Martha Stewart’s NBC show draws ho-hum ratings

By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Martha Stewart launched her version
of NBC reality hit “The Apprentice” to disappointing ratings
and criticism that the domestic diva and ex-con needs to be a
nastier TV boss.

Stewart, who gently fired her first corporate wannabe by
saying, “Jeff, you just don’t fit in,” drew only 7.7 million
viewers to her highly anticipated premiere on Wednesday night.
She finished a distant second behind a recap of ABC’s “Lost,”
according to Nielsen Media Research.

That marked the smallest audience, by far, for a debut
episode of NBC’s vaunted “Apprentice” franchise featuring real
estate tycoon Donald Trump and his curt signature phrase,
“You’re fired.”

Trump, who averaged 14 million viewers last spring,
returned to the NBC schedule on Thursday to launch the fourth
installment of his show.

NBC said the debut of “Apprentice: Martha Stewart,” which
followed her recent return to syndicated daytime television,
failed to live up to expectations.

“The numbers are clearly not where we wanted them to be
with the premiere,” NBC spokesman Jeff DeRome told Reuters.
“But the competitive landscape was an unusual one, and you’ve
got to hang in there.”

NBC hopes Stewart will do better later in the season
against comedies set to air on rival networks ABC and CBS.

DESPERATE FOR A HIT

Her biggest first-night competition was an ABC special
recapping last season’s highlights from its Emmy-winning drama
“Lost,” which drew 14.6 million viewers. The premiere of that
show’s second season an hour later averaged nearly 24 million
viewers, a record turnout for castaway thriller and the biggest
audience of the night.

NBC, a unit General Electric Co., is desperate for a hit as
it launches its fall lineup following a ratings slump last
season.

But early Nielsen results suggest that Stewart’s
post-prison image make-over as a kinder, gentler homemaking
guru might be working against her prime-time success. She was
released in March from a five-month federal prison term for
lying to investigators about a stock trade.

NBC promotions of her show had suggested that viewers would
see a steely Martha lording over contestants vying for a job at
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc.

But instead of the “brisk and exacting” Stewart many had
expected, her premiere “was a gauzy tribute to her life’s work,
an evening-wear version of the frilly, fun-loving ‘Martha”‘
seen on daytime TV, The New York Times said.

BusinessWeek Online said the show “misses a vital
ingredient: A Stewart who bares some nails.”

Her firing of the first contestant at the end of the
evening was strikingly civilized, compared with Trump’s abrupt
boardroom demeanor.

Stewart even followed up the dismissal with a handwritten
consolation note: “I’m sorry you are the first to go,” she read
in a voice-over. “Not to fail but, rather, not to fully
succeed.”

(Additional reporting by Arthur Spiegelman)