"reality shows" sinking lower!

[blueaguave]

January 5, 2004
Fox Hopes 'Fiancé' Delivers Big Fat Win
By BILL CARTER (Copyright 2004 nytimes.com)

At the midway point in the television season, the Fox network finds itself in a familiar position: In a deep hole, looking for a hero to ride up with a lifesaving lasso.

Last January, after Fox had suffered through a disastrous fall season, a hero did turn up, at precisely the right time to pull the network from its depths. His name was "Joe Millionaire," and, with audiences peaking at 40 million viewers, he (with a lot of help from a show called "American Idol") carried Fox off to great things in the second half of the season. Fox came within a whisker of overtaking NBC for its first outright win in the competition for the 18-to-49-year-old viewers that every network but CBS, which is owned by Viacom Inc., considers the benchmark for prime-time success.

Now, after a fall season made slightly less disastrous only because of strong ratings for post-season baseball, Fox is looking longingly toward another potential hero - though this one may be the antithesis of the hunky eligible bachelor.

The great Fox hope is "My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancé," a reality series that starts two weeks from tonight and aims to repeat the network's recent formula of turning comedy and cynicism into a prime-time hit.

Last year, with "Joe Millionaire,'' viewers ate up the concept of gold-digging young women throwing themselves at a man they had been misled into believing was wealthy. This time Fox, which is owned by the News Corporation, hopes viewers will be enticed to laugh at the misery endured by a female reality contestant and her family over the antics of her lout of a fiancé, whom she tells her family she met on a different reality show.

She will win big money if she can stay the course of the engagement and through to a televised wedding. But what she does not know is that the sloppy, rude-intended, and rowdy family he introduces as his own are actors, cast to make her own family horrified at the prospect of this union.

"We're in post-production now, and it looks good," said Michael H. Darnell, the executive vice president of alternative programming for Fox, and the man behind many of the network's previous reality hits, including "Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire," "American Idol,'' "Joe Millionaire" and "The Simple Life."

"It's a very entertaining concept," said Mr. Darnell, who claimed credit for thinking it up himself while sitting on a beach during a vacation in Santa Barbara, Calif. The show clearly is an amalgam of elements from numerous other programs, including "The Bachelor" on ABC, which is owned by the Walt Disney Company, the actor-filled reality concept of "The Joe Schmo Show" on Spike TV and even a comedy bit about an offensive fiancé that the comedian Jamie Kennedy has performed on his show on the WB network.

"Every one of these shows has elements of other shows," Mr. Darnell said. "But I think this one feels very new because of the stakes involved. It also has such an elaborate setup."

The concept is kicky enough that Fox is starting to feel a familiar gust of midwinter optimism.

"We don't know if Fat Fiancé is going to reach the level of 'Joe Millionaire,' '' said Preston Beckman, the executive vice president of program planning for Fox Entertainment. "But with these reality shows, you never know."

Besides, Mr. Beckman argued, Fox finds itself in a more competitive position this season than last, when it was far behind all three of its rival networks. Now, thanks almost entirely to baseball, Fox is close to CBS for second place behind NBC in the 18-to-49 race - and much closer to NBC, which is a unit of the General Electric Company, than it was at this time last year.

But the other networks suggest that Fox's lineup of regularly scheduled nonsports programs is actually worse off than it was at this point last year.

Mr. Beckman acknowledges that Fox's regular programs have slumped, but he said: "Everybody's returning shows are off. That's not a Fox phenomenon."

Fox executives also note that with "American Idol" gearing up for what is generally expected to be another run to ratings glory, many Fox shows stand to benefit by being placed adjacent to editions of "Idol." Atop that list is the youth-oriented prime-time soap opera "The O.C.," which was already Fox's most promising new series.

"We could make up a lot of what we had with 'Joe Millionaire' last year with what we'll get from 'The O.C.' the rest of this season," Mr. Beckman said. He even made a prediction, saying, "When the season ends in May, we'll be right in it with NBC and CBS."

But being in it and winning it are entirely different things. Many television executives back in the early fall did not expect Fox to have expectations of being merely competitive this season, which the network entered riding a wave of confidence. Not only did Fox dominate the second half of last season, it was also being touted by a host of critics for developing the best set of new series for this season.

Added to that was a lineup of baseball playoffs that had magic written all over them, with the long-suffering Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs threatening to overcome almost 100 years of bad karma. As a potential Cubs-Red Sox World Series neared, a senior executive with a competing network declared the television season's battle for the 18-to-49 ratings crown over, saying baseball had made Fox unbeatable.

