It’s almost summer, which means sand, surf and ABC’s “Summer Fun & Games” lineup.
Last week, “Press Your Luck” and “The $100,000 Pyramid” returned to ABC’s airwaves. “Celebrity Family Feud,” “The Chase” and “To Tell the Truth” premiere their own new seasons on Sunday. “Holey Moley,” “Card Sharks” and “The Hustler” will join those shows in the coming weeks, as will the new series “Celebrity Dating Game” and “When Nature Calls With Helen Mirren.”
We know, that last one feels like quite a stretch for the branding, but ABC is including the documentary series under the very loose “Fun” category. So be it.
The eight returning “Summer Fun & Games” shows performed well enough to come back — but just how do they rank in viewership? We plotted them against each on a bar graph below. The numbers all include one week of (mostly) DVR viewing.
One caveat: The Alec Baldwin-hosted “Match Game” is no longer on ABC’s current summer schedule and thus not on the graph, more of a scheduling conflict than a sign of cancellation.
ABC’s most fun “Summer Fun & Games” show as voted on by viewers with their eyeballs, which translates directly into ad dollars, is “Celebrity Family Feud.” The Steve Harvey-hosted “Family Feud” extension reached 6 million audience members per episode last summer. “Press Your Luck” with host Elizabeth Banks edged the miniature-golf competition series “Holey Moley” in Summer 2020, according to unrounded Nielsen numbers. “To Tell the Truth” with host Anthony Anderson pulled up the rear during the warmest coronavirus months.
Last summer, the four airing ABC programs ranked in the top half of all Big 4 broadcast TV series. Looking at all 53 shows across CBS, NBC, Fox and ABC that aired at least three telecasts within the summer months, “Celebrity Family Feud” ranked fifth in total viewers, “Press Your Luck” was 16th, “Holey Moley” ranked 18th and “To Tell the Truth” was 23rd.
The No. 1 qualifying (for our study) show of Summer 2020 was perpetual summer winner “America’s Got Talent,” which averaged just north of 9 million total viewers.
“The Chase” with host Sara Haines actually has the second-highest viewership tally among this summer’s shows. But Season 1 of the imported game show aired during the traditional September to May TV season, when viewership levels are generally much higher vs. the summer. That said, Craig Ferguson’s “The Hustler” and the Joel McHale-hosted “Card Sharks,” which also aired across the fall, winter and spring months, were the two least-watched series in this summer-preview study.
The Michael Strahan-led “The $100,000 Pyramid” skipped an entire year, but drew a very solid 4.9 million viewers in Summer 2019. So, not at the tippy top of the ratings pyramid, but not on the ground — er, sand — floor either.
ABC would sign up for that level of Nielsen fun from any of its games this summer.
