Ratings?
Does anyone have information about how the miniseries did in the ratings?
I don't care for modern films - all crashing cars and close-ups of people's feet. - Lillian Gish
‘Shining’s’dull for ABC
April 29, 1997 | 12:00AM PT
Variety Staff
ABC’s first big gun of the May sweeps, the three-part miniseries “Stephen King’s The Shining,” fired a blank Sunday night with a very disappointing start as Fox and CBS prospered. Part two of “The Shining” aired Monday and the mini will finish on Thursday against NBC’s killer lineup.
For the night, CBS finished first in Nielsen’s overnight ratings with a 15.4/23, followed by Fox’s 11.2/17, NBC’s 10.9/16, ABC’s 9.6/14 and WB’s 3.7/6. National ratings and demographic information will be released today.
It appears that Fox’s powerhouse “The X-Files” hurt “The Shining” the most since both were going after the same young audiences. In the 9-10 p.m. hour, “The X-Files” averaged a 13.1 rating and 18 share in the 37 metered markets while “The Shining” averaged a 11.8/17, according to Nielsen. CBS’ smart counterprogramming with the telefilm “A Match Made in Heaven” averaged a 15.7/23 in that hour and ended up being the highest-rated telefilm this season.
Low performance
Overall, part one of “The Shining” averaged a 12.2/18, one of the lowest ratings ever for an ABC-Stephen King miniseries, which are usually very strong performers for the network. CBS’ “A Match Made in Heaven” averaged a 15.7/23 while NBC’s “The River Wild” averaged a 10.6/15.
Besides “The X-Files,” ABC’s “The Shining” was also hurt by a poor lead-in and an utterly dismal Saturday-night performance that may have been all-time low for a Big Three web and did little to help the network’s promotional efforts.
ABC sold “The Shining” to advertisers last year as part of a package of movies and telefilms. That being the case, while the numbers were certainly lower than advertisers and network execs had wanted, there may not be a huge financial hit in terms of providing make-goods to advertisers. Speculation that ABC had promised a 30 share for the miniseries was denied by the web.
‘Minutes’ count
In the 7-8 p.m. hour, CBS’ “60 Minutes” averaged a 14 rating and 23 share. NBC’s coverage of the NBA playoff game averaged a 11.1/18, followed by Fox’s “World’s Scariest Police Chases” with a 10.2/16 and ABC’s “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” which barely registered a chuckle at 6.4/11.
CBS’s “Touched by an Angel” flew to a 16.1/24 in the 8-9 p.m. hour while NBC’s “Third Rock From the Sun” averaged a 10.7/16 from 8:15 to 8:45 (the sitcom started late because the NBA’s playoffs.) ABC’s “Turning Point” averaged a 7.7/12. while Fox’s “The Simpsons” ( 11.0/16) and “King of the Hill” (10.2/13) also performed well.
That's certainly a biased article. But then what Variety article isn't?
Part 1 (Sunday, April 27, 1997) was #12 for the week of April 21-27, 1997 with a final nationals household rating/share of 12.5/19. Part 2 (Monday, April 28) was also #12 for the week of April 28-May 4, 1997 with a final nationals household rating/share of 12.2/20. Part 3 (Thursday, May 1) was #14 for the week with a final nationals household rating/share of 11.9/18. Variety did correctly note that ABC gave all 3 parts extremely lousy lead-ins, whose soggy ratings "The Shining" doubled in all 3 cases. And Part 2 was the #1 program of the night. And Parts 2 and 3 were huge improvements over and above what ABC was doing on Mondays and Thursdays in the spring. If ABC expected any better, they shouldn't have, because the network as a whole was in the toilet at that time, and they didn't have much of anything in the Top 20. Their promotional campaign also left a lot to be desired.
Seems like no one was ever happy with what King adaptations did on television, even when they did well, thanks to unrealistic expectations. CBS was said to be disappointed with the ratings for "Salem's Lot," which greatly improved the time slots they gave it. No mention of the fact that they dumped it on Saturday, where they were dead, or that their TV spots for it made it look like a pile of dog crap.