NBC is hitting the road with another new reality series, The Great American Road Trip. Is the show worth watching or, has the competition run out of gas before it barely got started?
The Great American Road Trip follows seven American families in a countrywide competition. Each in their own RVs, the clans travel to various landmarks and compete in challenges. The winning family gets a prize whereas the three worst performers must take part in a second challenge. The losing group of the second contest is eliminated.
Hosted by Reno Coiller, the series premiered on Tuesday night and the families visited Springfield, Illinois and St. Louis, Missouri. Unfortunately not many viewers from those cities, or anywhere else, were watching.
NBC paired the debut of Road Trip with the very popular America’s Got Talent in hopes that most of Talent’s audience would tune in an hour early to watch the new show. It didn’t happen. Road Trip attracted just 4.66 million viewers and a 1.3/5 rating/share of the 18-49 demographic.
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Road Trip was handily beaten by a repeat of NCIS (10.43 million and a 1.9/7) and barely scored better than ABC’s disappointing Superstars (4.2 million and a 1.3/5). One week earlier, a repeat of NBC’s Talent attracted 8.2 million and a 2.3/8 in the same timeslot (per the ratings overnights).
The peacock network isn’t pleased with Road Trip’s performance and immediately sent it packing to a new night. The reality series will now air on Monday nights at 10pm, taking the place of Law & Order reruns. Not surprisingly, NBC is plugging the Tuesday night timeslot with encores of America’s Got Talent.
Seven more episodes of Road Trip have already been produced. Given that it’s Summer and ratings expectations are lower, it seems very likely that NBC will air the entire season.
The network is so desperate for content that they’ve already scheduled Road Trip reruns to air on Sunday nights at 7pm. Given the early numbers, that may change.
However, unless viewership picks up, there would be very little reason for NBC to renew it for a second season.
What do you think? Is the competition worth watching or just slightly less painful than driving with squabbling kids in the backseat? Should the network keep Road Trip or just cancel it already?
Image courtesy NBC.
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The Great American Road Trip
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COOTE KIDS did NOT follow the rules for last night’s challenge to win…didn’t use the phones but shouted out the instructions….BOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love the show, however, I think the entire Coote family is rude and needs help in showing their children (mainly their son) how to lose and win with dignity. The Pollard family invited everyone to share in their win while in Vegas, which shows how GREAT SOUTHERNS can be. Started off not caring for Silvio but, he has become a likeable fellow. Silvio showed great parenting when he helped and encouraged his younger son with the cable ride challenge. I will be cheering for Silvio and family tonight since the Pollards are out now.
What is wrong with the Cootes. Obnoxious, chew spitting father, mother who cannot make a decision without the old man, a daughter who cannot keep her head up and a son who rules the roost! Go DiSalvatores….you rock!
If sportsman ship and teaching your children values of friendly competition where a percentage of how they were graded on the show the Coutts would have gone home on the first episode. Those families that went home early can hold their heads up high – the Coutts on the other hand might have to go into hiding.
I disagree that the Cootes showed poor sportsmanship. I think the mother of the Disalvatore family had the worst personality and does not set a good example for her children as far as sportsmanship by stating “we are going to destroy the Cootes”. She is vindictive and I was disappointed that she won. I feel good for the two sons in that family. Hopefully they will at least learn that you can think better when you keep your yap shut by observing their idiot mother.
Great family show! I watched it from start to finish. I was extremely happy the Di Salvatories won! The mom and dad were hilarious! In the beginning I thought dad was full of himself and mom was a screamer. Then I found myself watching the show because of the comedy they brought to it. Loved it. Hope to see more.
My husband didn’t want to watch the show with me and our three children, but he ended up tuning in also! I am a Southerner and he is a New Yorker, so we were split with who we were pulling for. In the end, the Pollard family truly showed the most sportsmanship and care for others. The Cootes were completely RUDE! We were very happy the DiSalvatores won. I think their youngest son had a life-changing moment when he overcame his fears on the zip line challenge. I hope they renew the show. As a matter of fact, we would love to be on it!
Wonderful, wonderful, & wonderful. The time I spent watching this show was well worth it. I got to enjoy not only the show, the cast of families and yes even my family joined me. At first my daughter 22 who is not so keen on watching reality shows and likes to channel surf gave in to me and then actually started to enjoy it as much as I did. Please renew this show and you can add my family to the growing list that wants to get behind the wheel and see America. Maybe you can run a season of parents with older kids (18 and over) that could really bring in the college crowd. Example (my family 3 large colleges, 2 different states, & 2 that played sports in college, needless to say the competition would be the hype to generate college viewers
Great show. Husband and I both loved it, looked forward to watching it. Please bring it back at prime time
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