Overnight Nielsons for Journey to the End of Knight

[goldbug]

They actually looked at me as a huge annoyance, yet I got the word out to a lot of people. Believe me I could write pages on how much I grew to dislike NBC publicity when my event was all done. Had it not been for the amazing support of the individual cast members, (Justin especially) I would not have done the event to help the new show at all.

The sad reality is, the marketing/PR people often look at (what they think) is the "Big Picture". So sure, they'll put an ad in Times Square, which is great. But they often underestimate the value of viral and underground marketing such as what you tried (and succeeded!) in doing. Kudos to you for your efforts! What amazes me is that after marketing campaigns such as those for films like "Cloverfield" and "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" you'd think they'd "get" that appealing to the common person on a personal level can help. It was very rude and stupid of them not to listen to you.

That said, I give kudos to the cast and crew of the show for being so willing to participate in the promotion process at the fan level. Clearly they understand that with a show like this, ratings will be an uphill battle and us "old timers" can help spread the word!

[weeezl]

I don't understand the Neilson Ratings either, but it seems like coming in second place for the night can't be all that bad.

As for promoting the show, how many people on here are on Myspace, Facebook, other social networking sites, have a blog, or are on some other online group or forum? You can always get the word out there. In Facebook there's an option to tell what you're doing right now. You might say "Watching (or talking about, or excited about) the all-new Knight Rider, Wednesday nights at 8pm on NBC" And on Myspace you can post Bulletins -- perhaps post something Tuesday or Wednesday "Don't forget to watch Knight Rider, Wednesday night at 8pm on NBC". You can even write what you like about the new series in your blog if you have one. It's called viral marketing and basically it means spreading the word online through your friends and contacts.

Good plan, everyone who wants this show to succeed should do this.

Me excluded though, Im already promoting on Myspace & Facebook

http://www.myspace.com/thaweeezl" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[cLa007]

Here is the Top Eighteen from NBC last week.

Category | NBC TV ratingsRSS feed for this sectionTop NBC Primetime Shows, September 22-28
Posted on 30 September 2008 by Bill Gorman


Rank Show R=Repeat S=Special P=Premiere Viewers, Live+SD (000)
1 NBC SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL 17,340
2 SUNDAY NIGHT NFL PRE-KICK 11,933
3 AMERICA’S GOT TALENT-WED 10,303
4 HEROES P 10,086
5 LAW AND ORDER:SVU P 9,681
6 OFFICE P 9,338
7 FOOTBALL NT AMERICA PT 3 8,999
8 E.R. P 8,028
9 BIGGEST LOSER 6 7,357
10 KNIGHT RIDER P 7,349
11 DECISION ‘08:PRES ANALSYS(S) S 7,124
12 MY NAME IS EARL P 6,401
13 LIPSTICK JUNGLE P 6,250
14 HEROES COUNTDOWN TO PREMR(S) S 5,997
15 LAW & ORDER:SVU-SAT RP 4,792
16 FOOTBALL NT AMERICA PT 2 4,274
17 AMERICA’S TOUGHEST JOBS 3,839
18 HEROES 9/27(S) SR 2,205

Tenth for NBC is not bad at all. As far as advertising the show goes, I have an ad in my sig on another forum. I am also going to put that new promo "this is a story of a car" on myspace.

[calhoun24]

I consider the second place finish and the increased ratings victories for us so far. If we maintain or increase our audience steadily, NBC will keep us around.

Besides, we all know that it's just getting good.

I was actually surprised we beat Pushing Daisies that badly. I considered them a viable threat, and it was good to see it was the other way around. Tells me what I know.

As for viral campaigning, I agree. They have to get the Knight Research site up soon, as well as tastefully plaster YouTube, Facebook, and MySpace with ads.

[cloudkitt]

Man I can't make heads or tails of this rating system. How do the television networks do it? lol

I really hope this show can stick around, I haven't been into a real show since JAG. My television watching has been limited to History and Discovery channels for years now since reality tv SUCKS.

[Ontario Knight]

Wait till Hasselhoff gets on the show then the rating will increase I thing alot, and I think moving the show to 9pm when Americas got talent is done for the year would help too....

[Ontario Knight]

Here is the Top Eighteen from NBC last week.

