Say goodbye to Bethenny. The talk show will not be returning for a second season.
According to the Hollywood Reporter:
“We are incredibly proud of the creativity, passion and professionalism Bethenny and her staff brought to daytime each and every day and look forward to finishing out the season with more great original episodes,” said a spokesperson for producer Telepictures (a division of Warner Bros. TV). “While we are disappointed not to be able to bring the series back for a second season, we remain convinced that Bethenny has a unique voice and that she will continue to be successful in the future.”
Frankel added: “I had a blast doing this show with Telepictures. My entire staff worked so hard and made every day so much fun. I am thankful for the experience and for all my fans who tuned in every day.”
The show had been on the bubble all season as it failed to draw a large enough total audience to insure it would be renewed. What was working was Frankel’s pull among the key demographic of women 25 to 54, who showed a lot of loyalty to her and the show.
The show had a season to date average rating in households of 0.9 (about 1.15 million viewers a day), which makes it among the lowest rated syndicated talk shows, only beating The Test and Tricia most weeks. Bethenny, however, had a strong 0.7 rating in the key demo.
Bethenny’s 0.7 demo matched Queen Latifah‘s first-season ratings, but Frankel’s show was far behind Latifah’s in total audience. Latifah is averaging more than 1.5 million viewers a day.
Sources told The Hollywood Reporter this was an economic decision that Telepictures had to make. Frankel and DeGeneres was also profit participants in the show, as were others.
In recent weeks, Telepictures had been trying to find a cable outlet to carry Bethenny in addition to the show being syndicated as a way to generate more revenue and make the entire package viable. Apparently they were not able to find that second run, which doomed the show.
The Fox station group had tested Bethenny last summer and gotten a similar result. Total household viewership was not impressive but the key demos were. Bethenny has a big following among women from her appearances on Bravo’s Real Housewives of New York, other shows, books and her line of Skinny Girl products.
Sources say the Fox station group had told Telepictures they would continue to carryBethenny for a second season in the biggest markets, with the costs involved in the show that was not enough.
It looks like Omarosa may have been onto something…
Comments are closed.