Last spring, ABC unveiled Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, a reality show that features an enthusiastic chef who wants to teach parents and kids about proper nutrition. Though it could be considered a noble effort, the show didn’t attract a very big audience. The six episodes garnered an unimpressive 1.8 rating in the all-important 18-49 demographic and 5.11 million total viewers. The numbers didn’t really warrant it but ABC renewed Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution for a second season anyway, likely hoping the numbers would grow.
The reality series returned for the second round of episodes a month ago and started pulling worse ratings than season one did. The first episode attracted a poor 1.5 rating in the demo and 5.36 million viewers. The second episode dropped nearly 27%, pulling in a 1.1 with 4.72 million.
ABC decided to replace the next of Food Revolution with a recap of Dancing with the Stars. The numbers improved significantly, doing 227% better in the demo and attracting nearly three times as many viewers. They replaced it again this week and, though the recap show’s numbers weren’t as good, they were still much better than Food Revolution.
As a result, ABC has pulled Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution for the remainder of the May sweeps period. The Dancing with the Stars recaps will continue through May 24th.
The network will rerun the first two installments of this season’s Food Revolution on Friday, May 27th, and the final four episodes of the new season will begin airing the following Friday, June 3rd. The season should conclude on June 24th.
Right now, it’s looks highly unlikely that Food Revolution will be renewed for a third season. A 1.1 demo rating isn’t really strong enough to keep a reality show going — even on Friday nights.
However, if more people start tuning in because there’s less competition during June, ABC could certainly bring it back for another round. Either way, it seems unlikely that execs will make a final decision until after the second season finishes airing.
But, what do you think? Given its performance, should ABC have renewed Jamie Oliver’s show for a second season or cancelled it after one year? Do you watch? What do you like or dislike about it?
Image courtesy ABC.
What a shame. Great message this show was putting out. Too bad people don’t want the truth even when they are dying from their current lifestyle. Don’t talk about healthy lifestyles, because it makes them uncomfortable. They blame their FLABASS on poor genetics and age. Bad Diet, Medicine and plastic surgery… it’s big business and the American way.
The only thing dying is Jamie Oliver’s boring show. Even us physically fit people are not interested in such stupid antics. To enjoy watching Jamie Oliver preach nonsense would require FLABASS thinking or better yet no thinking at all. Easier to let some fool do your thinking for you.
This is a great show, and the only reality show our whole family watches and enjoys, and it gives us a chance to talk to our kids about food choices and nutrition. Entertainment and some education…can’t beat that!
I loved this show. I can’t understand why it would be cancelled. I can’t wait to see the end of it when it finally does come on. I think that there are bigger factors at play in this decision and frankly it pisses me off that people can’t see that.
Jamie Oliver is the Pied Piper of Healthy Eating. ABC should air Food Revolution for an entire season and then run repeats. Jamie’s show reveals the corporate influence on the mass production of the food which does not adequately nurture us. Look at the growing girth of Americans. Consider the mass production of foods with fillers, fat, artificial coloring, additives and flavorings which fill most of the shelves of our grocery stores. Or consider our fast food restaurant’s outsized servings, our schools cafeteria’s and vending machines offerings. Who benefits? The corporation’s bottom line. Eating well, as Jamie is teaching and… Read more »
I am wondering if they are counting how many times it has been watched online or recorded on the DVR, they should not cancel the show
We as Americans are fat, lazy, greedy ******** who don’t want to be preached to about foods that we don’t want to eat. We want grease and corn syrup for breakfast. We want to live a good 16 years healthy and then spend the rest or our 50 years with fat deposits on our livers and hearts. We will be pumped full of medications until we die, but we will have fond memories of cheese burgers in our afterlife!
I liked the show and am sad to hear it’s been pulled. You have to be willing to hear the truth about our country’s obesity epidemic, and how truly horrendous our foods are to watch it. I have learned a lot from the show and am sad it’s gone. Probably more a reflection on our society than anything else, as a nation we don’t like being told we need to change ….. even when our very health depends on changing eating habits.
I was a faithful follower of the Food Revolution. As someone passionate about local and responsibly-grown food, I was drinking all the Jamie Oliver Kool-Aid (feels funny combining Jamie Oliver and Kool-Aid in one sentence) and asking for more. I’m sad, but not surprised, that ABC pulled it. To add insult to injury, they had to replace it with a recap? Of Dancing With the Stars, a vehicle for washed-up has-beens? And it does way better than an actual, quality show? I don’t get it.
how could they do this? I;m doing a reportr curently and its about healthy school lunches and why we need them. i showed some friends the sugar and bus vid and now they get white milk
Let’s face it. Most Americans want low-brow reality shows or cop & lawyer shows with plenty of vivid gut-squishing autopsies and car chases. In addition, networks may claim their target audience is 18-49 but it’s more like 12-34. If they show a spike in demos over 34, the show is outta there! Now if you are over (gasp!) 49…you are essentially deceased. (that ought to include the network heads) Everyone knows that people over 49 don’t spend money.
Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution is exactly what Americans SHOULD be tuning into! This country’s obesity levels are alarming. How are people more concerned about has-been celebrities than the lack of healthy nutritious food in their own children’s food?? I watch Food Revolution on Hulu and while it makes my stomach flip, Jamie is a sweet guy with an amazing dream for this country. Just because he points out the flaws Americans are ashamed of doesn’t mean you should change the channel. It means we should all get on board and make a change and start a Food Revolution.
The show is decent but very depressing. I am 100% for his cause which is getting healthier foods to the masses, especially poorer people. I enjoy the show. For the show to be a success, there needs to be some progress made, some hope created, and a paradigm shift that, frankly, can’t happen in a 6 episode reality show. It would be on the same scale as one of the interventionist from ‘Intervention’ making a reality show about getting drugs out of our inner cities. Very noble effort, but you finish each episode with the idea that our society is… Read more »
Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution is a program that everybody should watch if they care about what their kids are eating at school each day, and how it affects their health. Obviously, not enough Americans care about this, and I think this is very sad. I have read statistics that children born in the year 2000 are the first generation of children with a shorter life expectancy than their parents. My daughter was born in 2000 and to think that my daughter may not live as long a life as me is very scary. We need to get the processed, high… Read more »
I thought Food Revolution was a good show with a great message. I love that Jaime is so passionate about this subject. If he is not signed for another season, I sure hope he continues what he doing. We all need to be educated on what we are eating.
The show was not interesting. Ratings reflect that. Cut it and try to do better with a different program.
Who wants to be preached at and scolded by some British kid who doesn’t know enough to comb his own hair?
I disagree. I don’t think the show was canceled because of low ratings. I think it was canceled because Jamie was exposing the ugly truth about the crappy food being fed to children and to Americans in general. Therefore he was a threat. And just like everything else that threatens the status quo, it must be silenced or in this case canceled. Low ratings maybe getting the blame, but I think this is all a carefully orchestrated ploy by our government and powerful food companies to shut this man up and keep him from exposing the truth. I saw how… Read more »