TV Talk: Strong sweeps ratings for WTAE-TV; PBS explores ‘Age of Easy Money’
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The February weekday sweeps ratings for local TV stations have been released.
WTAE-TV and KDKA-TV were neck-in-neck with the stations tying in the number of time period wins in household ratings, while WTAE won more news time periods in the key demo of viewers ages 25-54.
WPXI-TV ranked third in every major time period in households and in the demo with the exception of second place in the demo at 4 p.m. (where KDKA and WTAE were tied for first place) and at 4:30 a.m.
Ratings released last week by Nielsen include household ratings that reflect a measure of overall popularity and the more-important-to-advertisers demographic ratings, including the key demo of ages 25-54.
After making changes to its morning anchor lineup a year ago this month, WTAE solidified its No. 1 status in mornings while KDKA advanced past WPXI, which was reliably in second place at 5 and 6 a.m. in households (and often the key demo) for at least the past five years.
In households, KDKA was first at 12, 4, 5 and 11 p.m. and second at 4:30, 5 and 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. WTAE ranked first at 4:30, 5 and 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. and second at 12, 4 and 11 p.m.
In the demo, WTAE came in first at 4:30 a.m., 5 and 6 a.m. and at 5 and 6 p.m. WTAE and KDKA tied for first at 4 p.m. WTAE ranked second at 12 and 11 p.m. KDKA came in first at 12 and 11 p.m. and second at 5 and 6 a.m. and 5 and 6 p.m.
In November, the KDKA-produced 10 p.m. newscast on WPCW eked out a household win, but in February ratings reverted to what has been the sweeps norm with a WPXI-produced newscast on WPGH-TV winning in households and the demo in head-to-head competition. (The second half of the one-hour WPGH newscast also beat WPCW’s “Nightly Sports Call” in households and the demo.)
KDKA’s “Pittsburgh Today Live” at 9 a.m. was the time slot’s highest-rated program in households and the key demo, beating “Live with Kelly and Ryan” (in second place on WTAE) and the third hour of “Today” on WPXI. It’s no wonder KDKA is essentially spinning off “PTL” with new afternoon lifestyle show “Talk Pittsburgh” (3 p.m. weekdays starting March 20).
KDKA-produced newscasts at 7 and 8 a.m. on WPCW ranked fourth in households and the demo. While “Good Morning America” is No. 1 on WTAE in households and the demo, “CBS Mornings” on KDKA ranked second in households (third in the demo) with “Today” on WPXI third in households (second in the demo).
The WPXI-produced 6:30 p.m. local news on WPGH ranked fourth in households and sixth in the demo in its time period behind news on the Big Three and sitcom reruns on WPCW-TV and WPNT-TV.
KDKA’s 7:30 p.m. newscast ranked third in the time period in February 2023 in households and the demo behind No. 1 “Jeopardy!” on WPXI and No. 2 “Entertainment Tonight” on WTAE.
‘Age of Easy Money’
Actor Ben McKenzie may be best known for his starring roles on TV dramas “The O.C.,” “Southland” and “Gotham,” but before all that he earned a degree in economics from the University of Virginia, which he acknowledged, “I haven’t used … much in 20 years in Hollywood. The ‘dismal science’ is not something you talk about around the craft service table.”
Bored during the early months of the pandemic, McKenzie looked more closely at the markets around the same time a friend encouraged him to invest in Bitcoin.
“People were gambling on things, like cryptocurrency, unaware that what they were really doing was sending money to companies registered overseas, run through shell corporations in the Caribbean with none of the regulatory oversight that we expect from financial products,” McKenzie said during PBS’s portion of January’s Television Critics Association winter press tour in Pasadena, Calif. “But they were being advertised as though they were regulated by celebrities. And Hollywood played a major role in marketing what I believe are unregulated and unlicensed securities to the general public. That is a terrible precedent to set and a very dangerous precedent to set.”
McKenzie is featured in PBS’s two-hour “Frontline” episode “Age of Easy Money” (9 p.m. Tuesday, WQED-TV), which looks at the past decade of America’s economy. McKenzie has co-written a book, “Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud” ($28, Abrams Press), which will be published July 18. “We need to look at the incentive structures in our economy and the lack of regulation. The paralysis that’s overtaken the political system or government has far-ranging consequences. We’ve ceded all this power to the Fed to come in and save us, but the Fed is ill-suited for that task.”
Kept/canceled
Hallmark Channel renewed “The Way Home” for a second season.
Paramount+ announced the fifth season of “Star Trek: Discovery,” originally expected to debut this year but now streaming in 2024, will be its last. In January at the Television Critics Association winter press tour, executive producer Alex Kurtzman told me filming wrapped on season five in late 2022. But now they’re going back to film more scenes to give the show a proper send-off.
Daytime talk show “Rachael Ray” (2 p.m. weekdays, WPXI-TV) will end its 17-year run in May.
HBO’s “Barry” will end with its upcoming fourth season (10 p.m. April 16).
Channel surfing
Apple TV+’s upcoming children’s series “Jane” (streaming April 14), about a young girl named Jane Garcia who’s inspired by the work of Dr. Jane Goodall, is getting a museum exhibit spin-off, “Jane’s Endangered Animal Experience,” which will open at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Museum of Natural History on April 16. … Disney+’s “Doogie Kamealoha, M.D.,” executive produced by University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University grad Kourtney Kang, returns for its second season March 31. … Sometime later this year the monthly cost of ad-free Paramount+ with Showtime will rise from $10 to $12; the ad tier that’s just Paramount+ (no Showtime) will go from $5 to $6. … The final season of Amazon Prime Video’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” will begin streaming on April 14.