is unrelenting and I can't take it.
But, guess what? That bucket of anger has put "The View" back on top over "The Talk."
ABC News’s daytime talker The View eked out a February sweep win in total viewers, women 25-54 and women 18-49, according to Nielsen stats. Last time The View won a sweep in all three metrics? November of 2014. The View delivered 2.958 million total viewers, 608,000 women 25-54 and 432,000 women 18-49, based on Nielsen’s Most Current Data. Rival The Talk, on CBS, clocked 2.944 million, 597,000 women 25-54, and 416,000 women 18-49, respectively. Separating the two programs: 14K total viewers, 11K women 25-54, 16K women 18-49.
I'm still observing what programming lesson is to be learned here. The freedom of expression on media is crucial for our country, and we certainly need it now. BUT.
Vicious works? Maybe for ratings, but not for me.
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