NBC’s splashy new game show "The Million Second Quiz" is off to a less-than-spectacular start. TVbytheNumbers.com reports that the show lost ground from its ho-hum premiere Monday night, based on Nielsen overnights for the key 18-49 demo.
Monday’s numbers had "Quiz" with a 1.7 average rating in the demo — decent, for late summer, but probably less than the network was hoping for with a show that has been a focus of a ton of hype.
That number fell to a 1.5 in overnights for Tuesday night — with the night’s numbers being "more scrambled than usual," the website notes, due to the presidential address. The second-night numbers came against less stiff competition, as Monday night’s TV lineup included the NFL.
Tuesday’s one-hour show did grow from its first half-hour to its second — from a 1.4 in 18-49 to a 1.5.
The NBC show, hosted by Ryan Seacrest, continues nightly — presumably until a million seconds, or roughly eleven and a half days, run out.
The Million Second Quiz is innovative but it’s too confusing. There are too, too, many moving parts. The line jumpers, the sleepers, the whatever else. Too much going on. Is it too much to ask that they simply play the game 24 hours a day for 11.7 days?