Ratings Down For CBS' Extended Selection Show; Critics Decry Waiting To See Bracket

CBS’ first-ever two-hour NCAA men’s basketball tournament selection show drew a 3.7 overnight rating, marking the telecast’s lowest figure since at least ’95, when the show expanded from 30 minutes to one hour. The leak of the men’s bracket on Twitter this year reportedly occurred around 20 minutes after CBS’ telecast began. Last year’s selection show drew a 3.9 overnight, while the telecast in ’14 drew a 4.2 overnight. The show is now on a three-year ratings slide and has not topped a 5.0 overnight since ’05. Yesterday's telecast peaked at a 4.0 rating from 6:30-7:00pm ET. Meanwhile, ESPN drew a 1.1 for its “Bracketology” telecast from 7:00-9:00pm, down from a 1.4 overnight last year and a 1.5 overnight in ’14 (Austin Karp, Assistant Managing Editor).

DEFENDING THE PROCESS: CBS' Doug Gottlieb this morning went on WKRK-FM in Cleveland and defended the net's selection show and its process of staggering the release of the brackets over the two-hour program. He said, "Have you ever watched the Academy Awards? Do they give away ‘Best Picture’ first or last?” He noted that is the last award so “people tune in.” Gottlieb singled out SI.com’s Richard Deitsch, who “covers television and obviously doesn’t know anything about television, because you would never unleash the bracket early." Gottlieb: "The only reason that the last bracket was revealed when it was revealed last night was because the bracket was leaked digitally on the Internet. Otherwise, it would have been even later in the show, which is the right thing. That’s TV Production 101 -- whatever you can do to hold your audience as long as you can hold them.” He added, “I’m actually blown away by people who cover television who obviously don’t know how television works.” Gottlieb said after the bracket had been leaked, the “only thing I know we did was we revealed quicker through the final bracket instead of holding it out some" ("The Ken Carman Show," WKRK-FM, 3/14). ESPN Radio’s Mike Greenberg said, “I’ve never seen as much complaining in my life as I did on Twitter yesterday about the way CBS handled that show. Listen, it would be completely disingenuous and hypocritical for any of us who work in this industry to be complaining that they tried to do what everyone tries to do. They took a one-hour show that works like crazy and figured we could make more money trying to get into a two-hour show" ("Mike & Mike," ESPN Radio, 3/14).

WAYS TO FIX THINGS: SI's Deitsch wrote he appreciates CBS "wanting to add more commentary to its selection show," but the net "committed the cardinal sin of alienating its audience by extending the bracket reveal for far too long." The show started at 5:30pm, and viewers waited 20 minutes "for the first tournament game to be revealed." It took "more than one hour" for viewers to find out the second half of the bracket. A solution to avoid another leak of the bracket would be to "front-load the program so that all the brackets are revealed within the first 35 minutes and spend the next 85 minutes going heavy on analysis and interviews" (SI.com, 3/13). SPORTING NEWS' Michael McCarthy writes CBS' on-air personnel "debated, dawdled and delayed" the bracket, resulting in it taking 77 minutes "to reveal ... the complete bracket." McCarthy: "What CBS should have done is reveal the bracket at the beginning of the show -- and then let the taking heads take over to discuss matchups, possible Cinderella schools and the rest" (SPORTINGNEWS.com, 3/14). In St. Louis, Dan Caesar notes another solution for CBS would be "scaling back the show to 60 minutes instead of making the program into an advertising-heavy yakkfest." During one portion of the telecast, CBS had analyst Charles Barkley predict each region via a touch screen video board, but he "fumbled his way through the procedure, often touching the wrong team." It was an "amateur-hour exercise." Caesar: "Let's hope for a return to a 60-minute show next year. It not only would be a viewer service but also would reduce the impact of any pirated posting of the bracket" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 3/14).

TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING: Many people on Twitter criticized the elongated show, with Purdue Basketball Dir of Operations Elliot Bloom writing, "CBS did to the Selection Show what Indiana did to the single-class HS basketball tournament. Tried to fix it when it wasn't broken." The N.Y. Post's Mike Vaccaro: "CBS has been flayed for years for the way it does the Tournament. Makes sense they'd eventually get around to ruining the selection show." WFXT-Fox' Tom Leyden: "The selection show was the worst it's ever been. Has nothing to do with Doug. Terrible TV."  The Ringer's Bryan Curtis: "The funny part of the CBS selection show backlash is that we're all just fine with *one*-hour staged media events. Two is beyond the pale." Sports On Earth's Matt Brown: "At this rate the inevitable next step for the Selection Show is taking a break in the middle for a Pitbull performance." ESPN's Brett McMurphy: "To improve next year’s ratings, CBS is going to add another hour to selection show & televise it on New Year’s Eve." 

PACE OF PLAY: In N.Y., Victor Mather notes some fans -- "weary of CBS's pace -- applauded the leak" (N.Y. TIMES, 3/14). The AP noted CBS' broadcast "drew wide criticism on social media for drawing out the selections." Some Kentucky players "fell asleep during the show at the home of coach John Calipari," and others waiting for their draw "found out about their matchups early as news of the leaked bracket went viral" (AP, 3/13). FOXSPORTS.com's Chris Chase wrote the show was "dragging on worse than an episode of '2 Broke Girls'" (FOXSPORTS.com, 3/13). In DC, Norman Chad wrote, "I’m not sitting there for two hours to see what the 8-9 matchup in the South Region is unless they throw in a good cassoulet recipe and El Chapo makes a surprise appearance on set" (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 3/13).

CHARLES ISN'T IN CHARGE: Barkley's inclusion on CBS/Turner's NCAA coverage has long been questioned, and following his appearance on last night's selection show, that criticism again came to the forefront on Twitter. Pro Football Talk's Michael David Smith: "Why can't CBS grasp that just because Charles Barkley is good at commenting on the NBA, that doesn't make him good on college basketball?" BTN.com's Tom Dienhart: "Charles Barkley analyzing college hoops. This still amazes me." The K.C. Star's Sam Mellinger: "You can almost see Charles Barkley light up when he can name a player or a coach on one of the teams he's talking about." USA Today's Dan Wolken: "Filling airtime with Barkley, who doesn’t really watch college basketball is becoming a tradition unlike any other." The Indianapolis Star's Zak Keefer: "Imagine the bubble teams having to sit through watching Barkley fail to understand how to use the touchscreen." Meanwhile, the San Diego Union-Tribune's Jay Posner wrote, "Say what you want about Doug Gottlieb but he is killing the committee when called for. Appreciate the candor."