April 23, 2015

Lie Detectors is Bombing Spectacularly

If you’re in the target demographic, you’re in the exclusive club of viewers.


Lie Detectors debuted on GSN this week at 6:30PM ET. It’s a time slot where some of the network’s biggest hits like Catch 21, Newlywed Game, and Baggage have launched. This is GSN’s first attempt at a daily show in a long time, and their newest attempt to launch a comedy game. All the others fizzled out quickly. This one is somehow surpassing them in bomb quality.

Lie Detectors debuted to 282,000 viewers and just 51,000 in the key 18-49 demo. That alone is one of the lowest launches in the network’s recently history. That’s sadly the most positive news the show has had. Tuesday’s episode dropped to 180,000 viewers and 43,000 in the demo, down 45% from its lead-in, the unbelievably popular Family Feud, and down 9% in the key demo. Wednesday got even worse. It stuck at 180,000 but it dropped to a shocking 19,000 viewers in the demo. That’s a 56% drop…not sure if I’ve seen that before covering the network.

It’s also dragging the rest of the lineup down. Last night’s Idiotest sunk to new lows in overall and 18-49 viewership. Family Feud is also losing some viewers, but it’s still way above the lead-in. We have records of other GSN originals reaching numbers this low but it’s usually well into the run, not episode three.

So far they haven’t pulled the show but you really can’t see them sticking with Lie Detectors for too much longer. I know they are usually patient and give shows a chance but there’s only so much damage it can cause before they say enough is enough. It’s also yet another comedy game show failure for the genre. We ran into this same exact scenario with GSN’s Late Night Liars, Mind of a Man, and TBS’s Trust Me, I’m A Game Show Host. It’s not funny enough to be a comedy and there’s not enough good game quality to be a game show.

Just let the comedy happen like GSN does with Idiotest and Family Feud. There’s examples all over of how to work this. A weak format where they may as well place graphics on the screen saying, “Laugh, god dammit, or suffer the consequences,” like Lie Detectors, isn’t it.

Source: @sonofthebronx