'NoTORIous' Keeps VH1 Rolling on Sundays
By R. Thomas Umstead -- Multichannel News, 4/9/2006 8:00:00 PM
VH1's latest Sunday-night original series entry, So NoTORIous, didn't exactly pull Flavor of Love numbers, but the Tori Spelling vehicle attracted enough viewers to keep the network's Sunday-night “Celebreality” block of original programming humming along on the ratings front.
NoTORIous— the network's first scripted comedy, loosely based on the life of the daughter of TV producer Aaron Spelling — drew a 0.8 household rating and 1.1 million viewers during two April 2 primetime episodes, according to Nielsen Media Research.
While NoTORIous' opening salvo fell short of the 1.8 average rating that Flavor of Love generated during the same time period since the beginning of the year, VH1 executives said the show was not a disappointment. The episode averaged a 0.6 rating within the network's core 18-to-49 demo, 50% above VH1's primetime average against the group overall and 20% better than the 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. time period a year ago, according to network officials.
The show also continued a run of strong performances from the network's Sunday-night original programming block, from 9 to 11 p.m. Featuring such shows as The Surreal Life, Hogan Knows Best, Flavor of Love and Celebrity Fit Club, VH1 finished the first quarter tied for fifth among cable networks in primetime on Sundays, garnering a 0.9 average among viewers 18 to 49 and 1.5 million total watchers, up 63% in that measure from the prior year.
“The Sunday-night block is definitely growing every quarter,” said Michael Hirschorn, senior vice president of programming and production for VH1. “It feels like there's a general build happening that is helping along everything that we do. Our hope is that we keep Sunday night as an anchor for some time to come.”
A good chunk of the network's Sunday-night success in the first quarter came from its hit show, Flavor of Love. The finale of the series, in which aging rap star Flavor Flav chose his next girlfriend from among 20 women, generated a network record 4.6 household rating and 5.8 million viewers.
While the show's April 2 reunion event didn't fare as well, averaging a 2.8 rating (3.5 million viewers), it still easily exceeded the network's 0.6 first quarter primetime average.
“We're exploring ways to do business with [Flavor Flav] in the future,” said a spokesman for VH1.
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