‘Muslim’ TV Ratings Dive Amid Media Frenzy: TLC Series Plummets Despite Controversy
Chicago Tribune, December 21, 2011
“All-American Muslim” may be disproving that old saying about bad publicity.
Although the TLC series filled the headlines all of last week after protests erupted over the withdrawal of advertisers including home-improvement chain Lowe’s, Sunday’s episode actually experienced a significant ratings decrease.
The Dec. 18 episode plummeted over 30% versus the previous week’s episode, which registered 900,000 total viewers. And ratings for the Dec. 11 episode itself could have benefited from increased visibility for “Muslim” given the controversy was starting to gather steam, particularly on Twitter, several days earlier, though didn’t truly explode into the mainstream press the following week.
The past two episodes of “Muslim” are trending below the season average for the series, which is over 1 million total viewers. The series, an unscripted look at a group of Muslim-American families living in Dearborn, Mich., launched Nov. 13 to 1.7 million.
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TLC has yet to indicate whether “Muslim,” which was an eight-episode order, will be renewed for another season.