Category | NBC TV ratingsRSS feed for this sectionTop NBC Primetime Shows, September 22-28
Posted on 30 September 2008 by Bill Gorman


Rank Show R=Repeat S=Special P=Premiere Viewers, Live+SD (000)
1 NBC SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL 17,340
2 SUNDAY NIGHT NFL PRE-KICK 11,933
3 AMERICA’S GOT TALENT-WED 10,303
4 HEROES P 10,086
5 LAW AND ORDER:SVU P 9,681
6 OFFICE P 9,338
7 FOOTBALL NT AMERICA PT 3 8,999
8 E.R. P 8,028
9 BIGGEST LOSER 6 7,357
10 KNIGHT RIDER P 7,349
11 DECISION ‘08:PRES ANALSYS(S) S 7,124
12 MY NAME IS EARL P 6,401
13 LIPSTICK JUNGLE P 6,250
14 HEROES COUNTDOWN TO PREMR(S) S 5,997
15 LAW & ORDER:SVU-SAT RP 4,792
16 FOOTBALL NT AMERICA PT 2 4,274
17 AMERICA’S TOUGHEST JOBS 3,839
18 HEROES 9/27(S) SR 2,205

Tenth for NBC is not bad at all. As far as advertising the show goes, I have an ad in my sig on another forum. I am also going to put that new promo "this is a story of a car" on myspace.

Take the top three out on this list, sports shows like Sunday Night Football will always skew the view of the other shows, as it goes above 6.5 million viewers in the age of the WWW, is pretty good, and like I said once Americas got talent is over you might see more viewership.....lets see next week I bet above 8 million in steady viewership...

[Lost Knight]

My theory as to why the show doesn't have such great ratings is mainly negative press and word-of-mouth. The 2-hour backdoor pilot had great ratings because it was the first time Knight Rider was brought back in any form since 1997. It was a fresh new attempt and people were curious and hopeful. But most of the viewers ended up not liking the movie, which could have succeeded quality-wise if NBC wasn't in such a rush to air it before the Writers Strike. This created negative word-of-mouth from the get-go. The "we know it was lousy but we'll do it better later" mentality was the wrong approach from the beginning because most casual viewers don't care about what goes on behind-the-scenes. And this also created a domino effect resulting in a botched first episode trying desperately to correct everything that was missing from the movie.

This was also a critical time for there to be a great revival of the franchise when all eyes were on it. Having it now return as a series and once again with a first episode that's arguably even worse than the 2-hour movie may have sealed the show's coffin. If the first movie was a critical time to get it right, the first episode was certainly just as critical a time to show improvement. The problem is it showed more action and special effects and jumbled all the other necessary ingredients in there afterward.

The franchise has now failed twice at the two most critical times it had to gain popularity and good word-of-mouth. The scathing critical reviews are the last thing that was needed and could have been avoided, but they are not unexpected, either. The lack of casual viewer interest at this point might be too great to get the show's ratings back up to par. Although this sounds pessimistic, I do believe it's ultimately up to Ben Silverman to choose whether to keep the show or not. He's the one that wanted it back in the first place and hopefully likes the show or is at least willing to let it improve. I just hope casual viewers have not already given up completely on the show. The next few weeks should tell.

[Luis]

I was worried about Pushing Daisies as well. I personally hate it but the show was well-received by the press, in stark opposition to Knight Rider.

TV can be like that. It's not all about quality (or the perceived quality). It's also about placement -- strategy. Pushing Daisies depends on a large, art-inclined, mostly female audience. They never had the 18-43 male audience. If their core audience wanders, they have NOTHING to fall back on.

Knight Rider is unique in his year's line-up. It's a throwback to the past and it brings out the nostalgia in people. It has a built-in audience AND a brand-new, tween/teen audience that loves cars and computers.

I actually think that the bad press HELPED the show. It made people talk about it. And as the 2nd episode was a big jump in quality, people will feel that the initial coverage was unfair and spread the word that Knight Rider is actually a cool show to watch.

I think we all should do our part to get the word out. One of the most effective ways of doing that is by twittering about Knight Rider on Twitter before, during and after each episode. Even better, we can use a #Knight-Rider hash tag and concentrate on the POSITIVE aspects of the show. A lot of journalists use Twitter and this will attract coverage.

Right now, the "Knight Rider Pwns Pushing Daises" story is making the rounds on the Web, which is also (very) good news for the show.

[Knight316]

Let's just be thankful it doesn't have "Do Not Disturb" or "Caveman" type ratings. Now those were bombs!

[Knight316]

Just found a couple of postive article/review on Knight Rider on Google News.

http://io9.com/5058196/knight-rider-tea ... o-be-a-man

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/scien ... -printing/

[Shapeshifter]

My theory as to why the show doesn't have such great ratings is mainly negative press and word-of-mouth. The 2-hour backdoor pilot had great ratings because it was the first time Knight Rider was brought back in any form since 1997. It was a fresh new attempt and people were curious and hopeful. But most of the viewers ended up not liking the movie, which could have succeeded quality-wise if NBC wasn't in such a rush to air it before the Writers Strike. This created negative word-of-mouth from the get-go. The "we know it was lousy but we'll do it better later" mentality was the wrong approach from the beginning because most casual viewers don't care about what goes on behind-the-scenes. And this also created a domino effect resulting in a botched first episode trying desperately to correct everything that was missing from the movie.

