Tag: reality shows

Discovery Channel Cancels The Fighters After One Episode, Which Still Pulled Better Numbers Than ‘TUF: Nations’


(Yep, that’s Matt Phinney, a.k.a Michael “Fedor on Zeus’s shoulders” Bisping, featured in the one and only episode of “The Fighters.” Photo via Discovery.)

One of the smaller takeaways from Dana White’s near-meltdown at a press luncheon last week was the unfortunate news that his boxing-focused reality show, The Fighters, pulled in “fucking horrendous” numbers for its premiere episode (Ed note: Yeah, seems to be a lot of that going around). And indeed, when a show pulls in just 385,000 viewers on a channel that regularly gets over a million people to watch Amish Mafia, it’s safe to say that it is failing to find its target audience.

To be cancelled after one episode, though? That’s harsh, son. But that is also the reality of The Fighters, as boxing coach Peter Welsh and producer Craig Piligian confirmed yesterday that the show is dunzo via Twitter, stating, “Sorry to say it has. Such a great show, we hope to get it on an audience appropriate network.”

Wait, you mean to tell me that sasquatch-hunting aficionados can’t *also* appreciate a gritty show centered around the lives of struggling, Boston-based fighters? Or is the Bigfoot show the History channel’s doing? All I know is that reality television is a bottomless pit of despair and so are the people who choose to watch it. Except for Bar Rescue, obviously.Jon Taffer is cleaning up this cesspool of a country one speakeasy at a time and deserves our praise for it.

The Fighters now joins the ranks of such one-hit wonders as Heil Honey I’m Home, Co-Ed Fever, and Public Morals to never reach a second episode. Honestly, all of those other shows sound far more interesting than The Fighters, but I’m also a sucker for comedies about Hitler. 


(Yep, that’s Matt Phinney, a.k.a Michael “Fedor on Zeus’s shoulders” Bisping, featured in the one and only episode of “The Fighters.” Photo via Discovery.)

One of the smaller takeaways from Dana White’s near-meltdown at a press luncheon last week was the unfortunate news that his boxing-focused reality show, The Fighters, pulled in “fucking horrendous” numbers for its premiere episode (Ed note: Yeah, seems to be a lot of that going around). And indeed, when a show pulls in just 385,000 viewers on a channel that regularly gets over a million people to watch Amish Mafia, it’s safe to say that it is failing to find its target audience.

To be cancelled after one episode, though? That’s harsh, son. But that is also the reality of The Fighters, as boxing coach Peter Welsh and producer Craig Piligian confirmed yesterday that the show is dunzo via Twitter, stating, “Sorry to say it has. Such a great show, we hope to get it on an audience appropriate network.”

Wait, you mean to tell me that sasquatch-hunting aficionados can’t *also* appreciate a gritty show centered around the lives of struggling, Boston-based fighters? Or is the Bigfoot show the History channel’s doing? All I know is that reality television is a bottomless pit of despair and so are the people who choose to watch it. Except for Bar Rescue, obviously.Jon Taffer is cleaning up this cesspool of a country one speakeasy at a time and deserves our praise for it.

The Fighters now joins the ranks of such one-hit wonders as Heil Honey I’m Home, Co-Ed Fever, and Public Morals to never reach a second episode. Honestly, all of those other shows sound far more interesting than The Fighters, but I’m also a sucker for comedies about Hitler.

Oh, and the worst part? Despite being an absolute failure, The Fighters pulled in more viewers for its first episode than TUF: Nations has all season (via MMAFighting):

The new season of Ultimate Fighter: Nations is destined to be the lowest-rated season in the show’s history. he Jan. 15 debut did 371,000 viewers on Fox Sports 1 and the second episode on Jan. 22 fell to 253,000, the two least-watched, first-run episodes ever. The third episode, on Jan. 29, was moved to FS 2, but it will return to FS 1 in its usual 10 p.m. Wednesday night slot on Feb. 5.

While it’s not really surprising that TUF: Nations is bombing considering its Australian and Canadian-centric focus, it can’t be uplifting to learn that the latest incarnation of your long-past-relevant show is pulling in less viewers than your cousin’s graduation video.

Pour one out for The Fighters tonight, Potato Nation. We barely knew ye.

–J. Jones

New Spike Reality Show Announced for Bellator Fighting Championships


(Bellator’s charmingly “WTF?” fight-finishes are coming to a reality show near you.)

Though Bellator Fighting Championships has been putting on high-quality fights for three years now, the organization and CEO Bjorn Rebney have been careful to not wage war with the UFC. However, it was announced today that Bellator will step just a little bit closer to direct-competitor status, with a reality show to air on the same cable network that gave the UFC its big break by airing The Ultimate Fighter — Spike TV.

After the UFC and Spike could not come to terms on continuing their partnership, Spike’s parent company Viacom bought Bellator, announcing that the new organization would begin airing programming on Spike in 2013. We now know that part of that will be a reality show featuring Bellator fighters and produced by The Amazing Race producer, Bertram van Munster.

“Some of the most physically-gifted and fascinating athletes in the world fight in Bellator, and I believe that they make ideal subjects for an innovative non-scripted series,” van Munster said in a statement released by Spike today.


(Bellator’s charmingly “WTF?” fight-finishes are coming to a reality show near you.)

Though Bellator Fighting Championships has been putting on high-quality fights for three years now, the organization and CEO Bjorn Rebney have been careful to not wage war with the UFC. However, it was announced today that Bellator will step just a little bit closer to direct-competitor status, with a reality show to air on the same cable network that gave the UFC its big break by airing The Ultimate Fighter — Spike TV.

After the UFC and Spike could not come to terms on continuing their partnership, Spike’s parent company Viacom bought Bellator, announcing that the new organization would begin airing programming on Spike in 2013. We now know that part of that will be a reality show featuring Bellator fighters and produced by The Amazing Race producer, Bertram van Munster.

“Some of the most physically-gifted and fascinating athletes in the world fight in Bellator, and I believe that they make ideal subjects for an innovative non-scripted series,” van Munster said in a statement released by Spike today.

His name might sound vaguely like a spy villain’s, but van Munster brings with him a lot of reality show gravitas (if there is such a thing) and reflects a level of seriousness on Spike’s part to continue to try and provide MMA content, even without the UFC. It was either that, or continue to try and cock-block counter-program their former partners.

Few details about the show have been announced, other than it will be an hour-long and that it will debut sometime in 2013. We will keep you posted as developments are made public.

What format do you think would work best, ‘taters? Choose an MMA team/camp to highlight each season? TUF-style competition with regional hopefuls vying for a spot in Bellator? And what should they call the show? Since “bellator” means “warrior” in Latin, we’ll go ahead and suggest The Ultimate Warrior, unless this guy already has the phrase trademarked.

Highlights from Bellator 63 below:

–Elias Cepeda