TAR will do well on Wednesday 8 PM

CBS tested the water by using Survivor clip show three weeks ago. The clip
show did really well, especially compared to the two weak CBS comedies.
There is no reason why TAR won't do well in its new time slot. Moving it

Obveeus...

CBS put Survivor on Wednesdsay because they had the NCAA basketball
tournament to show on Thursday night. They did not do it to 'test the

Obveeus...

You are oversimplifying it. It isn't as if CBS is going to dump The Unit
onto Wednesday to 'save the night' when it has only been a hit for half a
season. A show moved to 'save a night' has to be one so loved that an
audience will follow it. At this point, TAr fits that definition more than
The Unit even though TAr has less than stellar ratings. The idea at this
point is just to 'not give away Wednesday completely'. CBS has way too many
old people shows...and really is limited in what shows they can move to
Wednesday. They have TAR...and they have a few sitcoms they could move
earlier (Two and a Half Men could still be tried, but why mess with the
current success of that show?).

Obveeus...

Each show has its own expectations...comaring TAR7 in an early timeslot to
TAr 9 in a later timeslot or different night is just as pointless as
comparing it to sitcoms (which, BTW, I was not doing).

Obveeus...

Not trying to rationalize the 'success of TAR'. Trying to point out that
CBS has to do the best they can over a seven night period, so thinking only
in terms of 'how to get TAR the most viewers' is silly. If CBS only cared
about TAR, they would just move it to a timeslot right after Survivor and
instantly add several million viewers.

waters' for TAR.

Thomas Smith...

This year, "Survivor" took a hiatus during the first two weeks of the NCAA
basketball torunament. CBS is moving TAR to the 8:00 p.m. E/P (7:00 p.m.

UCLAN...

Well, no. It took a "hiatus" during the second week, but was moved
to Wednesday night during the tournament's first week.

Obveeus...

No. They showed a clip show on the first Wednesday...and then took a 1 week
hiatus.

C/M) timeslot to replace "Out of Practice" and "Courting Alex" which were
both struggling in the ratings.

will establish people's habit to watch CBS reality shows on Wednesday and
Thursday 8 PM and help both Survivor and The Amazing Race. A smart move by

Obveeus...

Moving TAR to Wednesdays will help Survivor ratings on Thursday? An
interesting, if farcical, conclusion.

Ken McElhaney...

I guess I can understand the speculation about TAR9's ratings fate, but
in reality no one knows just how well it will do in this new timeslot.

Obveeus...

Agreed...but no matter how it does, moving TAR to Wednesdays will not cause
significantly more people to watch Survivor on Thursdays...that was the
'conclusion' I found farcical from the original post.

Ken McElhaney...

I would agree with that as well. "Survivor" is a top 20 powerhouse and
would gain very little from addtional TAR viewers, even if the Wed/Thur
habit was somehow valid. Now, if "Survivor" led in TAR....

TAR is a very well established series and it is fair to say that most
tv viewers are aware of it, even if they don't watch it.

Obveeus...

Which is likely why ratings won't change much. Everyone is aware of the
show. It has an established audience...as much of an audience as is
interested. There may be a bit of a rise or decline in ratings, but they
won't double or halve.

UCLAN...

Double or halve? Doubling would put it in the TOP FIVE, and half of
its present ratings would put it in WB/UPN territory. Nah...I think
that CBS is looking for a point or two improvement, maximum.

Ken McElhaney...

Prognosticating is something that I will avoid here. I simply do not
know.

I can say that just because the show is "family friendly" does not mean
that families will naturally watch it. That teenagers may find TAR
rather boring and will simply surf the internet, watch another program

Obveeus...

Exactly.

on their tv, or blow up LA while playing "Grand Theft Auto".

alooo...

And don't forget, it will be up against another family friendly show that
draws a fair amount of viewers, "American Idol."

UCLAN...

