Good night America: Paxman's US show axed after ratings flop
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BBC
The Paxman-anchored US Newsnight on BBC America was dropped in November, but the corporation only admitted it had done so this week
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It's been the Golden Goose for combative Brits such as Gordon Ramsay and Simon Cowell, but Jeremy Paxman has discovered, to his cost, that it takes more than a cut-glass accent and dogged questioning to make it big in America.
The Newsnight presenter's bid to launch himself across the pond has ended in disappointment after BBC Worldwide announced that it was axing its US version of the programme, blaming difficulties striking a chord with audiences weaned on a less acerbic breed of television anchorman.
Paxman's weekly Newsnight edition was launched on a wave of hype last February, with a coveted slot at 10pm on Fridays on BBC America. However, it was soon shifted to Thursday nights, after failing to make a splash, and recently disappeared from the channel's schedule altogether.
"We have to take tough decisions about where money is being spent," said a BBC spokesman yesterday. "This was purely based on ratings. People will say, 'Why didn't it work?', but honestly, if I knew that, I wouldn't be sitting here. Sometimes, even though people love the BBC news brand, you put something on and it just doesn't catch on."
The move was announced alongside a decision to drop three hours of international news from BBC America's morning schedule, again due to poor viewing figures. It has been replaced with re-runs of cheap but popular reality shows, including The Hotel Inspector, Kitchen Nightmares and The F-Word.
Paxman's failure to make waves Stateside, where BBC America is available as a commercial network in 63 million homes, marks a disappointment for his superiors, who had originally hoped he might become a Simon Cowell of the US news scene.
In 2007, the channel's president, Garth Ancier, told the Financial Times: "Jeremy Paxman is the sort of person that Americans will just eat up." Variety reported that the US version of Newsnight could even end up being called Paxman. "BBC banks on brash Brit as next US hit," read its headline.
The show that was launched in the run-up to the presidential election contained a weekly package of highlights from Newsnight's normal run of UK shows, most of which focused on international news. Paxman recorded fresh links, in tandem with co-presenters Gavin Esler and Kirsty Wark.
Viewers remained immune to their charms, however. Newsnight's US edition was actually pulled in November, after Barack Obama's election, but nobody noticed it had disappeared until the BBC reluctantly said so this week.
"This is being described as Jeremy Paxman failing to conquer America," said a spokesman. "That's a touch misleading. He never set out to make it in the US. He never moved out there, or did any interviews in the media. His role in the show was pretty minor."
Either way, BBC America, which carries advertisements and is run as a commercial station by BBC Worldwide, usually provides a useful transatlantic vehicle for British stars. It showcased The Office and Life on Mars, which were both later bought up by major US networks, and has also recently had success with the dramas Ashes to Ashes and Skins.
Meanwhile, Paxman's rival anchorman Matt Frei is enjoying considerable success in the US. His show, World News America, which airs nightly at 7pm and 10pm, achieved 9 per cent growth in its US ratings and boasts a monthly reach of three million viewers.
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Comments
It would be a mistaken impression to think that Newsnight actually had a fair airing in the US and that American people didn't like it - I would wager that more than 98% of Americans have never watched Newsnight on BBC Worldwide, nor had ever heard of the Newsnight programme.
I also think that most Americans would not naturally enjoy Newsnight because their nightly news is not the same type of offering at all.
BBC Worldwide usually shows re-run after re-run of shows like Cash in the Attic and How Clean is Your House? -- I doubt it gets many viewers at all in the crowded cable market here. Often it seems it will have 7 hours in a row of different episodes of the same show (like The F Word or Top Gear) - this is really off-putting, esp. when one is not interested in that show. One learns not to even channel-surf to such a channel when it seems that all it's doing is spewing out old, cheap re-broadcasts from several years ago like a broken record. When it offers options like that all day long, it is no surprise that people were not tuning into it for one hour in the evenings for relatively hard-hitting journalism.
I much prefer PBS, the "free" US public broadcasting station, for my Brit fix, even though the shows are even older usually -- Poirot, ITV's Sherlock Holmes, the Bucket/"bouquet" woman (can't think of the title) sitcom, etc.
Matt Frei is the type of British guy who does much better in the US than in the UK. And "more power to him" for that. :-) However, I don't know anyone in the US who watches his show either. I would watch it occasionally, if I could receive the broadcast at home.
I know that Paxman's private political views differ from mine, but there is nobody I could trust more to dish out difficult questions without fear or favour. The man is absolutely brilliant, and of such quality that I fear for our democracy should he take permanent leave from Newsnight or be replaced. There is nobody who comes near his authority or ability to conduct a probing interview.
Paxo is left of centre, privately. The only time I have ever seen his private political stance affect his interviewing was when he gave Bliar an easy ride in an interview at Downing Street not long after the '97 election (I think it was then). Apart from that instance, possibly forgiveable in the flush of post-election euphoria, Paxo has always been rigorously impartial.
