President Donald Trump’s approval ratings are nothing to brag about, but several TV shows and personalities are enjoying robust Nielsen ratings, thanks to a so-called “Trump bump.”
In the early months of the new presidency, viewers are flocking to programs with a political bent, whether those programs support the commander in chief, or gleefully mock him.
According to Nielsen, all of the cable news channels — Fox News, CNN and MSNBC — have seen ratings jumps of nearly 50 percent in their core audience of viewers age 25-54 compared to last season.
Hosts with partisan viewpoints are on a big roll. For example, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, who regularly holds Trump’s feet to the fire, saw her show’s ratings nearly double in February compared to the same month last year. And if you thought Megan Kelly’s departure from conservative Fox News would leave that cable network in a big bind, think again. Kelly’s replacement, Tucker Carlson, has topped her ratings by 31 percent thus far.
Late-night entertainers are also enjoying a Trump windfall. The ratings for “Saturday Night Live” are up 29 percent over last season (averaging 10.6 million viewers). A February episode hosted by Alec Baldwin, who impersonates Trump, and featuring an appearance by Melissa McCarthy as press secretary Sean Spicer was the highest-rated episode of “SNL” since 2011. It drew 16 million viewers, with DVR playbacks included.
Update: “SNL” announced Wednesday the show’s “Weekend Update” segment will air on prime time beginning Aug. 10.
Meanwhile, Samantha Bee, John Oliver and Bill Maher have all seen their numbers jump. But it’s Stephen Colbert who really needs to send Trump a big, mushy thank-you card.
Not all that long ago, there was talk that his job on the CBS “Late Show” was in jeopardy. But Colbert, whose show features a sharper political edge than his rivals, has seen his audience grow. As of this writing, he had a five-week winning streak over NBC’s Jimmy Fallon, who dominated the late-night scene before Trump landed in the White House.
Reading this on your phone? Stay up to date on Bay Area and Silicon Valley news with our new, free mobile app. Get it from the Apple app store or the Google Play store.
Fallon still does better among the younger viewers that advertisers cherish, but NBC is supposedly very concerned about Colbert’s sudden rise. So much so that the New York Post recently cited anonymous network sources as saying Fallon is being urged to cut back on the silly skits and get more political.
But this “Trump bump” can’t last forever, right? Sooner or later, things have to settle down. At least Fallon hopes so.
FLOCKING TO THE POLS: Apparently, HBO also believes there’s gold in politics. The pay-cable titan announced last week that it will produce a miniseries about the extraordinary, often absurd, presidential race between Trump and Hillary Clinton.
The series will be based on the upcoming book by journalists Mark Halperin and John Heilemann. Tom Hanks will be among the executive producers.
HBO has also enlisted Jay Roach to direct and executive produce. Roach, a Stanford grad, is well-versed in this political stuff. He won an Emmy award for HBO’s “Game Change,” a 2012 film about the presidential campaign of John McCain.
No casting for the series has been announced, but it’s safe to assume that picking the actors to play Trump and Clinton will be an event in itself.
A SUPER ZERO?: Sorry, comic book fans. I just couldn’t bring myself to review yet another superhero show. So I have yet to check out “Iron Fist,” the fourth installment of the Marvel “Defenders” series, which arrives on Netflix Friday.
Apparently, I made a wise choice. Based on early reviews, “Iron Fist” won’t get nearly as much love as its predecessors, “Daredevil,” “Jessica Jones” and “Luke Cage.” Among the derisive descriptions I’ve seen attached to it are “frustrating,” “ferociously boring,” “uninspired,” “plodding” and “laughably bad.”
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the series “feels like a step backward on every level, a major disappointment that … would probably be skippable in its entirety if it weren’t the bridge into the long-awaited Defenders crossover series.”
The Metacritic score? A woeful 33.
COMINGS & GOINGS: With the ongoing avalanche of TV fare, it’s difficult to stay on top of what’s sticking and what’s not. Let us help: In recent days, Fox gave second-season renewals to “Lethal Weapon” and “Star.” Meanwhile, FX has ordered a second season of “Taboo” and a third round of “Baskets.”
Failing to make the cut was “Mercy Street.” PBS has canceled the Civil War drama after two seasons. It’s an unfortunate move, because “Mercy Street” was the first attempt by PBS in many years to do a homegrown, American-produced scripted drama.
Contact Chuck Barney at cbarney@bayareanewsgroup.com. Follow him at Twitter.com/chuckbarney and Facebook.com/bayareanewsgroup.chuckbarney.
