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All-Star Game: Lowest Ratings Ever; "Deadliest Catch" Does Well

DToTheJ

DToTheJ

On Tuesday night - when Discovery Channel experienced its highest rating with the Captain Phil Harris "farewell" episode (he died of a stroke earlier this year) of "Deadliest Catch" - in sports, Fox's telecast of the annual All-Star Game - played on the day Yankees owner George Steinbrenner had passed away - notched its lowest rating since the event has been telecast. By comparison, "Catch" was watched by 8.5 million viewers, while the game received a 7.5 household rating (11.6 million viewers).

Full story:
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/ar...h_MLB_All_Star_Game_Sinks_to_Telecast_Low.php
 
I am a huge baseball fan, but I only watched about 5 minutes of the AS game. I have thought for years that MLB should get rid of the AS game. It adds no value, particularly since most players only play 1 or 2 innings at most.
 
That episode of "Catch" made for some very compelling viewing and was - as usual - very well done. On the other hand, I caught the first 5 or 6 minutes of "After the Catch IV" and found it to be staged and dull - so I bailed on that.

All Star Game? Yeah, I periodically checked in to see the score but that was it.
 
I'm also a huge baseball fan, but only watched about 5 minutes as well. I think they should keep it - it's a great event for the host city and it can be fun to watch...although I think the value has been diminished with interleague play. You can't tune in anymore just to see that seemingly once-in-a-lifetime epic matchup between John Kruk and Randy Johnson at their prime. Now, if you want to see Ubaldo Jiminez face off against Big Papi, you have the chance to see it in interleague play. I think it's just a different dynamic and makes the All Star game a little more watered down than it used to be.
 
Not to mention 50 minutes for the pregame show--Fox came on the air at 8 ET/5 PT
but the first pitch wasn't until 8:50/5:50! ::)

Fortunately(?) the game itself took just under three hours (2:59), but how many
east coasters were still around at 11:49 ET? I don't even know how long Fox was
on the air after that since I turned it off not long after the final out.

I imagine left coasters are resigned to many national sports telecasts starting at 5,
but the pregame should have started at 7:30/4:30, and the game itself at 8/5.
 
the pregame should have started at 7:30/4:30, and the game itself at 8/5.

I agree. The All Star Game can be a lot of fun but the 9:00 start time is just too late for me. I watched the beginning of the pre game show. Switched to something else by 8:30 and checked on the game during commercial breaks 9 -10 then zzzzz's at 10:00.
 
the viewing public was astute enough to realize that "steroid free" meant "offense free",
which the game largely was. (true baseball fans love a good pitchers duel, but you did
not even have that as everybody was on 2 inning pitch counts)
 
Let's face it...the Discovery Channel did a better job of building drama than Fox. Do you want to watch something people have been talking about, or something that no one's been talking about? Who were half of those players anyway? MLB should look into character development. Used to be that athletes were characters. Not so much any more. You can't just throw something on TV anymore and expect people to watch. Regardless of what it is. Turned out there actually was a story, as the National League won for the first time in 13 years. But who cared?
 
I will admit, like many who previously commented on this thread, I also watched five minutes of the telecast - but they were all in the pregame portion. I wanted to see how they would pay tribute to George Steinbrenner. After the moment of silence for The Boss, no sooner than that girl from "Glee" proceeded to sing another song, I turned it off.
 
Then again, I must say that I was blown away by Colbie Caillat's rendition of God Bless America. I was doing something else at the time, and that got my attention more than anything in the game.
 
Let's face it, major league baseball is in a pickle (sorry for the pun).

The lack of a salary cap has, and will continue to hurt the game. If only a handful of teams can compete each year, the league is doomed. Purists refuse to allow changes that might make the game more exciting. But in this go-go, youtube, facebook society, the game seems outdated. Not sure what it will take to get to the next level, but baseball needs to reinvent itself to recapture the 2010 fan. Right now, it is becoming increasingly irrelevant.

BTW, I am against steroids in general, but the crackdown, like it or not, has hurt baseball offense and that has hurt interest. No opinion on that from here, but just stating what I consider to be fact.
 
I dont know what you consider a handfull but there are different teams competing each year. The game is not hurt, the game is better than it has been in year. The problem is this country no long wants to sit down and think may attention to a sport that requires the mental attention baseball takes. Instead the NFL is king in this country since they have 1 game a week with about 15 minutes of actual playing time. Home run hitters are still hitting home runs and pitching is back, theres a great balance to the game right now that baseball fans love, the ADD generation however doesnt.
 
KTU_Fan said:
I dont know what you consider a handfull but there are different teams competing each year. The game is not hurt, the game is better than it has been in year. The problem is this country no long wants to sit down and think may attention to a sport that requires the mental attention baseball takes. Instead the NFL is king in this country since they have 1 game a week with about 15 minutes of actual playing time. Home run hitters are still hitting home runs and pitching is back, theres a great balance to the game right now that baseball fans love, the ADD generation however doesnt.
Click to expand...

I think you answered your own question. A sport that requires mental attention is doomed. Sports have become like any other leisure activity. Give me the action, make it quick, and make it exciting. Unfortunately, baseball rarely offers this, or atleast not at the same rate as football or basketball.
 
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