Tim Tebow Scores a Big Win in the First Week of His New TV Venture
When Tim Tebow announced he would be the host of the “Million Dollar Mile” reality competition show for CBS, it was fair to wonder just how well the show would do.
Say hello to our host, @TimTebow, and commentators @MariaTaylor and @MattMoneySmith!#MillionDollarMile, a new competition series from the executive producers of #BigBrother and @KingJames, is coming soon to @CBS: https://t.co/ArT016jVQ0 pic.twitter.com/eEDtC2GTCl
— Million Dollar Mile (@MillionDollar) November 12, 2018
After all, the television marketplace seems saturated with these “reality-based” competition shows, and television ratings are a notoriously fickle metric.
Also going against Tebow, who essentially had been cast as the face of the franchise with his hosting role thanks to his natural charisma and good-guy appeal, is that “Million Dollar Mile” is a brand-new show. It’s not “Survivor” or “The Amazing Race,” both of which have aired for dozens of seasons.
Given that, nobody would’ve been all that surprised if the debut episode of “Million Dollar Mile” had tanked in the ratings.
Instead, with Tebow as host, “Million Dollar Mile” debuted to a solid, if unspectacular, 1.0 Nielsen rating, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The 1.0 rating equated to 4.07 million viewers for CBS.
As Deadline notes, those figures were the second-best numbers for the 9 p.m. time slot on Wednesday night, behind only NBC’s “Chicago Fire” (1.2 rating, 8.18 million viewers).
Tebow’s new show also beat out CBS’ other upstart reality competition show, “The World’s Best,” by a fair amount. “The World’s Best” netted an average of just 3.2 million viewers when it was on Wednesday nights, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“Million Dollar Mile” fared particularly well against Fox’s two popular drama series, “Empire” and “Star.” On Fox, “Empire” drew in 3.97 million viewers and “Star” netted 3.17 million viewers.
“Survivor” and “Million Dollar Mile” helped propel CBS to second of all the major cable networks on Wednesday night, behind just NBC and ahead of the likes of Fox, ABC and CW.
In fact, “Million Dollar Mile” more than tripled the CW’s “Jane the Virgin” (800,000 viewers) and “Riverdale” (850,000 viewers). That’s particularly damning for the CW given that “Jane the Virgin” is entering its final season and Wednesday’s episode was the season debut after a major cliffhanger ended Season 4.
The debut episode of “Million Dollar Mile” featured some pretty awesome feats of athleticism on an intense obstacle course.
It was a fight to the finish between Defender Robert and Runner Timothy. ? Relive this epic battle from last night’s #MillionDollarMile premiere now! pic.twitter.com/9Tkb8XNBHa
— Million Dollar Mile (@MillionDollar) March 28, 2019
Of course, the show wasn’t without some of the classic wipeouts that fans of such competition programs have come to expect.
Oooo, that’s gotta hurt. #MillionDollarMile pic.twitter.com/38CHW9DJd5
— Million Dollar Mile (@MillionDollar) March 28, 2019
So was “Million Dollar Mile” the smashing debut success that many have come to expect from Tebow? Not quite.
But given all that Tebow and the show’s producers had going against them, their debut was still a big win.
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