HolyCoast: Keeping Abreast of TV Ratings
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Sunday, November 01, 2009

Keeping Abreast of TV Ratings

What's a sure fire way to get ratings during a TV sweeps month? Show a woman giving herself a breast exam on your news show. No, I won't post the video here, but by now you've already clicked on the link.

A couple of thoughts. October was Breast Cancer Awareness Month and November is a TV sweeps month, though I believe sweeps actually started last week. A perfect storm for this story.

Secondly, having watched the video myself (in the interest of good journalism, of course), they clearly picked a model who would be the least offensive based on her personal statistics. Let's just say she won't be working at Hooters anytime soon.

Anyone who thinks this is a new and terrible low in TV news, it's not. In 1974 or 1975 I was a student at Point Loma College in San Diego. The local TV news station pulled the same stunt, though with a much more impressive subject. I don't know what it did for the ratings in San Diego, but I can tell you the ratings in the freshmen men's dorm at Point Loma College were pretty much off the charts.

4 comments:

LewArcher said...

I just had a prostrate exam on Friday.
Will they televise something like that someday?
(Maybe in San Fran).

(Sorry if I ruined anyone's dinner. I don't look like Cool Hand Luke.)

Rick Moore said...

A prostrate exam? Does that mean you were laying down at the time?

Or perhaps a prostate exam? A whole different thing.

LewArcher said...

I count on my computer to flag misspellings.
That one got by.
But, I was prostrate for the prostate exam.

Nightingale said...

I was thinking the same thing Lew. The poor lowly prostate gets very little press because it's just not cute enough for primetime.

How unfair.