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As many of you know, we’ve been watching how Ugly Betty has been faring on the Renew/Cancel index at TV By The Numbers. In short, the TVBTN folks have come up with a formula that crunches the internals of the weekly ratings numbers for all TV shows, and uses those numbers to rank the shows on their likelihood of being canceled. The formula relies heavily on the 18-49 “demos”, because apparently there’s an almost direct relation between the demo numbers and a show’s survival. The history of “the index” is that it’s quite accurate.
(That’s always been true, this is just a good way for a numbers geek like me to evaluate ratings).
Anyway, Ugly Betty throughout season 3 has teetered on the line between “Not Likely To Be Renewed“ and “Renewal Likely for 2009-10“. As of this week, the show is listed on the line again, but still in the “Renewal Likely” category. Of course, we haven’t had an influx of new episodes to measure lately, so we’ll just have to see where Betty moves the next few weeks.
Betty has actually fared pretty well against venerable powerhouse Survivor in the demos (actually winning the Young Women category most of the time). With Survivor in mid-season hiatus, now is make or break time for Ugly Betty. One possible pitfall, though, is the fact that it is now going head-to-head with Fox’s Bones, a show that has done much better than Betty thus far.
I know at least one commenter at Ugly Betty news has stated that Bones will be the show they watch, and Ugly Betty will be on the DVR. This should get interesting.
So, call everyone you know and ask them to watch Ugly Betty tonight! (Except grandma; her viewing only helps the overall numbers, not the all-important “demos”. Oh, and stop by here for the live blog at 8/7c!
Image: Copyright © 2008 American Broadcasting Companies, Inc./ PATRICK HARBRON
this news is slightly worrying, given that season 3 has been for most UB fans like myself a massive improvement over the second season. for me, the issue is not so much the storylines, as i prefer them over season 2, but rather the audience figures. it is a shame that not many people have tuned in this season.
hopefully, it will not get cancelled.
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I don’t understand how they can possibly calculate all of these shows. Most people I know DVR or Tivo everything because they’re so busy. Especially a lot of people in my age group (18-21) I also know a lot of people that watch the show from sites like OVGuide.com. I ALWAYS watch it in real-time. I have to, it’s like a sickness or something.
Anyways, I hope it doesn’t get cancelled! It’s my favorite show and I wouldn’t have anything else to watch :( Except Grey’s, but that show is getting boring to me.
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NO,DONT GET CANCELLED UGLY BETTY,PLEASE.I love America Ferrera as my Idol Model,cuz she is very excelled actress on Ugly Betty
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UB- i agree with your point. even though i don’t live in the US myself, i am somewhat familiar with the fact that people are Ti-voing tv shows of which are running at the same time as each other, but of which a lot of people do not have the time to watch it when it is on at 8.00pm.
i too would like to know how these people calculate these figures and besides, i don’t read much into them anyway because i for one would be gutted if this show was cancelled without a conclusion and no other network wants to pick UB up.
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They *DO* collect stats from DVRs!!!!! They can tell what you recorded then watched (or not watched), what commercials skipped, where you fast forwarded, etc. Otherwise, how did they know Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction was the most *REPLAYED” moment on the DVRs?
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oh ok. thanks geek :)
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But what about the internet? There are tons of outlets to watch TV shows other than the official websites.
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Another thing I don’t understand is.. How is “One Tree Hill” still on? Ugly Betty get’s way more viewers than that show. I’m pretty sure.
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The writers made the mistake of not giving Betty a love life. Which is good in real life but bad for ratings.
Admit it, what kept us going the most was wondering who she was going to end up with.
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Well considering how the program is being shown every other week, I can see how viewers might drop off but that shouldn’t reflect at all upon the cast. If anything, it should go back to the Writer’s Strike and (people including Jeffery) Zucker who didn’t want to give artists any residuals for episodes appearing online which were what he called “promos.” It reminds me of either Tropic Thunder or the smug execs at Enron who were caught on tape laughing about telling a feeble old woman to move. Can you guys tell the two apart? Oh wait, there ISN’T anything to differentiate! Look at the episodes written this season and you tell me: 1.) Betty is told by Marc she only got the intern job because she’s Latina. 2.) Papi gets sent to the hospital with a heart attack. That’s not even going into 3.) What possibly might have happened with Lindsay Lohan’s character and Betty’s neighbor Jesse instead of he and Amanda had LL not been fired. Why should a latin-based show be cancelled? So a new Wonder Years staff- produced program with thinly veiled Spaniards can show up like Growing Pains? Isn’t a psychologist trained to do inquisitions on their patients? Now if that’s not GENTRIFICATION then Donald Duck was never a Caballero. No WONDER UB is being filmed in NYC nowadays because in Los Angeles writing that might get you asked to take a walk. Warning: Why not renew the show and take filming to a REAL latino place where ALL of Central and South America are represented like San Francisco?
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what the fukkkkk
how can ugly betty get cancelled and we have shows like grey’s anatomy and bones that are still running ugly betty is among the tops shows
like lost, heroes etc..
the characters are intersting
the stroy is good
also they have this unique style everything looks amazing on their sets
these dumb mfukers and their rating calculator
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KEEP UGLY BETTY……….. http://www.why–do–we.blogspot.com
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