Not presently. FOX airs a half hour version of A.I. at 9pm on
Wednesdays.

TAR9's new competition will be "Bones" on FOX, "Deal or No Deal"
on NBC, "George Lopez"/"Freddie" on ABC, plus whatever UPN and
WB have on at 8pm (America's Next Top Model and One Tree Hill.)

Those are the 27th, 12th, 67th/62nd, 91st, and 138th rated shows.
This is compared to 18th (L&O:SVU) and 41st (Boston Legal.)

BTW, last week (not this week) TAR9 was 43rd.

UCLAN...

Except AI airs at 9pm ET/PT on Wednesdays.

Plus, the Wednesday 8pm timeslot may be a bit tricky for families who
attend church services on that night. And where I live, church service
on Wednesday is a big deal.

seerialmom...

So you're saying the reason there ain't squat on Network TV Wednesday
nights is GOD?? Somehow I have a hard time believing all the various
denominations and flavors of church got together and said..."let's have
a service on Wednesday night, too...and at the same time!". I'm pretty
sure those who are attending services on Wednesday night "probably"
wouldn't have watched TV most nights anyway.

Aside from that....I'm THRILLED at the move to Wednesday night. And
here the show will be on at 7PM...even better for me! :)

If TAR9 does go down the dumper in the ratings department, it will not
be because the show is somehow lacking in the qualities that hard core
TAR fans traditionally love. The number of likable teams, especially
The Hippies, far outweigh the "negetivity" that so many people have
gritched about lately. Even Lake, who I think is a perfect "bad guy",
is not nearly in the same catagory as Jonathon.

Obveeus...

But, on some level, doesn't the show actually benefit from a perfect bad
guy? Thus, Lake isn't living up to Jonathon's image enough to hold the
audience? Right from the first episode it seemed like Lake was going to be

Steven L....

I agree.
All drama, even literature long before TV, depends on conflict. There
hasn't been enough conflict in TAR 9. And having a villain is the
easiest way to generate conflict.

Actually, Romber was the perfect villain. Jonathan actually turned off
many viewers by committing the ultimate offense of shoving his wife.
Romber were conniving and underhanded but nearly always courteous to
each other, making Boston Rob the ultimate rogue. And society has
always had a sneaking admiration for rogues who can "get away with it."

edited as the 'Evil Guy' this season...which is why I picked him in the
Certainty Contest (the editors want someone 'evil' to root against all
season and they already know how well Lake/Michelle did in the race before
they decide which team to make 'evil' with the editing). Maybe the problem
with TAR this season isn't the lack of likeable teams (I agree that there
seems to be plenty of likeable racers), but rather the lack of a quality
hateable team? Even family TAR had the Weavers to keep everyone
watching/hating. Lake just isn't hateable enough...and isn't racing well
enough to *really* get people mad about him being in the race.

Ken McElhaney...

It's kinda funny that many in this group complained in the past that
TAR had too many "unlikable" teams or that the time spent on
"unlikable" teams overwhelmed the more "likable" ones.

To me, this season does not have a breakaway star yet that people can
talk about over the water cooler. Which was certainly a factor in the
success of TAR5 (Charla). The Hippies are getting pretty close, though.

UCLAN...

I think that the show is suffering from a severe case of "been
there, done that" syndrome, meaning it is getting a little stale.

Obveeus...

I agree. I'd actually love to see some real changes in
transportation/travel...like a 50 mile canoe trip or a 100 mile bike ride
(give them real equipment, not stuff designed to fall apart). Even
something like a 15 mile hike over some mountain range...provide some great
scenery AND something physical that people would actually do on vacation.

Steven L....

Only physically fit people would do that on vacation. I very much doubt
the nerd team and the fat teams and the elderly teams we've had on TAR
thus far could do it. You might even end up with some of these
out-of-shape teams failing to finish these arduous hikes, resulting in
them not even getting to the Pit Stop.

