If Impeachment Were Regular TV it Would Already be Cancelled

Impeachment hearings make for some boring TV.  Nielsen tells us 11 million people tuned in day one.  This is an aggregate, which means people didn’t spend all their time watching.  Some a few minutes and some several hours.  The latter sorely need to get a life!  The number is smaller than impeachment hearings from the House in November.

Day one usually has the highest rating and then numbers dip.  We should also note 11 million is a tiny fraction of the population of the United States of America.  It’s roughly 3 percent, meaning 97 percent didn’t watch the political posturing.  I watched reruns of Star Trek:  Voyager on day one.  On day two it was Star Trek:  The Next Generation.  And I’m a news junkie!  I also know how the trial ends.  Same with reruns.

Fox had the highest rating, outpunching even the old alphabet networks.

I’m reminded of the Watergate hearings.  I was in grade school at the time and when we had only 3 channels there were no other alternatives.  We played outside a lot during the summers of ’73 and ’74.  Rainy days we played board games.   John Dean was as exciting as watching paint dry.  One network still re-animates his corpse for analysis.  I’m not mocking Dean but he didn’t even show a pulse in 1973.

There are shows I really like I can’t see for two weeks.  The thing is, habits can be changed in a fortnight.  Scientists say it’s 28 days but if you stumble across something better in under 14, then it’s a good possibility you’ll never again tune into Dana Perino.