From a brief item at Fortune.com on “prime time [being] populated mostly by unfamiliar faces and unknown names.”
Hit shows today achieve only about a 25% share of the viewing audience. Ten years ago, top-rated Home Improvement captured 33%, and a decade before that The Cosby Show reached 50%….
This isn’t to say that there are no stars left on television. They just aren’t actors. Oprah Winfrey, Jay Leno, David Letterman, Bill O’Reilly, Larry King, and the broadcast network anchors are all bona fide stars. TV’s newest star is talk-show host Dr. Phil. And Donald Trump’s on the cover of TV Guide. No wonder the networks are in trouble.