Media Scribbler

The showrunners for The Mole 3 were clearly hoping that absence made the heart grow fonder. They probably also wanted us to forget that Anderson Cooper had long since left the building, since a lot of the show’s initial fanbase were mostly watching to see Cooper in his pre-CNN, post-ABC World News Now shot at reality TV presenting.

Unfortunately, neither strategy seems to have worked for The Mole 3, because ABC entertainment president Steve McPherson told “Reality Blurred” that the show will most likely be shelved if the ratings didn’t magically turn around by the end of its run (and they didn’t.)

This is a tough blow for McPherson, who told “Reality Blurred” a couple of weeks ago that, “…it’s such a well-produced show, it’s a shame. I’m a little bit befuddled to know why it didn’t perform better.”

I’m sure that befuddlement is mixed with a lot of panic for McPherson. ABC has had some disastrous results this summer with its Monday-night reality lineup.

This week, their lineup came in fourth amongst the nets with High School Musical – Get in the Picture, which had 2.87 million viewers and a 0.8/ 3 in the big demo, and Wanna Bet with 2.81 million viewers and 0.9/3 in the demo.  The Mole actually had the best showing of any of the ABC shows that night, with 3.06 million viewers and 1.2/ 4 in the demo.

Yes, Wipeout has been a real success for ABC this year, but that can’t make up for the failures of the other shows. McPherson had earlier blamed marketing mistakes for The Mole’s flat results, and I have to say he’s got something there. I am a longtime, rabid fan of Ant & Dec (if you didn’t pick that up previously) who have hosted half a dozen different shows successfully for ITV before coming here for Wanna Bet. I knew nothing about them or the show until it had already arrived DOA this summer, and I don’t think many Brit TV-loving people did if my Twitter responses were any indication.

Ant & Dec are one of those “love or love to hate” duos who could’ve made a Cowell-sized splash in ABC’s pool if it had been given proper promotion. Likewise, High School Musical: Get In The Picture didn’t give a viewer any reason to watch other than having pre-teen kids who saw a commercial.

At least maybe with Wipeout’s success, ABC’s reality shows will shift toward that sort of show instead of their previous reality formula, which was written with the initial success of The Bachelor. And as for The Mole 3, fans are trying to save it by sending lemons to ABC. Good luck, guys. If that doesn’t work, pick up a copy of The Mole 1, which has many scenes featuring Cooper in a leather jacket. Yum.

(Photo: Amazon)

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