But like the Red Sox and Cubs, Fox faltered. (The network seems to have its own fall curse, maybe for having passed up "The Sopranos'' before it went to HBO?) This time, much of the regular schedule fell apart. "American Juniors," a spinoff of "American Idol" featuring child performers, was such a bust in the summer that a planned fall version was canceled. A scheduled comedy called "The Ortegas" never even made it to the air, repeating a seemly perennial Fox pattern. A new drama, "Skin," though highly praised by critics, was rejected almost instantly by viewers.

Even the most praised comedy of the season, Fox's "Arrested Development," has struggled to find an audience. Returning hits like "24," "Malcolm in the Middle" and, especially, "Boston Public," have seen their numbers fall off. Worst of all and central to Fox's fall failure, an effort to bring "Joe Millionaire" back for a second go-round, this time with a cast of foreign-born women, was a crashing flop.

"We made a miscalculation of the appetite for another 'Joe Millionaire,' " Mr. Beckman said.

That miscalculation has reverberated all the way up through the network and into the highest offices at the News Corporation. Rupert Murdoch, the News Corporation chairman, said in an interview with The Times last month, "the broadcast division stumbled badly," when it tried a second "Joe Millionaire."

"That was a mistake," Mr. Murdoch said. "We should have just said, 'there was no way you could do it again, because it was a bit of a trick.' "

Despite the disappointing autumn, "I think we will do well over all, and about as well, over all, or nearly as well as we expected to do last year,'' Mr. Murdoch said. "But it is a lot less well than we had hoped. We did better than we expected with baseball, but we had too high a failure on our new shows."

Asked if anyone would be held accountable, Mr. Murdoch said: "Around here, everybody is held accountable. I am held accountable. The buck stops with me."

Of course, similar ominous noises were emanating from the Fox headquarters in Los Angeles this time last year, before "American Idol" and "Joe Millionaire" changed the moans to hurrahs. Mr. Darnell said he did not feel "any extraordinary pressure" for "My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancé" to fuel a Fox comeback on its own. He said he was fully confident that "Idol" would generate enormous ratings again. And he has other reality series on the runway, ready to fly to Fox's rescue if required.

One, "Forever Eden," is a try at a continuing reality soap opera, placing real people in a remote luxury location where they could stay presumably for years if the show continues its run.

And for next fall, Fox says the answer to its early season problems may lie in a radical approach to introducing new series. As it did with "The O.C.," Fox plans to introduce promising new shows in the summer.

"The O.C." started in August, however, and Mr. Beckman said Fox was now leaning toward earlier premieres, distancing itself as far as possible from the fall curse.

"I think you'll see us adding a couple of new shows in June and July," he said.

[3tbear]

I just saw the preview for the show you're talking about. The guy is so gross, really acting rude and obnoxious. The look on her parents faces just about says it all, they look totally disgusted by the guy. It'll probably be a hit just 'cause people will want to see if she can stick it out 'til the end. IMPO, I doubt it.

[hmsram]

I also saw the previews and thought well finally a show about what most husbands turn into
J/K


I am sure she will not make it through I know I could not do it but money can make people handle some weird situations.

[pandybat]

I'm not much on the reality shows where someone has to get married at the end. They're boring. I did watch Joe Millionaire and it was good. And I tried to watch the Bachelor and Bachelorette shows but they sucked until the last show. I seriously hope they don't expect this girl to really marry this guy at the end. It's almost like making marriage a trivial thing to do anymore. Britney Spears seems to think so too...lol

[momof3girls]

That guy reminds me of my sister's fiance

[freesurfer]

I'm actually tired of reality shows anymore!!

[chippers21]

I only really like Survivor and Amazing Race. You can have ALL the rest.

[freesurfer]

I didn't even get into the last survivor.

[beffie]

I have never watched any of the "reality shows"... No Survivor. No Bachelor/Bachlerette. Not even Fear Factor. No American Idol. No Simple Life (Paris Hilton/Nicole Ritchie)...

Just not my taste... But I can see that they do appeal to a large amount of people.

But I did see an advertisement for this new show just tonight. What on Earth made them do this?!?!? LOL It might be funny, definately disgusting. But I won't be watching it.

[Shainie]

I won't be watching. It looks really stupid and there's no sense to it.

I like shows that have some kind of point to it. American Idol is more of a talent show than a reality show.

[3tbear]

It said in the newspaper that they were looking to draw a larger audience, that the station has been slipping in ratings. It's for ratings.

[slmlmlel]

What about the show that is supose to be on pay perview "who wants to be a porn star" They are supose to be 4 girls trying to be the next hottest porn star. I can't rember what channel but, I now you had to buy the show as a package and it was around $200 . NO I was not going to watch this I just cought the end of the review about the show on ET or one of those entertament shows

[Nightowl69]

I think there are WAY to many of them on TV
the only one i watch is Fear Factor