Fox's "The Pulse" Loses Out in Ratings for Premiere, Loses to CBS's "CSI"

Hollywood Reporter ^

[GulliverSwift]

July 12, 2002

It was a race to crawl out of the Nielsen cellar on Thursday among the Big Four primetime networks. Fox failed to generate much heat with the debut of its news magazine "The Pulse" (5.2 million viewers) and the return of "Beyond Belief." ABC was scraping bottom with its 8-10 p.m. telecast of "Star Trek: First Contact" (4.2 million viewers) and even NBC couldn't draw much of a crowd with reruns of its regular Thursday slate. CBS won the night by a wide margin (9.3 million viewers, 3.4 rating/11 share in adults 18-49) on the strength of its 9 p.m. "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" rerun (12.8 million, 4.6/14). CBS also won the first hour of primetime in total viewers with the second installment of "Big Brother 3" (7.8 million, 3.1/11). For the night, NBC ran second with an average of 6.9 million viewers and 3.0/10 in 18-49. (Cynthia Littleton )

[GulliverSwift]

I think "The Pulse" didn't do very well because it had a horrible lead-in, the freaky Commander Riker "Beyond Belief" show. Hearing that man's humor as well as Dick Clark's absurd mini-movies ("Dick Clark Productions" makes them for Fox) is enough to drive away viewers, and keep them away, and unfortunately even for the next show as well, "Pulse."

I hope Fox doesn't pull the plug on the Pulse without giving it a chance with a good lead-in. I enjoyed (most of) it.

Also, does anyone know if the Oreilly segment was a rerun from his cable show?

[Hank Rearden]

It's safe to say that any show with that Shepard Smith fairy will take it in the shorts, one way or another.

He's a smarmy little Tabloid Twerp; absolutely unwatchable

[Vidalia]

I have three dogs that start up with the "dry-heaves" whenever Jerry Rivera's face shows up on the screen.

When I put one of the original MST2000 features with Joel Hodges on, they quieted down.

My animals know fact from fiction...

[martin_fierro]

Poor, lovely Laurie Dhue -- trapped with those three schmucks.

[GulliverSwift]

It's safe to say that any show with that Shepard Smith fairy will take it in the shorts, one way or another.

O'Reilly was a tabloid guy himself. He was a host and correspondent for "Inside Edition for a while if I'm not mistaken. (I'm not exactly a Smith fan, though.)

[College Repub]

I believe that 5 million is about 10 times the auidence that FNC averages at any given time!

[Crossbow Eel]

 
 

I wanted to watch but couldn't find it on the non-cable Fox channel because I don't watch too much non cable except third watch which is off right now! They should reshow it on Fox cable ?

[Bogey78O]

Give it a break. CSI is a dang good show with an awesome Soundtrack.

[GulliverSwift]

I don't think it was just becuase it was up against CSI that it did poorly. The "lead-in" as they like to call it, the show right before a show, helps determine how well a program will do. In this case it was Commander Riker in "Beyond Belief," not a successful show.

[Free Vulcan]

Good gawd there's a blond I might actually date if given the chance. How can you go wrong with those pouty lips?

[Puppage]

Add to that, the terrible heavy metal music before each break & you can really see why it didn't do well.

[Jhensy]

You could have a Laurie Dhue trampoline segment and I STILL wouldn't watch if Geraldo is involved.

[Hank Rearden]

O'Reilly was a tabloid guy himself. He was a host and correspondent for "Inside Edition for a while if I'm not mistaken.

Yes, that's true; he's even run clips from his old IE show.

But O'Reilly got better. Smith got more excitable and faggier.

[al-andalus]

How could you not love 'Shep'? You probably even have a problem with Curly and Moe.

[KarlInOhio]

How about this version. I think all Fox viewers would appreciate the improvement.

[jgrubbs]

I thouhgt it was a great news show. Much better than Dateline or 20/20.

[IoCaster]

What's the current population of the US?

Is it ~280m?

If so, that means that not too many people are watching Primetime TV. I think that's pretty good news.

[Vidalia]

Clapping with all four hands...

[Alissa]

As a woman who has much experience with dealing with gays (a family member and my vocation), I can assure you Shepard is not effeminate. If anything, he's bordering on being a womanizer. He always slipping a sexy clip of a skimpily clad female in his reports and then "jokingly" refers to it as "news" while practically drooling all over his notes!

[Hank Rearden]

Overcompensating?

Just check his makeup - he's Wacko Jacko material.