This was also a critical time for there to be a great revival of the franchise when all eyes were on it. Having it now return as a series and once again with a first episode that's arguably even worse than the 2-hour movie may have sealed the show's coffin. If the first movie was a critical time to get it right, the first episode was certainly just as critical a time to show improvement. The problem is it showed more action and special effects and jumbled all the other necessary ingredients in there afterward.

The franchise has now failed twice at the two most critical times it had to gain popularity and good word-of-mouth. The scathing critical reviews are the last thing that was needed and could have been avoided, but they are not unexpected, either. The lack of casual viewer interest at this point might be too great to get the show's ratings back up to par. Although this sounds pessimistic, I do believe it's ultimately up to Ben Silverman to choose whether to keep the show or not. He's the one that wanted it back in the first place and hopefully likes the show or is at least willing to let it improve. I just hope casual viewers have not already given up completely on the show. The next few weeks should tell.

There is another, less pessimistic, scenario that I subscribe to.

Knight rider could just end up being 'the little show that could.' The show some people love to hate, a guilty pleasure, whatever you want to call it. Yes, it started out badly. But the second episode was quite watchable. And these numbers are good enough for NBC, which let's face it, doesn't have the strongest arsenal of shows, and has had lousy numbers across the board. (Not just NBC but the whole industry.) If it can just build a little, NBC will keep it around. And, it will improve...and with such low expectations, it really can only improve. And the whole cottage industry of websites that delight in tearing apart every episode help more than hurt, because they're talking about the show, and people will tune in, if only to see how lousy it really is, and some of those people will come away thinking "that really wasn't so bad! Maybe I'll tune in next week..."

It's all good.

[Lost Knight]

And, it will improve...and with such low expectations, it really can only improve. And the whole cottage industry of websites that delight in tearing apart every episode help more than hurt, because they're talking about the show, and people will tune in, if only to see how lousy it really is, and some of those people will come away thinking "that really wasn't so bad! Maybe I'll tune in next week..."

It's all good.

Actually I was telling an ex-girlfriend about it and she happened to catch some of last night's episode and said exactly that. I know the show will improve because it already has. I just hope that's enough to keep it around.

It seems as if every newspaper/blog site was quick to tear the first episode down, but not so quick to report on the improved second episode. So far there doesn't seem to be nearly as much reviews of the second episode as there were of the first, but the week-early Internet premiere might have contributed to that.

[Phoenix]

Give the show time, IMO this weeks episode was better than last weeks. I think the ratings will go up slowly but surely.

[GNR2K6]

People can keep coming up with excuses and theories of why this show has low ratings, but the bottom line is it does because of one main reason, face it - this show is terrible. As compared to what people expect when they think of Knight Rider with the original series, this new version has almost none of what most people liked or expected to see. Like it or not, this new show is lacking in just about everything the original had, good writing, acting, and mainly a car that even if it was extraordinary and borderline far-fetched, it still maintained it's believeability. Time will tell in the end how long this show goes, but unless they quickly and drastically fix all that is wrong with it, it will not be very long. Yeah, the second episode was an improvement from the beyond ridiculously horrible first one, but that's also like comparing two pieces of crap and deciding which one might taste better. Short of a surefire ratings boost by bringing in a worthy guest appearance of Hasselhoff with the original KITT, It's likely many of the original fans will continue to not watch or give it a second chance to redeem itself and the ratings will dropoff even further until it's inevitable cancellation.

[DeeKnight]

People can keep coming up with excuses and theories of why this show has low ratings, but the bottom line is it does because of one main reason, face it - this show is terrible. As compared to what people expect when they think of Knight Rider with the original series, this new version has almost none of what most people liked or expected to see. Like it or not, this new show is lacking in just about everything the original had, good writing, acting, and mainly a car that even if it was extraordinary and borderline far-fetched, it still maintained it's believeability. Time will tell in the end how long this show goes, but unless they quickly and drastically fix all that is wrong with it, it will not be very long. Short of a surefire ratings boost by bringing in a worthy guest appearance of Hasselhoff with the original KITT, It's likely many of the original fans will continue to not watch or give it a second chance to redeem itself and the ratings will dropoff even further until it's inevitable cancellation.

Um,have you seen the second episode!?

[NeoRanger]

is lacking in just about everything the original had, good writing, acting,

So long as people keep mention good writing and acting as aspects of the original show, their arguments will inevitably crumble. The fact that your argument is based on the nostalgia factor over the old show and the solutions you suggest appeal to fanboys and not the general audience, only backs up my statement.

Seriously, people, I bitched to no end about "Transformers" last year. But if I went to say that the movie sucked, because the cartoons had solid writing, I'd have to be scheduled for a lobotomy. Pronto.

[calhoun24]

Give the show time, IMO this weeks episode was better than last weeks. I think the ratings will go up slowly but surely.

