How did Minute to Win It premiere do?

Guy Fieri's network television debut was on Sunday, March 14, 2010. How'd it go? I wish I could say. I spent a bulk of the next day reading over reviews and learning a lot about Nielsen ratings.

*Update* Click here to see the latest on Minute to Win It schedule, TV ratings, news and more.

Zap2It probably had the most useful information, to me anyway.

7 p.m.
CBS: "60 Minutes" (11.7 million viewers, 7.5/14 households)
ABC: "America's Funniest Home Videos" (7.5 million, 4.3/8)
NBC: "Minute to Win It" series premiere (4.6 million, 2.8/5)
FOX: "'Til Death" - two episodes (2 million, 1.2/2)
Ages 18-49 leader: "America's Funniest Home Videos" (1.9)

8 p.m.
CBS: "The Amazing Race" (10.2 million, 5.9/10)
ABC: "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" (8.6 million, 5.1/8)
NBC: "Minute to Win It" series premiere (7.2 million, 4.0/7)
FOX: "The Simpsons" (5.2 million, 3.1/5)/"The Simpsons" rerun (5.4 million, 3.2/5)
Ages 18-49 leader: "The Amazing Race" (3.0)

Please don't ask me what all the numbers mean - I'm really just looking at the rankings and the millions of viewers who watched. Nor do I know if this meets nor exceeds expectations. But I think it's encouraging that half-again as many viewers were watching in the 2nd hour than the 1st, eh? (Update: "It's doubled their expectations," Guy Fieri said. ... a 41 % increase over NBC's non-sports average. source)


I will say that this blog received more action on Sunday the 14th than it did on Super Bowl Sunday. Although, that can't all be chalked up to M2WI; remember, there were 5 1/2 hours of Guy Fieri on TV that day - many Googlers were looking for information on Guy's other shows. Most popular search term for the day - "How tall is Guy Fieri?" Haha.

What have reviewers had to say? One must sift through the hardcore proponents of Guy Fieri, Fans of Game Shows and Haters of Either and Both. But there have been a few consistent comments in all the reviews I read.

1. The games are awesome.
Everyone wants to play them at home, at youth groups, at the next kid's birthday party, at pubs, bars, the next office mixer .... Shortly after the premiere episodes, this message from the M2WI Facebook page, "(viewers) have overloaded our inbox with contestant applications! If your e-mail bounced back to you, please give us a moment and we'll be up and running soon!"

2. Too many commercials / timing of commercials.
I'm not sure what one can do about too many commercials, but I'll admit that I found them tiresome too.

3. Guy's performance.
Mixed reviews. But one positive sentiment seems universal - his genuine enthusiasms for the game and for the contestants.

4. Pacing.
It seems that many viewers expected constant, virtually non-stop action, and that just wasn't the case. There was conversation, game set up and slow-mo reviews.

Reviews of Minute to Win It: (if you have read others, please let me know in the comments section. Thank you.)

www.dvrassassin.com
Entertainment Weekly
mouthwateringmarketing.com
gameshows.about.com
buzzerblog.flashgameshows.com
www.televisionwithoutpity.com
www.tvsquad.com
www.areyouscreening.com
http://www.tv.com

And there are a few reviews on the Minute to Win It discussion boards on NBC.com.

Click here to view Ep. 101: Series Premiere, and click here to view Ep. 102: Series Premiere, Part 2, available until 06/01/10

Minute to Win It is next on Sunday, March 21st at 8/7c.

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More details on "Minute to Win It" with host, Guy Fieri
Minute to Win It - shoots this week, premiere date set