It turns out The WB won't be the only major broadcast network looking to counter-program the Superbowl with reality television.
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NBC's Queer Eye counter-programming move begins from 8-9 PM (ET) with John Bargeman. Bargeman is a man who has done it all -- part-time contractor, car transport driver, plumber, and elevator technician, fireman, carpenter, short order cook, EMT, Navy Seal cadet and stripper. These experiences have taught him many things, but he still has a lot to learn when it comes to personal style and design. A true Dallas Cowboy who fancies his jeans and 10-gallon hat, Bargeman is ready to make some changes and the Fab 5 from Queer Eye help him prepare to ask his New York City girlfriend of two years to become his wife. This episode also was broadcast on NBC in August 2003.
From 9-10 PM (ET), NBC will showcase an episode featuring Ross Morrissey, a special operations air-strike caller turned pharmaceutical manager. Morrissey's hip, cosmopolitan girlfriend recently moved in to his Upper Eastside apartment and she has enlisted the Fab 5 to help him show her that there is room for her in his apartment, as well as his heart. The mission: turn a bachelor pad into a love nest for two.
Then at 10-11 p.m. (ET), "charity begins at home" when the Fab 5 fix their collective gaze on one of their own. Andrew Lane, a Queer Eye utility grip and occasional camera operator, met Diana after a bit of a dating slump. Unfortunately, Lane's apartment, which he shares with his brother, is more dorm room disaster than big-boy bachelor pad. The Fab 5's goal is to get rid of Andrew's frat-boy look and give him a grown-up lifestyle that will charm and impress his new girlfriend.
Both the 9-10 PM and 10-11 PM telecasts are airing for the first time on NBC.
Last summer, NBC energized its Thursday lineup with three Queer Eye specials that averaged a 3.9 rating among adults 18-49 and 7.7 million viewers overall. If counted as a regular series, those Thursday Queer Eye specials would have tied for the #5 rating of the summer in 18-49. So far this season, NBC has aired four Queer Eye specials in various time periods and averaged a 3.1 rating in 18-49 and 7.2 million viewers overall.
Queer Eye also continues to post impressive ratings on Bravo. For the fourth quarter this year versus last year on Bravo, Queer Eye has improved the 10-11 p.m. time period by a whopping 1,468 percent in adults 18-49. In adults 25-54, the improvement year-to-year was 1,525 percent.
Queer Eye for the Straight Guy is produced by Scout Productions. The executive producers are David Collins and Michael Williams for Scout, and Frances Berwick, Amy Introcaso-Davis and Christian Barcellos for Bravo.
The co-executive producer is David Metzler. The series was created by David Collins, a gay man, and developed by David Metzler, a straight man - a union of sensibilities that gives the show its depth, humor and edge.