The truth is that BBC America was a premium cable only channel with a very, very limited sphere of influence. The great fanfare you speak of exists only in the promotion department of the BBC. For example they didn't advertise Mr. Paxman on any of the cable news stations or have Mr. Paxman make the rounds of other news and chat shows. What the Beeb calls promotion I call keeping a secret. Paxman's show was a better-kept secret than the Ultra. And just what does three million viewers mean? In some ratings, this means a cumulative viewership. Break it down and Matt Frei reaches fewer than 100,000 on any single broadcast, probably far fewer. And Matt Frei is the leading personality of the news appearing on the vast network of free Public Broadcasting showing the BBC news reports nightly and in some cases several times a day. Matt Frei is a familiar presence, at least among the tiny minority of news watchers. Mr. Paxman was only know to those who had seen him on British TV. I think that Mr. Paxman has offended someone in the Beeb who helped him to fail.
Please take Russel Brand back as well
I watched Newsnight on BBC America on Friday evenings yet found it cancelled.
Now I read that it was moved to Thursday night? I doubt that - I checked listings and didn't see it on any evening. Seems odd to call it a failure when it only ran a few weeks.
What a loss!
Jeannine - London and California
I don't know if Estler has any say in the programme's content but a couple of nights ago Newsnight spent forty of its fifty minutes discussing cancer, not the current news. Dawn Primarolo represented the government on the subject but again there was no opposition spokesman present to give political balance.
In short, BBC America seems hopelessly caught in a contradiction between highbrow (news, Paxman) and lowbrow (the cheap but cheerful pathologies of programming such as How Clean is Your House and You Are What You Eat). In the American cable market, excepting PBS and HBO, there is competition to see how low one can go. BBC America should be carving out a market niche in the opposite direction where the competition is sparse and the BBC well-equipped to make a difference.
What does it say about the States when most people prefer to get their news from comedians? If Paxman's show was successful here, would the BBC maintain the same edge to it? Or, would they fall into the trap of the neocon rubbish that's seen every night? How would most Brits feel if they got their news every night from Jonathan Ross?
FYI: during the past two Presidential elections, where did most people turn to get accurate news about this? To the BBC. Again, what does that say about the States? Martin Bashir (formerly of the BBC) hasn't exactly done well at ABC.
When BBC America first premiered, it was highly anticipated, but then they proceeded to churn out a lot of tripe and outdated programming. I was stunned to see them broadcasting shows that I had seen when I lived in the UK twelve years ago and these are repeated minimum three times throughout the day.
Their programming lineup must be done by a chimp, because as it known here as the "Changing Rooms - Bargain Hunt - Cash in the Attic" network as that is what makes most of their programming line-up.
Then when BBC - A did introduce prime time programming that was of any interest, they would transmit it at irregular intervals; thereby losing any audience that might have attracted.
Due to the reasons cited above, most people in the States lost interest and no longer watch BBC America with the exception of the BBC News. I think the attitude was, "we have enough of our own vacuous tripe airing on our stations, why would we want to watch more in an import?"
It is a real shame because the BBC has had a history of airing tremendously interesting programs, which would capture the imagination and fascination of the American viewer, unfortunately, they only air their worst in the States.
On a visit to the UK recently I was shocked to see so many soap operas dominating BBC programming of a similar low standard.
It appears that programming on both sides of the Atlantic was dumbed down to grab the perceived market and suit the "don't rock the boat" desires on the current political administrations (Bush & Blair).
With the most exciting political season of recent years - when people like Rachel Maddow and Charlie Rose (CNN & PBS) can arrive and survive - why can't the BBC remain true to the quality programming which made it famous worldwide? Its deterioration in the US has been embarrassing. And I've never heard of Paxman - thats how far he got.
Marketing is clearly the problem. All over the world people watch 24 hour BBC news. Why isn`t it available here? Americans complain bitterly about their awful news programmes.
A great place to start is with "Edge of Darkness" and "State of Play"- two superb BBC dramas which are being knocked off by Hollywood. The shows could be screened to coincide with the movie releases. How many other incredible dramas are sitting on shelves. Americans love historic dramas- that`s why public TV is always showing them.
The BBC needs to spend the money, and advertise effectively- on the rival channels, as well as on the regular stations. Paxman didn`t fail- this time we need to shoot the messenger.
The quality series that have been on BBC America such as MI5(Spooks in Australia), all the Robson Green series, Dr Who, Life on Mars - seem to be swamped by the crap 'comedy' that appeals to what can only be described as halfwits.
Maybe BBC America should just pipe in BBC direct and stop subjecting us to mindless re-runs as the other cable channels do -
As to Nantuckets comments about what goes down well in the US v UK well maybe you should widen your horizon a bit - there is so little diversity in the US and so little imagination I think BBC is just trying to mimick existing cable stations - well that hasnt worked has it.
In any case better promotion and a better time slot would have meant catching me and other potential Newsnight junkies for the long term.