Last night, ABC wrapped up the first season of 500 Questions, their new primetime game show. How did it do in the ratings? Is it a slam-dunk to be renewed for a second season or, will it certainly be cancelled instead?
Hosted by Richard Quest, 500 Questions lets some adult geniuses try to answer 500 very difficult general knowledge questions and win lots of cash — without answering three in a row incorrectly.
Airing over the course of seven evenings, the series debuted on May 20th to a 1.2 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 5.058 million viewers. It wasn’t a great start, even for a summer series.
The numbers dropped over the seven episodes but didn’t dip below four million. They averaged a 1.04 demo rating with 4.79 million.
Looking at the numbers, there’s really no reason for ABC to renew 500 Questions for a second season. It surely didn’t attract much attention as an “event”. Still, there is a chance that the network will bring it back for another short run, filling a gap in their schedule. It didn’t cost ABC much to make and it did maintain its (small) viewership numbers as people begin to cut back on their television viewing in the warmer months.
But, what do you think? Do you like the 500 Questions series? Cancel or keep it?
Please bring it back. Enjoyed it very much.
247th question, dang autocorrect 🙂 way to go Guy!!
I loved the show. It could have ran a bit longer to pick up a wider audience and they should have ran it back to back each night for a week if they were going to do a short 5 episode season. I would like to see it picked back up and Guy given a chance to continue where he left off at 27th question with no wrongs on the board.
Bring it back I truly enjoy this show. My 9 and 10 year old enjoyed it as well!
We would like to see it come back because we feel Guy (contestant) could possibly go all the way. The program set a goal. Give it enough time for someone to reach it.
What happened to the night when abc replaced it with baseball. Was it put on another station and when
I love this show and just wish the seasons were longer. Please don’t cancel this show.
Keep it but let it run longer so we see if anyone gets 5oo. It makes no sense to stop it so soon
My husband and I loved the challenge of the program and looked forward it to each night. We will miss it . Hope it is continued at another time. It was great!
Loved it! Learned a lot!
Please keep this show. Really enjoyed it. Would love to see more.
I thought it was an excellent show, loved it. Don’t cancel it, it’s great relief from all the junk that is aired today!!!
I loved watching this season. I have also watched previous seasons. Please bring the show back for at least another season. Would love to see if Guy could go the distance of all 500 questions.
Keep it! Very entertaining!!
I seen the ratings where going up until you put the show on the same time as American’s Got Talent. I would watch American’s Got Talent before I would 500 questions. I think if you cut the show to 1 hour each night and do not put it on the same time as American’s Got Talent.
I agree with not putting it up against AGT but I feel that 1 hour is just too short. 2 hours was much better, 3 hours would be perfect. With most contestants bombing out around 20-50 questions max it takes a few rounds before a true potential contestant emerges. And once that contestant emerges I want to see them make the long run at it. They could also make it more difficult by adding one question in each even round of 30 after the firstround, , that you must answer correctly or your challenger takes half of your winnings for… Read more »
Also I prefer a 2-3 hour format for the pace of this game and that’s what DVR is for.
I think it takes time for viewers to catch on but I think this show is just as good if not better then Jeopardy. Even though I like the two hour shows, I think most people would rather it be a 1 hour show. Drop it down to 1 hour and see what happens.