My thoughts exactly. If we show steady growth, then NBC will have us stick around. I'd rather have that and ensure a good long run.

[BlueChaos]

While we're on the topic of ratings, this is the stuuuuuuuuuuupidest review I've ever seen!
http://tv.ign.com/articles/915/915593p1.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And one more thing: if you're going to break the laws of physics, if you're not going to follow any sort of rules, why not just give KITT the sassy attitude and sense of humor from the start? At the end, KITT watches an old western film and learns the difference in gender roles (where's your Gloria Steinem now?) and makes a wise crack. Why not just introduce him as that? Why does there have to be some build up to it? Install WiseCrack v2.1.1 or something, jeez.

Because if you do that, KITT won't be an AI but he'll only be a basic computer program, dude! *sighs*

[FordFilly82]

ok, First,
I am glad to see that Knight ended up second.
Two: Man! I wish I had a Nielsens box! LOL THey would have loved me flipping back and Forth btwn Bones and Knight! LOL
Speaking of: Bones has been the, and I quote, "Little show that could" over on Fox.
Yes I am a Buffy/David. So yes, I started wtaching the show.
But that doesn't automatically maen that I would *like* the show. Same with KR for that matter.

Like now with KR, I worried every week for Bones' future, especially once the first few eps were in. And like Knight, it was not all smooth from Pilot.
I did begin to notice how word-of-mouth was beginning to steadily increase veiwership of Bones.

Same with KR08. I see word-of-mouth being a *big* part of helping this show survive.
The fact that GST is on board is, I believe, keeping this show from being "on the bubble" b/c of LV, even I nvr watched, lol.
And I do think that once the word gets out there that this show is out there things may change. And the time slot chng too.

For me, I missed TOS as I was four when it ended and ocassionaly caught an ep on reruns or (I think) Sci FI.
I know I had a KITT as a kid that loved the idea of a talking car that helped save the day.
But my general perception of KR:TOS was that it was one of those short-lived cult shows. *ducks*
I knew the basics. And loved the concept. (dur, I'm here. )
But it wasn't until I heard about KR08 that I became more interested in KR TOS. And its four seasons.
(so congrats to NBC for that! )
And even more so when Kilmer signed on. *pants*
And I was concerned for loyal fans, about how "updated" they would make it and not upset too many of TOS fans. Which I think was done well. Yes it had the feel of a commerical at times (loved the Focus comms!), but at heart, it was pure escapism. Like I feel the original was.

The fast cars, kool chases, awesome effects , it felt good to just get away from all the "drama" taking place in real world and just enjoy abit of "fluff".

Which is why I came back this week too. I am a fan of some the behind the scenes guys, like Liman and such, but i like how this show takes you out of reality and puts you in sur-reality.
*steps down from hood*
Hope I didn't take up too much space.

[PHOENIXZERO]

While we're on the topic of ratings, this is the stuuuuuuuuuuupidest review I've ever seen!
http://tv.ign.com/articles/915/915593p1.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And one more thing: if you're going to break the laws of physics, if you're not going to follow any sort of rules, why not just give KITT the sassy attitude and sense of humor from the start? At the end, KITT watches an old western film and learns the difference in gender roles (where's your Gloria Steinem now?) and makes a wise crack. Why not just introduce him as that? Why does there have to be some build up to it? Install WiseCrack v2.1.1 or something, jeez.

Because if you do that, KITT won't be an AI but he'll only be a basic computer program, dude! *sighs*

Well, you know what they say about that site, you can't spell ignorant without I-G-N. Just another instance of the stupidity of their reviewers, not to mention they're on the Newscorp (Fox's parent company) payroll now. Just stay off their message boards, they're largely populated by mouth breathing morons and have been for years. Every time I look at them I'm reminded why I mostly stopped looking at them over six years ago.

[adamtrek]

If the show keeps doing well, Knight Rider will get the back nine most of us want.
A second season is not too far fetched if that happens.

I predict a full 22 or 24 episodes this year, barring any new strike.

[goldbug]

While we're on the topic of ratings, this is the stuuuuuuuuuuupidest review I've ever seen!
http://tv.ign.com/articles/915/915593p1.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It certainly was a stupid comment. It's called "character development", a staple of good television. It kills me how if KR uses cheesy stuff and crazy action it's a bad thing and "not serious enough". But if they try to do something serious such as character development (not only with KITT himself, but also between KITT and Mike) they also rag on that. It's like they can't make up their minds.

[Knight Racer]

Does anyone know what the neilson ratings were for the original first few episodes back in the 80's?

Maybe if they advertised more we wouldn't have a low ratings.

I just hope we can at least make it to the end of the season so we can see the Hoff make an appearence and for a full episode or a mission not just 5 minutes.

[ozzieknight]

The Hoff starts filming Beverly Hills Ninja 2 Monday in Korea so I am guessing he won't have time for any appearences this season