Following New Day co-host Brianna Keilar’s spectacularly bad week hosting CNN’s poisonously partisan Democracy in Peril special, carnival barker Jim Acosta received his chance to audition for the primetime slot formerly held by Chris Cuomo and, through three days, Acosta did even worse. Among the shows he lost to, Acosta fell behind a Hallmark movie, History’s Forged in Fire, a rerun of Everybody Loves Raymond, Property Brothers, and, yes, My 600 Pound Life.
Through Wednesday, Acosta had pulled an average of 561,000 total viewers and 130,000 views in the key 25-54 demo, which would put him only one percent behind Keilar’s final, week-long totals of 565,000 total viewers, but 12 percent behind Keilar’s 147,000 demo viewers.
Now, the fun part. Taking Acosta’s Wednesday numbers of 659,000 total viewers and 164,000 in the demo, Nielsen Media numbers returned some fantastical results. And, as they did for Keilar and last year with New Day and Reliable Sources, it was diverse in genre.
Reality shows led the way as, in a head-to-head win, HGTV’s Home Inspector Joe crushed Acosta with 1.047 million total viewers and 299,000 in the demo. Fellow HGTV shows similarly cleaned up with House Hunters hauling in 1.262 million total viewers and 356,000 in the demo (with another episode fetching 1.158 million and 300,000) and Property Brothers at 1.162 million and 298,000 across 25-54.
Just as they did with Keilar, TLC’s My 600 Pound Life squashed Fake News Jim with 853,000 total viewers and 318,000 in the demo. And over on Bravo, Vanderpump Rules conquered the weekend CNN Newsroom host, pulling down 861,000 total viewers and 454,000 in the demo.
Home to reruns of old Westerns, INSP also showcases reruns of History Channel’s Mountain Men, which out drew Acosta as an 8:00 p.m. Eastern episode hauled down 928,000 total viewers but only 100,000 in the demo. Speaking of History, their weapons show Forged in Fire scored a massive, direct win thanks to an audience of 794,000 total viewers and 321,000 in the demo.
Scripted shows didn’t provide any relief for Acosta. During his show, the beloved Hallmark Channel ran a movie entitled Sand Dollar Cover with this synopsis: “Stamford developer Elli works on acquiring beachfront property in Sand Dollar Cove, a quaint Connecticut beach town, but falls for the town's charm and property owner in the process.”
While Acosta eeked them out in the demo, Hallmark won with a comfortable 745,000 total viewers.
On BET, their drama Sistas was in seven figures with 1.035 million and 398,000 across the two groups. The Westerns also cleaned up with four episodes of Gunsmoke beating Acosta in total viewers with 1.019 million, 913,000, 902,000, and 840,000 each.
Syndicated comedies and dramas also had success with NCIS episodes on WETV seeing total viewerships of 702,000, 669,000, and 664,000 each. And on TV Land, Everybody Loves Raymond beat Acosta in both categories with 694,000 and 167,000 respectively.
Going back to CNN to wrap things up, Acosta wasn’t popular among all CNN shows either as he finished second to last on Monday and third to last on Tuesday, but a respectable fourth on Wednesday.
However, he was stronger in the demo, finishing midpack when compared to colleagues on Monday and Tuesday and in third place on Wednesday for CNN viewers 25-54 years old.
