NBC’s ‘Ellie’ Strives to Break ‘Seinfeld’ Curse
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – It looks like comic actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus still has a chance to break the “Seinfeld” curse after all.
The Louis-Dreyfus sitcom “Watching Ellie” made a convincing return to the NBC lineup on Tuesday night, ranking No. 2 in total viewers and the key demographic of adults aged 18-to-49 for its new 9:30 p.m. time slot, according to Nielsen Media Research.
Averaging 9.8 million viewers overall, “Ellie” was outpaced by the Fox espionage thriller “24,” which has been thriving in the ratings thanks in large part to the strong lead-in it gets from the hit talent show “American Idol.”
NBC boasted that among viewers aged 18-49, the demographic most prized by advertisers, “Ellie” retained a solid 88 percent of its own lead-in audience from the network’s 90-minute special “Great Women of Television Comedy.”
“Ellie,” which was on the verge of being canned last season after struggling in the ratings, also decisively beat its closest comedy rival, ABC’s “Lost At Home,” in both young adults and overall viewership.
The next big test for “Ellie” will come next Tuesday, when it will air following the venerable sitcom “Frasier,” which has been weathering its own ratings slump of late.
NBC is hoping “Ellie” will benefit from a revamp given the show, which has done away with its “real-time” format and is now being taped with three cameras instead of one before a live studio audience.
Louis-Dreyfus, who played the self-absorbed Elaine Benes on the NBC hit “Seinfeld” for nine years, stars in “Watching Ellie” as a young, single nightclub singer.
The show debuted to hefty viewership in February 2002 following a promotional buildup during NBC’s Winter Olympics coverage. But as its audience dwindled steadily over the next four broadcasts, the show appeared in danger of succumbing to what some TV critics were calling the “Seinfeld curse,” referring to the ill-fated TV returns of fellow “Seinfeld” co-stars Michael Richards and Jason Alexander.
But the show got a reprieve and a make-over after viewership picked up again, and NBC, a unit of General Electric Co., decided to bring it back this year as a mid-season replacement.
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