After One Week, Twentieth's 'Huckabee' Still Finding Its Legs

After one week, Twentieth's test of The Huckabee Show, starring former
Arkansas governor and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, is averaging a 0.7
rating/2 share across seven markets. That's down 46% from its 1.3/4 lead-in and
22% from its 0.9/3 year-ago time period average.

On WNYW New York at noon, Huckabee averaged a 0.5/2, a 50% drop
from the show's 1.0/3 lead-in, but a 25% gain from the 0.4/1 that reruns of The Morning Show were doing in the time
slot last August.

On KDFW Dallas at 1 p.m., the show is
averaging a 0.7/2, down 42% from its 1.2/4 lead-in and down 36% from repeats of
Warner Bros.' Tyra Banks that averaged
a 1.1/3 last August.

On WFXT Boston at 10 a.m., Huckabee
averaged a 0.3/1, a 57% decline from its 0.7/3 lead-in and a 50% decline from
the 0.6/2 that repeats of NBCU's Martha averaged
in the time slot last summer.

WAGA Atlanta is Huckabee's best market, where it averaged a 1.7/4 at 1 p.m. That's
a 13% improvement on its 1.5/4 lead-in, and just a 6% dip from repeats of Tyra last summer, which averaged a
1.8/6. Huckabee is ranked third in
the time period in Atlanta.

Huckabee was
less popular on WJBK Detroit at noon, where the show averaged a 1.0/3, down 62%
from its 2.6/8 lead-in and down 33% from originals of Debmar-Mercury's Wendy Williams, which averaged a 1.5/5
in the time slot last August.

On WTVT Tampa 11 a.m., the show
averaged a 0.7/2, down 65% from its 2.0/7 lead-in but even with last summer's
repeats of The Morning Show. The show
is, however, outperforming what Martha
was doing at 11 a.m. prior to the Huckabee
test, by 17% among households and by 50% among women 18-49.

Finally, on KMSP Minneapolis at 10
a.m., Huckabee averaged a 0.9/4,
ranking third in the time period. That was down 44% from its 1.6/7 lead-in, and
down 10% from last summer's repeats of Warner Bros.' Bonnie Hunt, which averaged a 1.0/4 in the slot.

Paige Albiniak

Contributing editor Paige Albiniak has been covering the business of television for more than 25 years. She is a longtime contributor to Next TV, Broadcasting + Cable and Multichannel News. She concurrently serves as editorial director for The Global Entertainment Marketing Academy of Arts & Sciences (G.E.M.A.). She has written for such publications as TVNewsCheck, The New York Post, Variety, CBS Watch and more. Albiniak was B+C’s Los Angeles bureau chief from September 2002 to 2004, and an associate editor covering Congress and lobbying for the magazine in Washington, D.C., from January 1997 - September 2002.