Is the thrill gone?
That might be the question on the lips of thousands of fans of “South Park,” the killer animated series that lost viewers at the start of its third season of politically incorrect madness.
But ratings tell only half the story.
According to Comedy Central’s Tony Fox, Nielsen figures show the April 7 season premiere was off 38 percent from last year’s opener. This year about 3.4 million viewers saw Kyle, Stan, Kenny and the ever-cool Eric Cartman lobby to have the rain forests destroyed. Fox says these numbers are “nothing to apologize for or be concerned about.”
But other factors have had an impact on “South Park,” 9 p.m. Wednesdays on Comedy Central. Chief among them is the dissipation of the frenzy that overtook this series when it debuted in August 1997.
“If you literally missed an episode, you were a loser. That is no longer the case,” says Fox. “That type of pop culture phenomenon, just by virtue of what it is, can’t last.”
At the peak of its popularity, a single episode averaged more than 6 million viewers. The first couple of episodes this season have averaged close to 3.5 million viewers.
The show’s first season, which saw the introduction of the mystical Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo, was nothing short of stellar. This season, the show has shown some flashes of brilliance, though the laughs haven’t flowed as freely as they did last year.
One reason may be that creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone were distracted, either overseeing the expansive merchandise machine generated by the show, or acting in their bomb of a movie “BASEketball,” or busy with the “South Park” feature that is scheduled for release in theaters June 18.
Parker and Stone weren’t available for comment, but Fox admitted the boys’ schedule could have been a “contributing factor” to a lack of quality episodes. But Fox adds Parker and Stone have pretty much wrapped up their work on the movie, so they’ll be able to spend more time on one of television’s most warped series.
Double vision: Patty Duke was rendered silent–a rare feat for her–during an impressive scene in her CBS movie heralding the return of her twin cousins from the 1960s.
She saw an image of Patty and Cathy Lane embrace through the magic of modern film technology, which was impossible during the show’s run from 1963 to ’66.
“For one of the very few times in my life, I was speechless,” laughs Duke, sounding very much like free-spirit Brooklyn Heights teen Patty Lane. “I cannot explain the sensation of seeing two people (hug) who are both me, but they’re not.”
Duke, 52, considers CBS’ “The Patty Duke Show: Still Rockin’ in Brooklyn Heights” (8 p.m. Tuesday on WBBM-Ch. 2) a valentine for those who were loyal to the show about the misadventures of Patty Lane and her Scottish cousin Cathy.
The gentle reunion of many of the original cast members of “The Patty Duke Show” almost didn’t happen.
A few years ago during a wave of nostalgic reunion movies, Duke was approached to do one of her own. She was resistant, but she later realized it was for the wrong reasons. She admits now she was identifying personal problems of that time with the show, including managers who mishandled her affairs because of their alcohol and prescription drug abuse.
But what Duke realized was the show’s work environment was “my safe haven,” she says now. “I had allowed myself to blur all of that.”
Ulterior motives? It seems the networks’ various efforts to cut money through layoffs are trickling down to the local level.
That may be one way to look at veteran news reader Joan Esposito’s quitting WMAQ-Ch. 5: The station wanted to cut her salary significantly, according to reports.
There have been a number of accounts in the last several weeks about network news divisions trimming staff as a way to control costs. A recent magazine story cited ABC’s failure to renew contracts for several of its veteran reporters, with an eye to replacing them with younger journalists at smaller salaries.
Channel 5 hasn’t been shy in emulating its parent station: It made staff cuts last year and prompted weathercaster Andy Avalos to vacate the premises for a reason similar to Esposito’s.
The bad news for those looking to get on-air jobs with one of the local stations is that the days of million-dollar contracts that were tossed at various anchors are long gone. The worst news is that Esposito, a fixture on Chicago airwaves for 19 years, got caught in the numbers game.
Test patterns: Mancow Muller is finding out this television thing isn’t as easy as it looks.
Last Friday’s and last Monday’s editions of WCIU-Ch. 26’s “Mancow TV” were repeats of the show’s first two episodes, because production problems prevented new shows from being ready in time, according to inside sources.
Those sources add that technical problems have plagued production of the zany variety series that debuted on April 12. That premiere date itself was a revision of a previous premiere date, which was pushed back because of–yes–production problems.
And now Muller is said to blame Channel 26 for “messing up his schedule,” one source claimed. Since the show, which airs at 12:30 a.m. weeknights, hasn’t been setting the ratings world on fire, the last thing Muller needs is reruns so early in his show’s life.
Reruns running out: Yes, there is a repeat of NBC’s “ER” at 9 p.m. Thursday on Channel 5, but it will be the last for the rest of the season.
Sweeps starts April 29 and some of the networks have been loading their schedules with reruns so that new episodes can be stockpiled for the ratings stretch.
Where’s the remote: The high school shooting Tuesday in Littleton, Colo., is the focus of “Young Guns” on “48 Hours” at 9 p.m. Thursday on CBS-Ch. 2.
