It's time for our annual off-topic discussion of who will watch the Super Bowl's lead-out program. NBC is airing the game this year, and the last time they had an opportunity to air something, they chose a special hour-long version of The Office. This year, they are going with The Voice, a singing competition that features judges such as Cee Lo Green and Christina Aguilera.
The Voice's first season ran from late April to late June and was a surprise success for NBC, averaging about 12 million viewers per episode. For a singing show that isn't American Idol, that's pretty good. I think NBC was wise to put The Voice on right after the Super Bowl, because this is really the only show they have that can propel itself above American Idol at some point.
Reality shows always seem to do the best in post-Super Bowl timeslots too. For example, take a look at the three different reality shows that have aired in the past 11 years:
- 2001: Survivor: The Australian Outback (CBS, 45.369 million)
- 2004: Survivor: All Stars (CBS, 33.535 million)
- 2010: Undercover Boss (CBS, 38.600 million)
Those rank as three of the top four programs in that slot. I don't think it will be as popular as the three shows above, but I could see it reaching the high 28-million mark. That would beat last year's airing of Glee on FOX, which had about 26.8 million viewers Last year, only 18% of you said you would be tuning in to see Glee. Vote in the poll below to see how football fans respond to the The Voice instead.
I will not be tuning into this year's post-Super Bowl program.