It wasn’t a knockout. In fact, it probably wasn’t even a knockdown. But NBC’s long-delayed boxing reality series “The Contender” finally answered the bell on Monday, and it took a beating.
“The Contender,” from industry heavyweights Mark Burnett (“Survivor”), Jeffrey Katzenberg and Sylvester Stallone (“Rhinestone”), had to weather the failure of Fox’s similarly pitched “Next Great Champ,” at least a half-dozen various schedule shifts and the recent suicide of one of its contestants. In that light, Tuesday fast track ratings showing the program’s average of roughly 8.4 million viewers across its 90-minute running time are probably disappointing, but not disastrous.
The show’s 4.1 rating among adults 18-49 was far below what “Las Vegas” and “Medium” have been averaging this season.
“Contender” airs Thursday at 9 p.m. before settling into its regular home on Sunday night.
CBS proudly took credit for the beating “The Contender” took. The network took the unusual step of benching new episodes of “Two and a Half Men” and “CSI: Miami” during the last week of February sweeps in order to take on “The Contender” with special episodes. The gamble paid off as the Charlie Sheen comedy drew 17.45 million and “CSI” grabbed 21.68 million.
Fox also claimed victory over the “Contender,” as the network’s morning ratings release boldly declared, “`24′ puts `Contender’ Down for Count.” While it is true that “24” did top “The Contender” easily (thanks in massive part to its “American Idol” lead-in), the audience for “24” fell dramatically in its second half-hour, the only time it went head-to-head with the NBC show.