OTOH, I have always argued that teams should be given more latitude in
their transportation choices, enabling a clever team to use their
ingenuity. Instead of giving each team a choice of two airplane flights
(or sometimes there's only ONE flight available!), paid for by CBS, give
each team a flat stipend for some legs of the race and let them choose
and pay for whatever modes of transportation they want to get to the
next destination--they can form an alliance with other teams and charter
a flight or a bus, or they can hitchhike, or find a fast boat, doesn't
matter.

AF...

I doubt CBS producers would ever go for that idea. I'm sure CBS has a
production timeline to follow and what happens if all the teams take a lot
longer to reach their destination than expected?

What happens if let's say 2 teams blow all their cash in the middle of their
destination?

Giving contestants that much freedom can makes things a lot more confusing.

Loren Pechtel...

I would think it would make them more careful about spending as they
won't know what the tickets will cost.

Anyone who blows all their cash like that should be philiminated!

Steven L....

All right, then how about this idea:

A clue that teams retrieve in one leg of the race, will be needed
*again* to help solve a puzzle in a subsequent leg of the race. For
example, after having visited a bunch of locations in previous legs,
they get a puzzle that asks "What did these four locations all have in
common?" Or "Remember that laundry task you did three legs ago, with
laundry of different colors? What color did NONE of those pieces of
laundry have?"

(I'm trying to find ways to loosen up the rigid format we have now in
which each episode is a self-contained visit to specific locations that
never matter again.)

I find myself yawning during the tasks, for there is nothing new
there. Carry a heavy bell, or search through laundry. Search through
dolls, or wash a buss. Does it matter? No, as we will all bunch
together at an airport or a closed business at a point in the near
future. At least the bottle smashing was somewhat entertaining.

I think that the TAR writers have run out of fresh ideas, and loyal
TAR viewers are beginning to wander. I know it is no longer on my
weekly "MUST SEE" list. Old viewers are becoming disinterested in
numbers greater than that of new viewers. Perhaps the slot change

AF...

I imagine if there was a task like a 100 mile bike ride, that would give a
huge edge for a team like Eric/Jeremy vs. Fran/Barry whereas a bottle
smashing task wouldn't.

Steven L....

Yes it does, because if a team quits early in an episode, the rest of
the episode is rendered moot.

Unlike a real race like the Boston Marathon, for most of TAR the goal
for each team is just to avoid being last at a Pit Stop (and not get
"Philiminated"), not necessarily to come in first place. Waiting to see
which team arrives last at the Pit Stop is most of the excitement of the
episode. Having a team quit relatively early in a leg would make them
the eliminated team for that leg, and the rest of the episode wouldn't
be worth watching. Once one team quits a leg, the order of arrival of
the other teams at the Pit Stop doesn't matter much, because we all know
that they're going to bunch up again in the next episode.

Real races, like Boston Marathon and NASCAR, don't have bunching points
that resynchronize the racers periodically. Hence there's plenty of
incentive to be at the head of the pack as much as possible, so the
excitement and suspense is who is jockeying for first place, not who is
jockeying to stay out of last place.

I don't think the tasks should be too long because it gets stale. I would
get bored looking at the scenery over and over again on a long bike riding
task.

can improve on this last problem, but it won't change the stale
oder emanating from the show. IMO.

The Christmas Place...

I care about this show waaaay much more than Survivor..
I'm looking for anything to watch other than Survivor and we were loyal for
ever show till now.

pepsi...

Barbara Bailey...

I watch DOND if it's the only thing on and I've got nothing better to
do. But no, it's not appointment TV for me, either; I'm not sure I've
even seen once it in the last two weeks.

I only watch television in real time. It seems that since most people
in this newgroup tape the show to watch it later, TAR is no longer on
anyone's priority list. Show's can't last forever and I think this
one is on it's way out.

Loren Pechtel...

How does this say anything about the popularity of the show?

I tape almost anything I'm going to watch.

CBS.